Literary Criticism
The Colonel's Dream
In this novel, Chesnutt described the hopelessness of Reconstruction in a post-Civil War South that was bent on reestablishing the former st…
The Princess Casamassima
Princess Casamassima can be read on several levels: first, as a political and social novel, exploring the anarchistic and revolutionary unde…
Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens
“These papers were originally published as prefaces to the separate books of Dickens in one of the most extensive of those cheap libraries o…
The Rider on the White Horse
Hauke Haien, a young man of 24 years, has just beome dikemaster in Northern Frisia. Against the resistance of many of the townfolk, he has a…
A Brief History of English and American Literature
Henry Augustin Beers, native of Buffalo, NY and professor of English at Yale, with the help of John Fletcher Hurst (1834-1903), Methodist bi…
Robert Browning
There is an old anecdote, probably apocryphal, which describes how a feminine admirer wrote to Browning asking him for the meaning of one of…
The Bertrams
This is a massive effort, taking place in England and the Middle East, with a cast of thousands... Well, not thousands, fortunately, but cer…
Literary Taste
Arnold Bennett describes a method for enjoying literature, and suggests the contents of a comprehensive library. Chapters 1-10 and 14 descri…
Where Angels Fear to Tread
On a journey to Tuscany with her young friend and traveling companion Caroline Abbott, widowed Lilia Herriton falls in love with both Italy …
Chance
Apparently a two part story about a Damsel and a Knight, perhaps a damsel who depends upon the kindness of strangers. It was originally enti…
The Raven
Poe’s famous narrative poem and the author’s reflections on its composition. (David Wales)
My Life
A provincial youth of wealth and noble status refuses to employ himself in the typical occupations of the higher classes, thus acquiring a r…
Maria Chapdelaine
The novel Maria Chapdelaine portrays life in rural Quebec at the beginning of the 20th century. Published first in French in 1913, it is a f…
Feminism in Greek Literature
This study, published in 1923, examines the views regarding women's place in Ancient Greek society based especially on the writings of Homer…
If Winter Comes
If Winter Comes by A. S. M. Hutchinson explores the complexities of love, loss, and societal expectations in early 20th-century England. At …
The Voyage Out
The Voyage Out is the first novel by Virginia Woolf, published in 1915 by Duckworth; and published in the U.S. in 1920 by Doran. One of Wool…
Pearl
Written in the 14th century by the Gawain poet, 'Pearl' is an elegiac poem reflecting on the death of a young daughter, pictured as a pearl …
The Hungry Stones
The Hungry Stones is a captivating collection of short stories by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, exploring the depths of human emotion …
Crome Yellow
Fascinating and brilliant at many levels, Huxley's spoof of Lady Ottoline Morrell's famous bohemian gatherings is difficult to categorize. T…
Arrowsmith
This 1926 Pulitzer Prize winning novel centers on the title character, a promising medical student who, as a doctor and following several in…