Literary Criticism
A Legend of the Wars of Montrose
"I think this fellow Dalgetty is one of those horse-leeches, whose appetite for blood being only sharpened by what he has sucked in foreign countries, he is now returned to batten upon that of his own". Such is one character's view of the Scottish mercenary of the seventeenth century. Yet there is in Dugald Dalgetty's professional ethic, his blundering Latin, his loving care of his horse, and his own self-absorption, more genuine humanity than in the political and religious principles of Royalists and Covenanters alike. And the picture which emerges is not of violence imported into Scotland from Germany but of a country destroyed by uncompromising religious hatred, political bigotry, tribal feud and personal enmity. A Legend of the Wars of Montrose centres on one episode in the most bloody of Scotland's civil wars, Montrose's campaign for King Charles I in 1644-45; it is a short and savage tale.
A Plea for Captain John Brown – Read to the Citizens of Concord, Massachusetts on Sunday Evening, October Thirtieth, Eighteen Fifty-Nine
Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862) was an American poet, philosopher, essayist, abolitionist, naturalist, development critic, and historian. He was also a leading figure in Transcendentalism, and is best known for his book "Walden", a treatise on simple living in a natural environment. Other notable works by this author include: "The Landlord" (1843), "Reform and the Reformers" (1846-48), and "Slavery in Massachusetts" (1854). Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially commissioned new biography of the author.
A Psychological Counter-Current in Recent Fiction
Although he was an important novelist, poet and playwright in his own right, William Dean Howells also played a major role in shaping the literary landscape of America in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in his capacity as a critic. In this important essay from 1901, Howells holds forth on a then-current crop of novels dealing with social issues.
Adventures and Recollections of Bill O’Th Hoylus End
This book is a result of an effort made by us towards making a contribution to the preservation and repair of original classic literature. In an attempt to preserve, improve and recreate the original content, we have worked towards: 1. Type-setting & Reformatting: The complete work has been re-designed via professional layout, formatting and type-setting tools to re-create the same edition with rich typography, graphics, high quality images, and table elements, giving our readers the feel of holding a 'fresh and newly' reprinted and/or revised edition, as opposed to other scanned & printed (Optical Character Recognition - OCR) reproductions. 2. Correction of imperfections: As the work was re-created from the scratch, therefore, it was vetted to rectify certain conventional norms with regard to typographical mistakes, hyphenations, punctuations, blurred images, missing content/pages, and/or other related subject matters, upon our consideration. Every attempt was made to rectify the imperfections related to omitted constructs in the original edition via other references. However, a few of such imperfections which could not be rectified due to intentionalunintentional omission of content in the original edition, were inherited and preserved from the original work to maintain the authenticity and construct, relevant to the work. We believe that this work holds historical, cultural and/or intellectual importance in the literary works community, therefore despite the oddities, we accounted the work for print as a part of our continuing effort towards preservation of literary work and our contribution towards the development of the society as a whole, driven by our beliefs. We are grateful to our readers for putting their faith in us and accepting our imperfections with regard to preservation of the historical content. HAPPY READING!
Ambition and Success
"Ambition is the spur that makes man struggle with destiny: it is heaven's own incentive to make purpose great, and achievement greater." IN a factory where mariners' compasses are made, the needles, before they are magnetized, will lie in any position, wherever they are placed, but from the moment they have been touched by the mighty magnet and have been electrified, they are never again the same. They have taken on a mysterious power and are new creatures. Before they are magnetized, they do not answer the call of the North Star, the magnetic pole does not have any effect upon them, but the moment they have been magnetized they 'swing to the magnetic north, and are ever after loyal and true to their affinity.' Multitudes of people, like an unmagnetized needle, lie motionless, unresponsive to any stimulus until they are touched by that mysterious force we call ambition. Whence comes this overmastering impulse which pushes human beings on, each to his individual goal? Where is the source of ambition, and how and when does it gain entrance into our lives? This book is about finding that ambition within you!
An Old Town by the Sea
I CALL it an old town, but it is only relatively old. When one reflects on the countless centuries that have gone to the for-mation of this crust of earth on which we temporarily move, the most ancient cities on its surface seem merely things of the week before last. It was only the other day, then - that is to say, in the month of June, 1603 - that one Martin Pring, in the ship Speedwell, an enormous ship of nearly fifty tons burden, from Bristol, England, sailed up the Piscataqua River. The Speedwell, numbering thirty men, officers and crew, had for consort the Discoverer, of twenty-six tons and thirteen men. After following the windings of ""the brave river"" for twelve miles or more, the two vessels turned back and put to sea again, having failed in the chief object of the expedition, which was to obtain a cargo of the medicinal sassafras-tree, from the bark of which, as well known to our ancestors, could be distilled the Elixir of Life.
Appreciations of Richard Harding Davis
Richard Harding Davis (1864-1916) was a popular writer of fiction and drama, and a journalist famous for his coverage of the Spanish-American War, the Second Boer War, and the First World War. He, a managing editor of Harper's Weekly, was one of the world's leading war correspondents at the time of the Second Boer War in South Africa. As an American, he had the unique opportunity to see the war first-hand from both the English and Boer perspectives. He also worked as a reporter for the New York Herald, The Times, and Scribner's Magazine. He was popular among the leading writers of his time, and was considered the model for illustrator Charles Dana Gibson's dashing Gibson man, the male equivalent of his famous Gibson Girl. He is also referenced early in Sinclair Lewis's book, Dodsworth as the example of an exciting, adventure-seeking legitimate hero.
Arabian Nights (Educator Classic Library)
One Thousand and One Nights is a collection of stories collected over many centuries by various authors, translators and scholars in various countries across the Middle East and South Asia. These collections of tales trace their roots back to ancient Arabia and Yemen, ancient Indian literature and Persian literature, ancient Egyptian literature and Mesopotamian mythology, ancient Syria and Asia Minor, and medieval Arabic folk stories from the Caliphate era. Though the oldest Arabic manuscript dates from the fourteenth century, scholarship generally dates the collection's genesis to somewhere between AD 800?900.
Argonautica
Apollonius Rhodius?s Argonautica, composed in the 3rd century BCE, is the epic retelling of Jason?s quest for the golden fleece. Along with his contemporaries Callimachus and Theocritus, Apollonius refashioned Greek poetry to meet the interests and aesthetics of a Hellenistic audience, especially that of Alexandria in the Ptolemaic period following Alexander?s death. In this carefully crafted work of 5,835 hexameter verses in four books, the author draws on the preceding literary traditions of epic (Homer), lyric (Pindar), and tragedy (especially Euripides) but creates an innovative and complex narrative that includes geography, religion, ethnography, mythology, adventure, exploration, human psychology, and, most of all, the coming of age and love affair of Jason and Medea. It greatly influenced Roman authors such as Catullus, Virgil, and Ovid, and was imitated by Valerius Flaccus.This new edition of the first volume in the Loeb Classical Library offers a fresh translation and improved text.
Aristophanes: Acharnians. Knights
Aristophanes of Athens (ca. 446- 386BC), one of the world's greatest comic dramatists, has been admired since antiquity for his iridescent wit and beguiling fantasy, exuberant language, and brilliant satire of the social, intellectual, and political life of Athens at its height. He wrote at least forty plays, of which eleven have survived complete. In this new Loeb Classical Library edition of Aristophanes, Jeffrey Henderson presents a freshly edited Greek text and a lively unexpurgated translation with full explanatory notes. The Introduction to the edition is in Volume I. Also in the first volume is Acharnians, in which a small landowner, tired of the Peloponnesian War, magically arranges a personal peace treaty; and Knights, perhaps the most biting satire of a political figure (Cleon) ever written. Three plays are in Volume II of the new edition. Socrates' "Thinkery" is at the center of Clouds, which spoofs untraditional techniques for educating young men. Wasps satirizes Athenian enthusiasm for jury service and the law courts as well as the city's susceptibility to demagogues. In Peace, a rollicking attack on war-makers, the farmer-hero makes his famous trip to heaven on a dung beetle to discuss the issues with Zeus. In Volume III, the enterprising protagonists of Birds create a utopian counter-Athens ruled by birds. Also in Volume III is Lysistrata, in which our first comic heroine organizes a conjugal strike of young wives until their husbands end the war between Athens and Sparta. Women again take center stage in Women at the Thesmophoria, this time to punish Euripides for portraying them as wicked. Frogs, in volume IV, features a contest between the traditional Aeschylus and the modern Euripides, yielding both sparkling comedy and insight on ancient literary taste. In Assemblywomen, Athenian women plot to save Athens from male misgovernance- with raucously comical results. Here too is Wealth, whose gentle humor and straightforward morality made it the most popular of Aristophanes' plays from classical times to the Renaissance.
Arthur Conan Doyle – the Parasite
If ever a writer needed an introduction Arthur Conan Doyle would not be considered that man. After all, Sherlock Holmes is perhaps the foremost literary detective of any age. Add to this canon his stories of science fiction and his poems, his historical novels, his plays, his political campaigning, his efforts in establishing a Court of Appeal and there is little room for anything else. Except he was also an exceptional writer of short stories of the horrific and macabre. Something very different from what you might expect. Born in Arthur Conan Doyle was born on 22 May 1859 at 11 Picardy Place, Edinburgh, Scotland. From 1876 - 1881 he studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh following which he was employed as a doctor on the Greenland whaler Hope of Peterhead in 1880 and, after his graduation, as a ship's surgeon on the SS Mayumba during a voyage to the West African coast in 1881. Arriving in Portsmouth in June of that year with less than ?10 (?700 today) to his name, he set up a medical practice at 1 Bush Villas in Elm Grove, Southsea. The practice was initially not very successful. While waiting for patients, Conan Doyle again began writing stories and composed his first novel The Mystery of Cloomber. Although he continued to study and practice medicine his career was now firmly set as a writer. And thereafter great works continued to pour out of him.
Bab Ballads and Savoy Songs
This book contains a collection of verse written and illustrated by W. S. Gilbert. "The Bab Ballads" was written prior to his becoming famous for his comic opera "Librettos", and was integral to the development of his famous "topsy-turvy" style. This approach entailed silly situations being followed through to their logical conclusions - in hilarious style. This volume is highly recommended for lovers of comic literature, and is not to be missed by fans and collectors of Gilbert's work. William Schwenck Gilbert (1836-1911) was an English dramatist, illustrator and poet, most famous for the co-writing the Savoy operas with Sir Arthur Sullivan. Many vintage texts such as this are becoming increasingly rare and expensive, and it is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now, in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition. It comes complete with a specially commissioned new biography of the author.
Beowulf
Beowulf is the longest and finest literary work to have come down to us from Anglo-Saxon times, and one of the world's greatest epic poems. Set in the half-legendary, half historical Scandinavian past, it tells the story of the hero Beowulf, who comes to the aid of the Danish king Hrothgar by killing first the terrifying, demonic monster Grendel, and then Grendel's infuriated and vengeful mother. A lifetime later, Beowulf's own kingdom, Geatland, is threatened by a fiery dragon; Beowulf heroically takes on this challenge, but himself dies killing the dragon. The poem celebrates the virtues of the heroic life, but Hrothgar and Beowulf are beacons of wisdom and courage in a dark world of feuds, violence and uncertainty, and Beowulf's selfless heroism is set against a background of ruthless power struggles, fratricide and tyranny. This acclaimed translation is complemented by a critical introduction and substantial editorial apparatus. `The poem has at last found its translator . . .supremely well done' Charles Causley
Books Condemned to Be Burnt
As battles over literary censorship continue to rage on, it's vitally important to understand the background of this debate. In this fascinating volume, Farrer catalogs centuries of censorship in England, detailing the books that were identified as prurient, blasphemous or otherwise harmful to the public and doomed to burn. Targeted books range from mysterious volumes of occult knowledge to seemingly innocuous works of history that somehow offended the reigning royals.
Castle Rackrent (International Student Edition) (Norton Critical Editions)
The only edition of this 1800 novel?widely regarded as the first historical novel?to include supporting materials on both the importance of Maria Edgeworth as a writer and the influence of contemporary history on this novel. Castle Rackrent?s publication in 1800 signaled many firsts: the first historical novel, the first regional novel in English, the first ?big house? novel, the first Anglo-Irish novel, and the first novel with a narrator who is neither reliable nor part of the action. This Norton Critical Edition is based on the Baldwin & Cradock edition that appeared as part of an eighteen-volume collected edition titled Tales and Novels of Maria Edgeworth (1832?33). It is accompanied by detailed explanatory annotations. Ryan Twomey focuses the volume?s ?Backgrounds and Contexts? on Edgeworth?s importance as a writer, the influence of contemporary historical events on her writing (most importantly, the Act of Union of 1800, which united Ireland and Great Britain), and Castle Rackrent?s impact on the development of the novel. These include a selection of Edgeworth?s letters; five major contemporary reviews; biographical pieces; Sir Walter Scott on Edgeworth and her response to him; and excerpts from Edgeworth?s juvenilia, The Double Disguise. ?Criticism? is thematically organized to give readers a clear sense of Castle Rackrent?s major themes: Irish writing and specifically the Irish novel, narrative voices, patriarchy and paternalism, and Edgeworth?s Hiberno-English writing. Contributors include Seamus Deane, Marilyn Butler, Katherine O?Donnell, Julia Nash, Joyce Flynn, and Brian Hollingworth, among others. A chronology of Edgeworth?s life and work and a selected bibliography are also included.
Centre and Periphery in Modern British Poetry
Does what is true depend on where you are? or, can we speak of a British culture which varies gradually over the 600 miles from one end of the island to the other, with currents gradually mutating and turning into their opposites as they cross such a distance? In Centre and Periphery in Modern British Poetry Andrew Duncan (a published poet himself) identifies distinctive traditions in three regions of the Britsh Isles providing a polemic tour of Scotland, Wales, and the North of England while revealing the struggle for 'cultural assets'. The book exposes the possibility that the finest poets of the last 50 years have lived in the outlands, not networking and neglecting to acquire linguistic signs of status. Centre and Periphery in Modern British Poetry provides insightful accounts of major poets such as Sorley Maclean, Glyn Jones, Colin Simms, and Michael Haslam.
Chants for Socialists (1885)
This early work by William Morris was originally published in 1899 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. William Morris was born in London, England in 1834. Arguably best known as a textile designer, he founded a design partnership which deeply influenced the decoration of churches and homes during the early 20th century. However, he is also considered an important Romantic writer and pioneer of the modern fantasy genre, being a direct influence on authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien. As well as fiction, Morris penned poetry and essays. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.
Charlotte Temple: A Tale of Truth
Susanna Rowson?s work is the story of an innocent British schoolgirl who takes the advice of her depraved French teacher? with tragic consequences. Seduced by the dashing Lieutenant Montraville, who persuades her to move to America with him, the fifteen-year-old Charlotte leaves her adoring parents and makes the treacherous sea voyage to New York. In the land of opportunity, Charlotte is callously abandoned by Montraville. Alone and pregnant with an illegitimate child, she valiantly fights to stave off poverty and ruin.
Coriolanus
The New Cambridge Shakespeare appeals to students worldwide for its up-to-date scholarship and emphasis on performance. The series features line-by-line commentaries and textual notes on the plays and poems. Introductions are regularly refreshed with accounts of new critical, stage and screen interpretations. This second edition of Coriolanus, edited by Lee Bliss, provides a thorough reconsideration of what was probably Shakespeare's last tragedy. In the introduction, Bliss situates the play within its contemporary social and political contexts and pays particular attention to Shakespeare's manipulation of his primary source in Plutarch's Lives. The edition is alert to the play's theatrical potential, while the stage history also attends to the politics of performance from the 1680s onwards, including European productions following the Second World War. A new introductory section by Bridget Escolme accounts for recent theatrical productions as well as scholarly criticism of the last decade, with particular emphasis on gender and politics.
Criticism and Fiction: From “Literature and Life”
As a prominent novelist, critic and editor, William Dean Howells played an essential role in shaping the American literary sensibility of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, particularly the shift toward naturalism and realism. In this, his most widely read series of essays on literature, Howells lays out his view of the superiority of realistic fiction.
Curiosities of Street Literature: Comprising ‘Cocks,’ or ‘Catchpennies’
Broadsheet papers were a popular forerunner of the tabloid newspaper, providing sensational descriptions of current events, especially violent crimes, executions and political scandal. Illustrated with satirical cartoons and often recounting stories in verse, the legacy of broadsheets can be seen in later publications such as Private Eye. This book, first published in 1871 by Charles Hindley (d. 1893), is a collection of notable and popular extracts from broadsheets, such as those produced by James Catnach. Although a wide variety of subjects were covered, including natural disasters, elopements, Parliamentary business and royal events, broadsheets were at their most profitable and lurid when reporting crime stories. Included in this text are accounts of famous cases such as Burke and Hare, child-killer Constance Kent and the Red Barn Murder. The book is an invaluable resource for social historians and provides fascinating insights into the Victorian media and the origins of today's mass media.
Dante’s Vision and the Circle of Knowledge
In a masterly synthesis of historical and literary analysis, Giuseppe Mazzotta shows how medieval knowledge systems,the cycle of the liberal arts, ethics, politics, and theology,interacted with poetry and elevated the Divine Comedy to a central position in shaping all other forms of discursive knowledge. To trace the circle of Dante's intellectual concerns, Mazzotta examines the structure and aims of medieval encyclopedias, especially in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries; the medieval classification of knowledge; the battle of the arts; the role of the imagination; the tension between knowledge and vision; and Dante's theological speculations in his constitution of what Mazzotta calls aesthetic, ludic theology. As a poet, Dante puts himself at the center of intellectual debates of his time and radically redefines their configuration. In this book, Mazzotta offers powerful new readings of a poet who stands amid his culture's crisis and fragmentation, one who responds to and counters them in his work. In a critical gesture that enacts Dante's own insight, Mazzotta's practice is also a fresh contribution to the theoretical literary debates of the present.Originally published in 1992.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.