Literature

First published in 1941, the novel went through several editorial changes due in some part to the explosive nature of the times. The looming threat of Nazi censorship impacted everything in Europe during this time. It was eventually published in 1942 in its final form. The 1946 version translated by Stuart Gilbert became the standard English translation in 1946. Although...

From: Literature Guides

Themes Identity Harry sees himself as comprised of two exclusive selves. He is the wolf who longs to be alone and free of societal constraints. Yet he is torn by his other half which identifies with tame bourgeois society. While he longs to break free of culture, he is drawn to culture. His drive for wild solitude is always compromised...

From: Literature Guides

Introduction Herman Hesse’s 1927 novel, Steppenwolf¸ in many ways expresses the profound doubts and conflicts Hesse went through at the time that he was writing the novel. The book explores the idea that all people have within them multiple and conflicting aspects of their nature. In Steppenwolf, the protagonist seems to be made of two main character types, the wolf...

From: Literature Guides

Full Title: Tess of the d’Urbervilles Author: Thomas Hardy Time of Writing: 1880’s, England Date of First Publication: 1891 Setting: Wessex, Southwest of England Conflict: Tess is seduced, left pregnant and then abandoned by the son of a wealthy family, making her true love unable to accept her as worthy later in life.

From: Literature Guides

Key Facts Lewis Carroll, or Charles Dodgson, got the beginnings of Alice in Wonderland during an outing with the three young daughters of Henry Liddell, the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University and Dean of Christ Church. As they rowed a boat on the river, Dodgson invented the tale to amuse the young girls, and one of them, Alice Liddell, asked him to...

From: Literature Guides

CONTENTS Introduction Published in 1932, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is a dystopian vision set 600 years in the future in which technology has diminished the place of human feeling and human life. The novel envisions a world in which the stability of the state takes precedence over any and all human concerns. This is taken to such and extreme...

From: Literature Guides

Introduction Shortly after completing Alice in Wonderland Lewis Carrol (the name Charles Dodgson used for a pseudonym) began writing a sequel. This became Through the Looking Glass. Again inspired by young Alice Liddell, Dodgson crafted another magical world of adventure and adversity for a young heroine who must find her own way amid a world which obeys no conventional logic. Filled...

From: Literature Guides

Characters and Analysis Ivan Veen: The free-wheeling son of an aristocratic family. We see him mature from a schoolboy to an accomplished scholar to a scholar poet. Though he bounces from one lover to another, the one love of his life is Ada. This love lasts for more than 80 years. Through numerous convolutions of family interference and accident, Van eventually...

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Key Facts Princess Bride is not an actual abridgment at all and is in fact William Goldman’s work entirely. Goldman wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of the novel directed by Rob Reiner in 1987 with Cary Elwes as Westley , Robin Wright as Buttercup and Billy Crystal as Miracle Max. The film adaptation earned The 1988 Hugo Award for...

From: Literature Guides

Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” was published in 1798 in the “Lyrical Ballads.”  It is about how a Mariner pays for his cruel and impulsive killing of an Albatross, and how the punishment of Life in Death is reserved for him. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner BY SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE Part I It...

From: Poem Examples