This is a collection of essays (1899) on English village life in the late nineteenth century. The essay “My Rector” was the focus of some controversy when published. Alfred Pretor was an English Cambridge don and classicist, author, and translator. – Summary by David Wales [chương_files]
George Gissing was a prolific English writer of novels and short stories. Among his best known novels is The Odd Women, which was influenced by George Eliot, whose work he greatly admired. Another of his famous works, New Grub Street, entails a blunt critique of the working class life he knew by experience, especially during a number of the years he spent in the United States. This collection of stories ranges from the humorous to the tragic. Throughout, Gissing pokes mild fun at his characters’ human frailties: egotism, self-satisfaction, and pomposity, among others. – Summary by Kirsten Wever [chương_files]
Infelizes: Histórias Vividas é formado por 14 pequenas histórias de personagens que passaram pela vida da narradora, que ela relembra durante um episódio de febre intensa. Para além de tristes, as histórias são também críticas e, por vezes, cômicas. Foi escrito por Anna de Castro Osório, escritora feminista portuguesa e ativista pelo partido republicano de Portugal no século XIX. – Resumo por Marina Fikota. [chương_files]
This fourth collection of the correspondence of Oscar Wilde includes the letters Wilde wrote while living in Berneval, in the months after his release from prison, and in Naples, where he shared a villa with his former lover, Lord Alfred Douglas. In a long letter to the editor of the Daily Chronicle, Wilde describes the cruelties of prison life. At this time Wilde was writing The Ballad of Reading Gaol, and the poem is a frequent topic in his letters to his friend, Robert Ross, and publisher, Leonard Smithers. The letters, some of which have been excerpted or redacted, are sourced from auction catalogues, biographies, collections of letters to Douglas and Ross, and other texts in the public domain. For a complete collection of Wilde’s letters, please see “The Complete Letters of Oscar Wilde,” (2000) edited by Merlin Holland and Rupert Hart-Davis. – Summary by Rob Marland [chương_files]
A collection of the newspaper columns/essays written by G.K. Chesterton for “The New Witness”, under the heading “At the Sign of the World’s End”. This project compiles articles from 1922. (Summary by Maria Therese) [chương_files]
The county of Kent, situated in the south eastern corner of England is ideally placed for the smugglers’ trade. Close to London, with its market for contraband, with the English Channel separating it from France by just 21 miles and the North Sea to the east it was a smugglers’ haven. Unlike Cornwall, where smugglers relied on shipwrecks… either caused by inclement weather, or human intervention, the trade in Kent was fueled by gentleman smugglers, who had the wherewithal to fund an import business, but chose to evade customs. They made their fortunes off the hard and dangerous work of others, while they enjoyed their lives of leisure. Mr. Zachary Croyland is an interesting old man, who seems to know about the business and is critical of it… but what is his place in it? Is he an interested observer, who occasionally enjoys illicit brandy-soaked cherries, or is his role more central? And what of his brother, Sir Robert, with his two charming daughters? Whatever their roles, their neighbors, the Radfords, are definitely bad news. The Smuggler was originally published in three volumes. – Summary by Lynne T. [chương_files]
Novel set in the shabby world of British (third-rate) theaters circa 1900. Christopher Tatham tries to survive by going from bit part to bit part, and by his uncle’s charity, while hoping for a leading-man role. He meets Peggy Harper, who is in a similar situation. We follow them in their attempts to carve out a life for themselves and to attain fame and success. Leonard Merrick had worked as actor and actor-manager in the theater himself, and used his experiences in this novel (Summary by Anna Simon). [chương_files]
Dick Coverdale is secretly betrothed to his neighbor, the beautiful Bessie Saunders. When a visitor to the area named Margaret Ellwood appears on the scene, however, Dick starts to regret his decision to marry Bessie. After Dick confides his troubles to Margaret, she attempts to guide him down the right path. But Margaret herself is unsure of how to advise him. On the one hand, she knows that it would be unfair to Bessie if Dick were to marry her despite not loving her. On the other hand, Margaret fears that if Dick breaks things off with Bessie, the latter’s heartbreak could last a lifetime. Events come to a head when Dick’s busybody aunts set out to manufacture a scandal involving the young betrothed couple. What will be the right paths for Dick, Bessie, and Margaret? (Summary by Scarbo) [chương_files]
Set in the Limberlost swamp of Indiana, A Girl of the Limberlost follows Elnora Comstock through struggles and triumphs as she seeks education and the mother love she has always been denied. – Summary by Patience Charles [chương_files]
“How various is man! How multiplied his experience, his outlook, his conclusions!”—H. Belloc. “And every single one of them is right.”—R. Kipling. Written while Macaulay worked in the Propaganda Department of the War Office, and reflecting her own mysticism and skepticism of organized religion, The Making of a Bigot follows young Eddy Oliver from Cambridge University as he meets people whose stronger personalities influence his weaker one, with their persuasive arguments. ( Lynne Thompson) Thompson [chương_files]
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