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Poetry

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The stories about Münchhausen were first collected and published by an anonymous author in 1781. An English version was published in London in 1785, by Rudolf Erich Raspe, as Baron Munchhausen's Narrative of his Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in Russia , also called The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchhausen . It is not clear how much of the story material derives from the Baron himself; however, it is known that the majority of the stories are based on folktales that have been in circulation for many centuries before Münchhausen's birth....

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Fiction, Fantasy

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volunteers bring you nine different readings of Clement C. Moore's 'Twas the Night Before Christmas , a weekly poetry project. (Summary by Annie Coleman)...

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Poetry, Holiday

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volunteers bring you 20 different recordings of A Word Is Dead, by Emily Dickinson. This was the weekly poetry for the week of July 06, 2008.

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Poetry

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The Prisoner of Zenda tells the story of Rudolf Rassendyll, an English gentleman on holiday in Ruritania, a country not a thousand miles from Bavaria. There, by reason of his resemblance to the King of Ruritania he becomes involved in saving the King’s Life and his Throne from the King’s dastardly brother and his allies. Woods, moated castles, pomp, swordplay, gallantry, villainy and a beautiful princess. What story could ask for more? Sir Anthony Hope-Hawkins, A moderately successful barrister and novelist, published 'The Prisoner of Zenda' in 1894. Since then it has never been out of print and has spawned plays, operettas, musicals, several films and TV series. He subsequently wrote other novels, but none achieved similar success except perhaps ‘Rupert of Hentzau’, a sequel to the ‘Prisoner’. (Summary by Andy Minter)...

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Adventure

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I sing the Song of Hiawatha, Brave of heart and strong of arm. Daughter's son of old Nokomis, Fathered by the harsh West Wind. With its regular, beating rhythm, the Song of Hiawatha has often been parodied, but in truth, it is a powerful, emotional epic; a hero's life, his loves and suffering. The legends and traditions of the North American Indian swirl together through the tale like a mountain stream, tumbling white over the rocks, and caressing the mossy tree roots. (Summary by Peter Yearsley) [introduction by Woodrow Morris]...

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Poetry

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Emily Dickinson has come to be regarded as one of the quintessential poets of 19th century America. A very private poet with a very quiet and reclusive life, her poetry was published posthumously and immediately found a wide audience. While she echoed the romantic natural themes of her times, her style was much more free and irregular, causing many to criticize her and editors to correct her. In the early 20th century, when poetic style had become much looser, new audiences learned to appreciate her work. Here collected are many of her most contemplative, most rebellious, and dark works, expressing her frustrations with the behavioral confines of her times, and the confines of being human and unknowing of eternity. (Summary by Becky Miller)...

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Poetry

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When Lucy Honeychurch travels to Italy with her cousin, she meets George Emerson, a bohemian and an atheist who falls in love with her. Upon her return to England, she is forced to choose between free-spirited George and her more conventional fiancé, Cecil Vyse. The story is both a romance and a critique of English society at the beginning of the 20th century. (Summary from wikipedia)...

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Romance, Fiction, Literature

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The Decameron (subtitle: Prencipe Galeotto) is a collection of 100 novellas by Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio, probably begun in 1350 and finished in 1353. It is a medieval allegorical work best known for its bawdy tales of love, appearing in all its possibilities from the erotic to the tragic. Many notable writers such as Shakespeare and Chaucer are said to have borrowed from The Decameron. (from Wikipedia)...

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Fiction, Literature, Short stories

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This delightful novel begins when a family of five children moves from London to the English countryside. While playing in a gravel pit soon after the move, they discover an ancient and rather grumpy sand-fairy known as the Psammead, who agrees to grant one wish of theirs per day. The children’s wishes send them on adventure after adventure, but rarely turn out as expected. (Summary by Kara)...

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Children, Adventure, Fantasy

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Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature. Among Molière's best-known works is Tartuffe or The Hypocrite , written in 1664. Though Tartuffe was received well by the public and even by Louis XIV, its popularity was lessened when the Archbishop of Paris issued an edict threatening excommunication for anyone who watched, performed in, or read the play. Tartuffe, a pious fraud who pretends to speak with divine authority, has insinuated himself into the household of Orgon. When Orgon announces that his daughter Mariane is to marry Tartuffe instead of her fiance Valère, the rest of the family realizes the extent of Tartuffe's influence over Orgon. Tartuffe tries to seduce Orgon's wife Elmire, who traps him into revealing to Orgon his intentions toward her. Orgon throws Tartuffe out of the house, Tartuffe returns with an order of eviction for the family, and at the final moment the tables are turned and the play ends happily. (Summary by Wikipedia and Laurie Anne Walden)...

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Satire, Comedy

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The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) is a tragic novel by English author Thomas Hardy subtitled, The Life and Death of a Man of Character. It is set in the fictional town of Casterbridge (based on the town of Dorchester in Dorset). The book is one of Hardy's Wessex novels, all set in a fictional rustic England. (Wikipedia)A poor, disgruntled, drunken young man sells his wife and child to the highest bidder. When he awakens, sober, the next day he regrets his rash act and vows to give up drink and find his family and bring them home. Eventually he is forced to give up the search and move on with his life. He does this quite successfully until, nearly 20 years later, his past comes back to haunt him. (DebraLynn)...

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Literature, Fiction

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Perhaps Edgar Allen Poe's most famous poem, the Raven is a macabre exploration of a man, his memories of Lenore, and the black bird that interrupts his studies on a dark December night, with tap-tap-tapping at his chamber door. (Summary by Hugh)...

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Animals, Poetry

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Children's and Household Tales (German: Kinder- und Hausmärchen) is a collection of German origin fairy tales first published in 1812 by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, the Brothers Grimm. The collection is commonly known today as Grimms' Fairy Tales (German: Grimms Märchen). ( Summary by Wikipedia )...

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Children, Fairy tales, Fiction, Fantasy, Teen/Young adult

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Excerpt: Towards the middle of the month of May, in the year 1660, at nine o?clock in the morning, when the sun, already high in the heavens, was fast absorbing the dew from the ramparts of the castle of Blois a little cavalcade, composed of three men and two pages, re-entered the city by the bridge, without producing any other effect upon the passengers of the quay beyond a first movement of the hand to the head, as a salute, and a second movement of the tongue to express, in the purest French then spoken in France: ?There is Monsieur returning from hunting.? And that was all....

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Excerpt: Prefatory Note: The execution of this version of the Iliad has been entrusted to the three Translators in the following three parts: Each Translator is therefore responsible for his own portion; but the whole has been revised by all three Translators, and the rendering of passages or phrases recurring in more than one portion has been determined after deliberation in common. Even in these, however, a certain elasticity has been deemed desirable....

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The Count of Monte Cristo (French: Le Comte de Monte-Cristo ) is an adventure novel by Alexandre Dumas, père. It is often considered, along with The Three Musketeers , as Dumas's most popular work. The writing of the work was completed in 1844. Like many of his novels, it is expanded from the plot outlines suggested by his collaborating ghostwriter Auguste Maquet.The story takes place in France, Italy, islands in the Mediterranean and the Levant during the historical events of 1815–1838 (from just before the Hundred Days through the reign of Louis-Philippe of France). The historical setting is a fundamental element of the book. It is primarily concerned with themes of justice, vengeance, mercy, and forgiveness, and is told in the style of an adventure story. (Summary from Wikipedia)...

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Romance, Adventure

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The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century (two of them in prose, the rest in verse). The tales, some of which are originals and others not, are contained inside a frame tale and told by a group of pilgrims on their way from Southwark to Canterbury to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. The themes of the tales vary, and include topics such as courtly love, treachery, and avarice. The genres also vary, and include romance, Breton lai, sermon, beast fable, and fabliau. The characters, introduced in the General Prologue of the book, tell tales of great cultural relevance. The version read here was edited by D. Laing Purves “for popular perusal” and the language is mostly updated. ( Gesine)...

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Historical Fiction

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Baby's Own Aesop presents the fables as one-stanza limericks, each pictorially pointed by Walter Crane, the noted painter and illustrator. He apprenticed to master wood-engraver, William James Linton, who furnished the draft of the book's poems for Crane to edit. Baby's Own Aesop is available in a beautiful http://www.childrenslibrary.org/icdl/SaveBook?bookid=crababy_00150086&lang=English facsimile edition of colored engravings from the International Children's Digital Library, with which your child can read along while listening to the recording. (Summary by Denny Sayers)...

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Children, Animals, Poetry

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This version of the classic tale of the three bears has a heroine named Golden Hair. The jolly bears, instead of chasing her away from their home, come to live with her at Grandmother's house. The recording can be enjoyed by itself, or you can read along with the Library of Congress facsimile version from the International Children’s Digital Library: http://www.childrenslibrary.org/icdl/LinkToBook?bookid=denthre_00150032〈=English Here....

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Children, Animals, Fairy tales

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Apart from Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow - the pieces which made both Irving and The Sketch Book famous - other tales include Roscoe, The Broken Heart, The Art of Book-making, A Royal Poet, The Spectre Bridegroom, Westminster Abbey, Little Britain, and John Bull. His stories were highly influenced by German folktales, with The Legend of Sleepy Hollow being inspired by a folktale recorded by Karl Musäus. Stories range from the maudlin (such as The Wife and The Widow and Her Son) to the picaresque (Little Britain) and the comical (The Mutability of Literature), but the common thread running through The Sketch Book — and a key part of its attraction to readers — is the personality of Irving's pseudonymous narrator, Geoffrey Crayon. Erudite, charming, and never one to make himself more interesting than his tales, Crayon holds The Sketch Book together through the sheer power of his personality - and Irving would, for the rest of his life, seamlessly enmesh Crayon's persona with his own public reputation....

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Short stories, Fiction

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A Tale of Two Cities (1859) is a historical novel by Charles Dickens; it is moreover a moral novel strongly concerned with themes of guilt, shame, redemption and patriotism. The plot centers on the years leading up to French Revolution and culminates in the Jacobin Reign of Terror. It tells the story of two men, Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton, who look very alike but are entirely different in character.(Summary from wikipedia)...

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Historical Fiction

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Excerpt: BOOK I; Of Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal tast Brought Death into the World, and all our woe, With loss of EDEN, till one greater Man Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat, Sing Heav?nly Muse, that on the secret top Of OREB, or of SINAI, didst inspire That Shepherd, who first taught the chosen Seed, In the Beginning how the Heav?ns and Earth Rose out of CHAOS: Or if SION Hill Delight thee more, and SILOA?S Brook that flow?d Fast by the Oracle of God; I thence Invoke thy aid to my adventrous Song, That with no middle flight intends to soar Above th? AONIAN Mount, while it pursues Things unattempted yet in Prose or Rhime. And chiefly Thou O Spirit, that dost prefer Before all Temples th? upright heart and pure, Instruct me, for Thou know?st; Thou from the first Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread Dove-like satst brooding on the vast Abyss And mad?st it pregnant: What in me is dark Illumine, what is low raise and support; That to the highth of this great Argument I may assert th? Eternal Providence, And justifie the wayes of God to men. Say first, for Heav?n hides nothi...

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Table of Contents: BOOK I., 1 -- BOOK II., 20 -- BOOK III, 45 -- BOOK IV., 62 -- BOOK V., 86 -- BOOK VI., 108 -- BOOK VII., 130 -- BOOK VIII., 160 -- BOOK IX., 188 -- BOOK X., 214...

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The Iliad, together with the Odyssey, is one of two ancient Greek epic poems traditionally attributed to Homer. The poem is commonly dated to the 8th or 7th century BC, and many scholars believe it is the oldest extant work of literature in the Greek language, making it the first work of European literature. The existence of a single author for the poems is disputed as the poems themselves show evidence of a long oral tradition and hence, multiple authors. The poem concerns events during the tenth and final year in the siege of the city of Iliun, or Troy, by the Greeks. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia by Karen Merline.)...

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War stories, Poetry, Tragedy

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volunteers bring you 15 recordings of Adam and Eve (From “Paradise Lost,” Fourth Book) by John Milton. This was the Weekly Poetry project for Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 (though written nearly ten years earlier) in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse. A second edition followed in 1674, redivided into twelve books (in the manner of the division of Virgil's Aeneid) with minor revisions throughout and a note on the versification; most of the poem was written while Milton was blind, and was transcribed for him. Milton first presents Adam and Eve in Book IV with impartiality. The relationship between Adam and Eve is one of mutual dependence, not a relation of domination or hierarchy. While the author does place Adam above Eve in regard to his intellectual knowledge, and in turn his relation to God, he also grants Eve the benefit of knowledge through experience. ( Summary from Wikipedia)...

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Nature, Philosophy, Religion, Poetry

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Excerpt: A spectre is haunting Europe -- the spectre of Communism. All the Powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: Pope and Czar, Metternich and Guizot, French Radicals and German police- spies. Where is the party in opposition that has not been decried as Communistic by its opponents in power? Where the Opposition that has not hurled back the branding reproach of Communism, against the more advanced opposition parties, as well as against its reactionary adversaries? Two things result from this fact....

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Andrew Lang's Fairy Books or Andrew Lang's Coloured Fairy Books constitute a twelve-book series of fairy tale collections. Although Andrew Lang did not collect the stories himself from the oral tradition, the extent of his sources, who had collected them originally (with the notable exception of Madame d'Aulnoy), made them an immensely influential collection, especially as he used foreign-language sources, giving many of these tales their first appearance in English. As acknowledged in the prefaces, although Lang himself made most of the selections, his wife and other translators did a large portion of the translating and telling of the actual stories. The irony of Lang's life and work is that although he wrote for a profession—literary criticism; fiction; poems; books and articles on anthropology, mythology, history, and travel ... he is best recognized for the works he did not write.[1] Many of the books were illustrated by Henry J. Ford, Lancelot Speed, and G. P. Jacomb-Hood also contributed some illustrations....

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Fairy tales, Children, Fiction

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Excerpt: The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, Volume Two.

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Contents THE GENIUS AND POETRY OF POPE........................................................................................ 7 MORAL ESSAYS ............................................................................................................................ 25 EPISTLE I.?TO SIR RICHARD TEMPLE, LORD COBHAM.*............................................ 26 EPISTLE II.?TO A LADY. ........................................................................................................... 33 EPISTLE III.20............................................................................................................................... 40 ?TO ALLEN LORD BATHURST. ............................................................................................................................. 40 EPISTLE V. TO MR ADDISON..................................................................................................... 56 TRANSLATIONS AND IMITATIONS. ........................................................................................ 57 SAPPHO TO PHAON. ........................................................................................

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The Republic is a Socratic dialogue by Plato, written in approximately 380 BC. It is one of the most influential works of philosophy and political theory, and arguably Plato's best known work. In it, Socrates and various other Athenians and foreigners discuss the meaning of justice and whether the just man is happier than the unjust man by constructing an imaginary city ruled by philosopher-kings. The dialogue also discusses the nature of the philosopher, Plato's Theory of Forms, the conflict between philosophy and poetry, and the immortality of the soul. (Summary from Wikipedia)...

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Philosophy

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volunteers bring you 4 recordings of Fatherland by Sir Henry Parkes. This was the Weekly Poetry project for January 23rd, 2011. Sir Henry Parkes, GCMG (27 May 1815 – 27 April 1896) was an Australian statesman, the Father of Federation. As the earliest advocate of a Federal Council of the colonies of Australia, a precursor to the Federation of Australia, he is generally considered the most prominent of the Australian Founding Fathers. Parkes was described during his lifetime by The Times as the most commanding figure in Australian politics. Alfred Deakin described him as though not rich or versatile, his personality was massive, durable and imposing, resting upon elementary qualities of human nature elevated by a strong mind. He was cast in the mould of a great man and though he suffered from numerous pettinesses, spites and failings, he was in himself a large-brained self-educated Titan whose natural field was found in Parliament and whose resources of character and intellect enabled him in his later years to overshadow all his contemporaries. Parkes's literary work includes six volumes of verse, Stolen Moments (1842), Murmurs of th...

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History, Instruction, Literature, Poetry

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Excerpt: A green and yellow parrot, which hung in a cage outside the door, kept repeating over and over: ?Allez vous-en! Allez vous-en! Sapristi! That?s all right!? He could speak a little Spanish, and also a language which nobody understood, unless it was the mocking-bird that hung on the other side of the door, whistling his fluty notes out upon the breeze with maddening persistence....

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Contents THE AWAKENING........................................................................3 Beyond the Bayou.........................................................................86 Ma?ame Pelagie.............................................................................90 Desiree?s Baby...............................................................................95 A Respectable Woman..................................................................99 The Kiss.......................................................................................101 A Pair of Silk Stockings..............................................................103 The Locket..................................................................................106 A Reflection.................................................................................110...

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Excerpt: Chapter 1. Childhood and early education it seems proper that I should prefix to the following biographical sketch some mention of the reasons which have made me think it desirable that I should leave behind me such a memorial of so uneventful a life as mine. I do not for a moment imagine that any part of what I have to relate can be interesting to the public as a narrative or as being connected with myself. But I have thought that in an age in which education and its improvement are the subject of more, if not of profounder, study than at any former period of English history, it may be useful that there should be some record of an education which was unusual and remarkable, and which, whatever else it may have done, has proved how much more than is commonly supposed may be taught, and well taught, in those early years which, in the common modes of what is called instruction, are little better than wasted. It has also seemed to me that in an age of transition in opinions, there may be somewhat both of interest and of benefit in noting the successive phases of any mind which was always pressing forward, equally ready to lear...

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In this, the last of the Three Musketeers novels, Dumas builds on the true story of a mysterious prisoner held incognito in the French penal system, forced to wear a mask when seen by any but his jailer or his valet. If you have skipped the novels between The Three Musketeers and this, a few notes will bring you into the story: On one side – Aramis, now a bishop and secretly the Captain-General of the Jesuit Order, who believes he has found a path to a higher honor – the papacy. Monsieur Fouquet, the vastly rich minister of finance, Aramis’ ally. Philippe, the identical twin of King Louis XIV, who grew up in ignorance of his pedigree, and whose surrogate parents were murdered on the king’s order and himself sent into the notorious Paris prison, the Bastille, there held in solitary confinement. On the other side – King Louis XIV, selected as the twin who would be king by his mother, and who intends that his brother will never challenge him. Monsieur Colbert, first minister, who is jealous of Fouquet and plots his downfall. Unaligned and in danger of collateral damage – d’Artagnan, now captain of the King’s Musketeers and so the king’...

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Adventure, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literature, Romance

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Excerpt: Notes on Life and Letters by Joseph Conrad.

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Contents AUTHOR?S NOTE ........................................................................................................................................................ 5 PART I?LETTERS ........................................................................................................................................................ 8 BOOKS?1905 ............................................................................................................................................................. 8 HENRY JAMES?AN APPRECIATION?1905 ......................................................................................................... 15 ALPHONSE DAUDET?1898 .................................................................................................................................... 22 ANATOLE FRANCE?1904 ....................................................................................................................................... 32 STEPHEN CRANE?A NOTE WITHOUT DATES?1919 ......................................................................................... 46 TALES OF THE SEA?1898 .....................