Literature

Introduction Tess of the D’Urbervilles was first published in bowdlerized form in Graphic in 1891. It was released in book form later that same year. Thomas Hardy, who wrote Tess of the d'Urbervilles, subtitled the novel A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented because the author believed its heroine to be a woman of virtue who had fallen victim to the rigid Victorian moral code....

From: Literature Guides

The novel is fundamentally an exploration of Rand’s philosophy of rational selfishness, the belief that all virtue and vice is basically an expression of reason and that we are at root motivated by selfish impulses. To think otherwise is naïve and dangerous. Rand is at great pains to run counter to Marxism and the idea that selfishness is in reality...

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Quotations and Analysis “I have stayed these years in my hovel because of you. I have taught myself languages because of you. I have made my body strong because I thought you might be pleased by a strong body. I have lived my life with only the prayer that some sudden dawn you might glance in my direction. I have...

From: Literature Guides

CONTENTS General Introduction Set in the 1920s, The Sun Also Rises follows the lives of only a few characters who live in Europe in the aftermath of World War I. The novel explores the lives of the so-called Lost Generation, the young people whose lives were determined by the great war and its wreckage. Generally read as a modernist novel, Hemingway’s...

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Introduction Despite having gained minimal traction at the time of original publication, As I lay Dying has come to be regarded as William Falkner’s most prominent novels. Critics and readers alike were confused and put off by the books controversial subject matter, however, modern day readers and commentators have grown to appreciate the strong characters, abstract tone and striking narrative prose. This...

From: Literature Guides

Dream Deferred BY LANGSTON HUGHES What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up Like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore-- And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over-- like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode?

From: Poem Examples

Introduction In 1959 Vladimir Nabokov was working on two projects: “The Texture of Time” and “Letters from Terra.” By 1965 he started to see the two ideas as compatible and finally produced Ada, or Ardor: A Family Chronicle which was published in 1969. The work was initially met with mixed reviews and a tepid reception. Eventually The New York Times heralded the novel...

From: Literature Guides

Key Facts Full title: As I lay Dying Author: William Faulkner Genre: Satire, rural comedy, tragedy, Southern Gothic Narrator: First person narration, split between fifteen different characters The Movie:  As I Lay Dying is a 2013 American film, directed by and starring James Franco. The movie is largely based on the William Faulkner novel of the same name, originally published...

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CONTENTS When the novel To Kill a Mockingbird was out, it became an immediate success, which greatly surprised its author. However, the reviews varied. Some reviewers liked the author’s style, called her a skilled writer and found the book nationally significant; other found the book childish, melodramatic, or even immoral. Some noted than a six-year-old protagonist cannot think and speak...

From: Literature Guides

Important Themes Time and Space This theme is difficult because the novel in many ways mocks the very idea of this theme. Like his predecessors Joyce and Proust, Nabokov plays with the fixed notion of time and space throughout Ada. Russia and The United States seem to be completely dislodged from actual geographical facts. Terra and Antiterra exist as parodies...

From: Literature Guides