19th Century Books - Page 4

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Stories (Courage Classics)

Robert Louis Stevenson, Henry James, G. K. Chesterton

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 68 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Duality of Man 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Mr. Hyde is a known murderer. Dr Jekyll is an honorable doctor in the scientific community. These people's lives should never cross, but why is Hyde the heir of Jekyll. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Luis Stevenson is set in Edinburgh, Scotland. The plot focuses on the duality of man and our capability to do both good and evil. The book does not take long to read and can probably be read in under 2 hours depending on your reading speed. This book is not hard to understand, it is written in prose. This book is not a murder fest and is probably better off for that. The book is written as a mystery. It would be better to compare it to a Hitchcock horror film than to Saw. I like it because it was a chance for me to read a classic, but not spend a month reading it. The plot was interesting and raised some interesting questions. All in all it is an interesting, but not time-consuming book.

Editorial Review:

The story of Dr Jekyll, a good man who dedicates his life to helping others, but who also uses a powerful potion to create another version of himself, Mr Hyde, to do his wicked deeds for him.

Joan of Arc

Mark Twain

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 56 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Very few people know that Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) wrote a major work on Joan of Arc. Still fewer know that he considered it not only his most important but also his best work. He spent twelve years in research and many months in France doing archival work and then made several attempts until he felt he finally had the story he wanted to tell. He reached his conclusion about Joan's unique place in history only after studying in detail accounts written by both sides, the French and the English. Because of Mark Twain's antipathy to institutional religion, one might expect an anti-Catholic bias toward Joan or at least toward the bishops and theologians who condemned her. Instead one finds a remarkably accurate biography of the life and mission of Joan of Arc told by one of this country's greatest storytellers. The very fact that Mark Twain wrote this book and wrote it the way he did is a powerful testimony to the attractive power of the Catholic Church's saints. This is a book that really will inform and inspire.

The Poems of Emily Dickinson: Reading Edition

Emily Dickinson

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Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Emily Dickinson, poet of the interior life, imagined words/swords, hurling barbed syllables/piercing. Nothing about her adult appearance or habitation revealed such a militant soul. Only poems, written quietly in a room of her own, often hand-stitched in small volumes, then hidden in a drawer, revealed her true self. She did not live in time but in universals--an acute, sensitive nature reaching out boldly from self-referral to a wider, imagined world.

Dickinson died without fame; only a few poems were published in her lifetime. Her legacy was later rescued from her desk--an astonishing body of work, much of which has since appeared in piecemeal editions, sometimes with words altered by editors or publishers according to the fashion of the day.

Now Ralph Franklin, the foremost scholar of Dickinson's manuscripts, has prepared an authoritative one-volume edition of all extant poems by Emily Dickinson--1,789 poems in all, the largest number ever assembled. This reading edition derives from his three-volume work, The Poems of Emily Dickinson: Variorum Edition (1998), which contains approximately 2,500 sources for the poems. In this one-volume edition, Franklin offers a single reading of each poem--usually the latest version of the entire poem--rendered with Dickinson's spelling, punctuation, and capitalization intact. The Poems of Emily Dickinson: Reading Edition is a milestone in American literary scholarship and an indispensable addition to the personal library of poetry lovers everywhere.

(20001001)

Walden: 150th Anniversary Illustrated Edition of the American Classic

Henry David Thoreau, Scot Miller

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Revisiting Walden 5 out of 5 stars.
18 of 18 people found this review helpful.

On a family vacation many years ago, I visited Walden Pond and walked all around it. In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the publication of Thoreau's Walden, the Walden Woods Project published, in 2004, this illustrated edition of the work with stunning color photographs by Scott Miller of Walden Pond and its environs. The Walden Woods Project is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of Walden Pond and to the legacy of Thoreau. I found this book a fitting memorial of my walk around Walden Pond and of my earlier readings of Walden. The lovely edition, photographs, and memories inspired me to turn again to Thoreau's book.

Henry David Thoreau (1817 -- 1862) lived at Walden Pond, Masachusetts from July, 1845 -- September, 1847, in a cabin he built himself on a tract of land owned by his friend, Ralph Waldo Emerson. He was two miles from Concord, Massachusetts and one mile from his nearest neighbor. A railroad passed near the pond, and it was frequented regularly by farmers, hunters, picnickers, and others. During the two years, Thoreau left Walden Pond at times to visit friends in Concord, to lecture, and to visit other ponds and sites in the area. He made no pretense of being entirely isolated. In his book, Walden, published in 1854, Thoreau described the first year of his life at Walden Pond (he tells us that the second year was much the same) and his reasons for living there. Much of the book was written at Walden Pond, and Throreau also wrote other works there.

The book is short but it is written in a dense, difficult and condensed style with many long, complex sentences. It is also highly allusive and shows Thoreau's learning in classical literature and his interest in Eastern thought and religion. It is filled with many short, pithy, and provocative comments which have become proverbial in American literature.

In the opening and closing chapters of the book, Thoreau describes his motivations for living at Walden Pond and abandoning the life of commerce. For Thoreau, most people are owned by their possessions. He saw a need to live with little encubrance in order to understand himself and find inner peace. "Simplify, simplify, simplify" was his goal. In one of my favorite sentences of the book, he states (p. 67) "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." Then, towards the end of the book, Thoreau recounts some of the lessons he had learned in the following passage:

"We should be blessed if we lived in the present always, and took advantage of every accident that befell us, like the grass which confesses the influence of the slightest dew that falls on it, and did not spend our time in atoning for the neglect of past opportunities, which we call doing our duty. We loiter in winter while it is already spring."(p/253)

In the middle sections of the book, Throreau describes his life in the woods, again with recognition of his substantial interactions with other people during the time. (He was not a hermit.) He describes the books he read, his activites at his cabin, Walden Pond and woods, the changes of the seasons, and the plants and animals. The pond and its creatures are described with great detail, but Thoreau gives even more attention to internalizing his experiences and explaining their significance to his readers.

Scott Miller's beatiful photographs of Walden Pond add a great deal to this edition. They are well-placed to correspond with the discussion in the text, and they illuminate Thoreau's descriptive passages. The photographs, and the book itself, brought back reading and visiting memories and made me want to see Walden Pond again.

But much as Walden is revered for its descriptions of nature, the book remains for me primarily internalized and intropsective. Thoreau has many polemical things to say which will not, and should not, appeal to all readers. But the book documents the effort of an individual to try to understand his life, to reflect, and to understand change. As I have suggested, it is not an anti-social book as Thoreau was never far removed from friends and company. But it is a book about understanding one's life and learning not to be afraid of solitude or of being with oneself.

Robin Friedman

Editorial Review:

In August 1854, Houghton Mifflin"s predecessor, Ticknor & Fields, published a book called Walden; or, Life in the Woods, by a little-known writer named Henry Thoreau. At the time the book was largely ignored, but it has gone on to become one of the most widely read and influential works ever published, not only in this country but throughout the world. In August 2004 Houghton Mifflin, in association with the Walden Woods Project, will proudly publish a special 150th anniversary edition, beautifully illustrated with Scot Miller's spectacular color photographs, which are accompanied by historic black-and-white photographs and drawings. In the spirit of Thoreau, the book will be sensibly priced at $28.12, half a cent less than he spent building his cabin at Walden Pond.

Mark Twain's Helpful Hints for Good Living: A Handbook for the Damned Human Race

Mark Twain

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Irreverent, charming, eminently quotable, this handbook-an eccentric etiquette guide for the human race-contains sixty-nine aphorisms, anecdotes, whimsical suggestions, maxims, and cautionary tales from Mark Twain's private and published writings. It dispenses advice and reflections on family life and public manners; opinions on topics such as dress, health, food, and childrearing and safety; and more specialized tips, such as those for dealing with annoying salesmen and burglars. Culled from Twain's personal letters, autobiographical writings, speeches, novels, and sketches, these pieces are delightfully fresh, witty, startlingly relevant, and bursting with Twain's characteristic ebullience for life. They also remind us exactly how Mark Twain came to be the most distinctive and well-known American literary voice in the world. These texts, some of them new or out of print for decades, have been selected and meticulously prepared by the editors at the Mark Twain Project. Illustrations: 36 b/w photographs

Letters from the Earth

Mark Twain

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 43 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Not the whole book. 2 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I was disappointed when I received the book. Bernard Devos edited a collection of MT's late writings entitled _Letters from the Earth_, and that's what I expected. What I received was just those essays comprising "Letters from the Earth" that comprised a small part of the book. It did not include "Etiquette at a Funeral", "The Awful German Language", "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses", "On Repentance", and a number of other superb essays and stories.

Editorial Review:

"I have told you nothing about man that is not true." You must pardon me if I repeat that remark now and then in these letters; I want you to take seriously the things I am telling you, and I feel that if I were in your place and you in mine, I should need that reminder from time to time, to keep my credulity from flagging.

In Letters from the Earth, Twain presents himself as the Father of History -- reviewing and interpreting events from the Garden of Eden through the Fall and the Flood, translating the papers of Adam and his descendants through the generations. First published fifty years after his death, this eclectic collection is vintage Twain: sharp, witty, imaginative, complex, and wildly funny.

Roughing It (Enriched Classic Series)

Mark Twain

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Total reviews: 32 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Though known throughout the world for his fictional novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain was also a skilled chronicler of his own life and experiences. In his youth, Twain traveled extensively throughout the untamed American West with his brother, working his way from town to town in a variety of jobs, including gold prospector, reporter, and lecturer. Roughing It is Twain's personal recollection of his wanderlust years. It is a wildly humorous adventure yarn that combines hard facts with a healthy dose of the author's unique perspective, one that helped define the course of American literature.

Pocket Books' Enriched Classics present the great works of world literature enriched for the contemporary reader. This edition of Roughing It has been prepared by Professor Henry B. Wonham of the University of Oregon. It includes his introduction, notes, selection of critical excerpts, and suggestions for further reading as well as a unique visual essay of period illustrations and photographs.

The Last of the Mohicans (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

James Fenimore Cooper

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Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The Last of the Mohicans, by James Fenimore Cooper, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics:

New introductions commissioned from today's top writers and scholars Biographies of the authors Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events Footnotes and endnotes Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work Comments by other famous authors Study questions to challenge the reader's viewpoints and expectations Bibliographies for further reading Indices & Glossaries, when appropriateAll editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influences—biographical, historical, and literary—to enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works.

 

During the fierce French and Indian wars, an adroit scout named Hawkeye and his companion Chingachgook weave through the spectacular and dangerous wilderness of upstate New York, fighting to save the beautiful Munro sisters from the Huron renegade Magua.

The Last of the Mohicans is the most popular of James Fenimore Cooper’s five Leatherstocking Tales. With its death-defying chases and teeth-clenching suspense, this American classic established many archetypes of American frontier fiction.

An engrossing “Western” by America’s first great novelist, The Last of the Mohicans is a story of survival and treachery, love and deliverance.

Stephen Railton, Professor of English at the University of Virginia, has written books on Cooper, Mark Twain, and the American Renaissance, and has created major websites on Twain, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and American culture.

The Scarlet Letter

Nathaniel Hawthorne

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 404 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

A wonderful piece of literature, however 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I completely agree with most HS students that this book should be optional reading for them because HS teachers should very well know that there are many different minds that need very different kinds of reading material and exposure to variety is not always a good thing that's why you end up having reviews of books like this by some HS students who puke on it rather then have savored it like I did. My reasons for really loving this book is because of the historical/puritan life and manners I like to read about, I love human struggle and the need to understand inner feelings of character, and I like knowing about how communities deal with religious matters. Can you blame me for being such a sentimental person? Yes, the book is written at the 5th grade level, and some people still do read at that level so this may be a reason why it's survived for such a long time. In any case, don't have it on your book shelf if it's not your cup of tea; with me, it will always be a treasure.

Editorial Review:

Nathaniel Hawthorne nacio el 4 de julio de 1804 en Salem, antano gran puerto de mar, en una familia de comerciantes y capitanes entonces ya en decadencia. Fue criado por su madre viuda en una casa encantada. En todos los textos del autor cabe hallar detalles sobre la vida familiar, que su imaginacion concibio, de una manera obsesiva y, al mismo tiempo, con un caracteristico humorismo ironico. Entre sus primeros antepasados figuro el juez Hathorne, perseguidor de brujas. Otro de sus antecesores espirituales fue el teologo puritano Jonathan Edwards.

The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain

Charles Neider

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

5 stars for the work and 3 stars for the edition. 4 out of 5 stars.
12 of 12 people found this review helpful.

Ok, now I don't think I need to go on about Mark Twain's genius and how it is essential reading for anyone who fancies themselves a fan of classic American literature, he's number two on my list of great American writers. His work is of the sort that will make you laugh out loud no matter how much you try to hold it in. It's easy to look crazy when reading Mark Twain in public. Now about the edition...is it bad? Well not in this reader's opinion and certainly not to the extent that like a fellow reviewer I'd give it 1 star. The content is there and is far from the exaggerated description given in other reviews. You don't have to tear the book apart to read it's contents. This is a compact edition and fitting lots of stories in only 600 pages for a very affordable price. Quantity versus quality? Ever heard quantity has a quality all it's own? It applies here. You can get all these stories for one low price. You can even toss it around and not have a guilty conscience that you are dismembering a treasure.

Editorial Review:

For deft plotting, riotous inventiveness, unforgettable characters, and language that brilliantly captures the lively rhythms of American speech, no American writer comes close to Mark Twain. This sparkling anthology covers the entire span of Twain’s inimitable yarn-spinning, from his early broad comedy to the biting satire of his later years.

Every one of his sixty stories is here: ranging from the frontier humor of “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” to the bitter vision of humankind in “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg,” to the delightful hilarity of “Is He Living or Is He Dead?” Surging with Twain’s ebullient wit and penetrating insight into the follies of human nature, this volume is a vibrant summation of the career of–in the words of H. L. Mencken–“the father of our national literature.”