12/07/2024
Fringe of an Art: Appreciations in Music
A collection of essays on things musical by Vernon Blackburn, including composers, music in different time periods, and modern music. (Summary by Mozartjr) [chương_files]
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12/07/2024
Representative Men (Version 2)
Seven Essays: his reasoning why and how great men have always been honored and necessary in our civilization, followed by six chapters dealing with, in order: Plato, Swedenborg, Montaigne, Shakspeare (sic), Napoleon and Goethe. Emerson was an old fashioned “Man of Letters”. He was the head of the mid-19th century School of Transcendentalism. Poetry, essay and book on Philosophy, human rights and religious and social rights. – Summary by William Jones [chương_files]
12/07/2024
Problems of the Playwright
A third volume of essays by American critic Clayton Hamilton, published as a companion piece to The Theory of the Theatre & Studies in Stagecraft, and focusing (as one might expect) on the problems of the playwright. (Summary by Andrew Gaunce) [chương_files]
12/07/2024
Die göttliche Komödie – Die Hölle
Inhalt: Die Hölle Das Fegefeuer Das Paradies Die Commedia, in späterer Zeit auch Divina Commedia (“Göttliche Komödie”) genannt, ist das Hauptwerk des italienischen Dichters Dante Alighieri. Sie gilt als bedeutendste Dichtung der italienischen Literatur und als eines der größten Werke der Weltliteratur. [chương_files]
12/07/2024
Romance of a Christmas Card
The story of the mission of two Christmas cards written by a minister’s wife. These cards find their way to two straying sheep from the village fold, who hear through the message in the words, and the little scenes on the cards, the compelling voice of home. There was inspiration and good cheer in the cards, and from them came, in one case reformation, in the other romance. (Summary compiled by Maria Therese from various original 1915 reviews) [chương_files]
12/07/2024
Bartleby the Scrivener, A Story of Wall Street.
“Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street” is a short story by Herman Melville. The story first appeared, anonymously, in Putnam’s Magazine in two parts. The first part appeared in November 1853, with the conclusion published in December 1853. It was reprinted in Melville’s The Piazza Tales in 1856 with minor textual alterations. The work is said to have been inspired, in part, by Melville’s reading of Emerson, and some have pointed to specific parallels to Emerson’s essay, “The Transcendentalist.” The story has been adapted twice: once in 1970, starring Paul Scofield, and again in 2001, starring Crispin Glover. [chương_files]
12/07/2024
The Rape of the Lock
The Rape of the Lock is a mock-heroic narrative poem written by Alexander Pope, first published anonymously in Lintot’s Miscellany in May 1712 in two cantos (334 lines), but then revised, expanded and reissued under Pope’s name on March 2, 1714, in a much-expanded 5-canto version (794 lines). The final form was available in 1717 with the addition of Clarissa’s speech on good humour. The poem satirizes a petty squabble by comparing it to the epic world of the gods. It was based on an incident recounted by Pope’s friend, John Caryll. Arabella Fermor and her suitor, Lord Petre, were both from aristocratic recusant Catholic families at a period in England when under such laws as the Test Act, all denominations except Anglicanism suffered legal restrictions and penalties (for example Petre could not take up his place in the House of Lords as a Catholic). Petre, lusting after Arabella, had cut off a lock of her hair without permission, and the consequent argument had created a breach between the two families. Pope, also a Catholic, wrote the poem at the request of friends in an attempt to “comically merge the two.” He utilized the character Belinda to represent Arabella and introduced an entire system of “sylphs,” or guardian spirits of virgins, a parodized version of the gods and goddesses of conventional epic. [chương_files]
12/07/2024
LibriVox 17th Anniversary Collection
“LibriVox is a hope, an experiment, and a question: can the net harness a bunch of volunteers to bring books in the public domain to life…” Hugh McGuire, LibriVox’s founder, August 9, 2005 In celebration of LibriVox’s seventeenth anniversary, here is collection of short works of various kinds and from varied authors which include in their title the words ‘seventeen’ or ‘seventeenth’ or the number ’17.’ Each piece is selected and read by a LibriVox volunteer. [chương_files]
12/07/2024
Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 092
Calling men the “Bawling Brotherhood,” Sarah Grand penned a lively essay on The New Aspect of the Woman Question in 1894. Stenography and the Typewriter, and Home Hints were other women centric selections from the 20 reader-chosen nonfiction pieces in volume 092. Social and political history figured in many readings: The Birthplace of American Independence (1687); Roman Remains in Great Britain; the Spanish American War; Thoughts Upon the African Slave Trade (1788); State of the Union Address (1817); Disunion Sentiment (1794); and Monument to General Sheridan. Climate’s role in human events was recognized in Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations; The Day the Piano Went Up the Hill; and Launching Icebergs. Selections from science and medicine included The Discovery of Radium; Mercury in Treating Venereal Disease; and William James’ lecture on the possibility of Human Immortality. Rounding out the volume are thoughts on Literature and the Stage; some notes on drawing (Of Line and Form); a bit of Mark Twain humor (The Bee); and an biographical essay on W.H.R. Rivers. – Summary by Sue Anderson [chương_files]
12/07/2024
Woodlanders (version 2)
The Woodlanders is one of Hardy’s later novels, although he originally intended it as a successor to Far From The Madding Crowd. It concerns the life and loves of Giles Winterborne, Grace Melbury, Edred Fitzpiers, Felice Charmond and Marty South. The topics of class, fidelity and loyalty are dealt with in Hardy’s exquisite style and set in the beautiful woodlands of Hintock (T.Hynes) [chương_files]