Encyclopedia of the Essay


Book Description

This groundbreaking new source of international scope defines the essay as nonfictional prose texts of between one and 50 pages in length. The more than 500 entries by 275 contributors include entries on nationalities, various categories of essays such as generic (such as sermons, aphorisms), individual major works, notable writers, and periodicals that created a market for essays, and particularly famous or significant essays. The preface details the historical development of the essay, and the alphabetically arranged entries usually include biographical sketch, nationality, era, selected writings list, additional readings, and anthologies




Paul Bourget


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The Complete Personal Essays of Robert Louis Stevenson


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For all of Robert Louis Stevenson’s achievements in fiction, many of his contemporaries thought of him primarily as an essayist. His essays, known for their intellectual substance, emotional force, and stylistic vitality, were widely considered the best of their time. Despite the importance of Stevenson’s nonfiction, his personal essays—70 in total—have never been printed together in a single volume until now. Stevenson’s essays explore a range of topics from illness and evolution to marriage and dreams, and from literal and literary travel to the behavior of children and the character of dogs. Grappling with many of the cultural, ethical, and existential questions of his age, he resists dogma to draw fresh conclusions. Stevenson examines beggars and university students, immigrants and engineers, invalids and nurses, outlining his own colorful life story and unique approach to "the art of living" along the way. Whereas the most common and widely available versions of these texts were modified after Stevenson’s death, this volume gathers his personal essays, many of which have never appeared in any modern edition, in their authorized versions. These essays are still considered classic models of the form, and in this volume, the Editor presents them alongside an introduction and notes to assist in a rereading and reappreciation that is long overdue.




The School Journal


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Mark Twain Collection "His Novels, Short Stories, Speeches, and Letters"


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This Excellent Collection brings together Mark Twain's longer, major books and a fine selection of shorter pieces and Science-Fiction Books. This Books created and collected in Mark Twain's Most important Works illuminate the life and work of one of the most individual writers of the XX century - a man who elevated political writing to an art. Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name "Mark Twain", was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was lauded as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," and William Faulkner called him "the father of American literature". His novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), the latter often called "The Great American Novel". Twain was raised in Hannibal, Missouri, which later provided the setting for Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. He served an apprenticeship with a printer and then worked as a typesetter, contributing articles to the newspaper of his older brother Orion Clemens. He later became a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River before heading west to join Orion in Nevada. He referred humorously to his lack of success at mining, turning to journalism for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise.[5] His humorous story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County", was published in 1865, based on a story that he heard at Angels Hotel in Angels Camp, California, where he had spent some time as a miner. The short story brought international attention and was even translated into French.[6] His wit and satire, in prose and in speech, earned praise from critics and peers, and he was a friend to presidents, artists, industrialists, and European royalty. Twain earned a great deal of money from his writings and lectures, but he invested in ventures that lost most of it—such as the Paige Compositor, a mechanical typesetter that failed because of its complexity and imprecision. He filed for bankruptcy in the wake of these financial setbacks, but in time overcame his financial troubles with the help of Henry Huttleston Rogers. He eventually paid all his creditors in full, even though his bankruptcy relieved him of having to do so. Twain was born shortly after an appearance of Halley's Comet, and he predicted that he would "go out with it" as well; he died the day after the comet made its closest approach to the Earth. This Collection included: TOM SAWYER SERIES · The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn · The Adventures of Tom Sawyer · Tom Sawyer Abroad · Tom Sawyer, Detective · A Tramp Abroad ALONZO FITZ AND OTHER STORIES AUTOBIOGRAPHIES LETTERS ESSAYS AND NOVELS · A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court · In Defense of Harriet Shelley · A Double Barrelled Detective Story · Editorial Wild Oats · Essays on Paul Bourget · Eve's Diary · Extract From Adam's Diary · Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven · Extracts From Adam's Diary · The Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut · Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offences · Following the Equator a Journey around the World · The Gilded Age · Goldsmith's Friend Abroad Again · A Horse's Tale · How to Tell a Story and Other Essays · The Innocents Abroad · Is Shakespeare Dead? From my Autobiography · Life on the Mississippi BIOGRAPHIC ESSAYS




Essays On Paul Bourget


Book Description

Essays on Paul Bourget by Mark Twain: Essays on Paul Bourget by the renowned author Mark Twain offers readers a collection of insightful essays that critique and explore the works of the French novelist and critic Paul Bourget. Twain's essays provide literary analysis and commentary on Bourget's writings. Key Aspects of the Book Essays on Paul Bourget: Literary Critique: Twain's essays offer literary critique and analysis of Paul Bourget's novels and literary contributions. Intellectual Engagement: The book reflects Twain's intellectual engagement with the works of another writer, providing readers with his unique perspective on Bourget's literary themes and style. Literary Exploration: It serves as a platform for literary exploration, where Twain delves into the narrative techniques, character development, and themes present in Bourget's writings. Mark Twain, a celebrated American author, was known for his wit, humor, and literary contributions. Essays on Paul Bourget showcases his versatility as a writer and his ability to engage with the literary works of his contemporaries.




Automatic Religion


Book Description

What distinguishes humans from nonhumans? Two common answers—free will and religion—are in some ways fundamentally opposed. Whereas free will enjoys a central place in our ideas of spontaneity, authorship, and deliberation, religious practices seem to involve a suspension of or relief from the exercise of our will. What, then, is agency, and why has it occupied such a central place in theories of the human? Automatic Religion explores an unlikely series of episodes from the end of the nineteenth century, when crucial ideas related to automatism and, in a different realm, the study of religion were both being born. Paul Christopher Johnson draws on years of archival and ethnographic research in Brazil and France to explore the crucial boundaries being drawn at the time between humans, “nearhumans,” and automata. As agency came to take on a more central place in the philosophical, moral, and legal traditions of the West, certain classes of people were excluded as less-than-human. Tracking the circulation of ideas across the Atlantic, Johnson tests those boundaries, revealing how they were constructed on largely gendered and racial foundations. In the process, he reanimates one of the most mysterious and yet foundational questions in trans-Atlantic thought: what is agency?




The Open Shelf


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