Excerpt: The Morte Darthur was finished, as the epilogue tells us, in the ninth year of Edward IV., i.e. between March 4, 1469 and the same date in 1470. It is thus, fitly enough, the last important English book written before the introduction of printing into this country, and since no manuscript of it has come down to us it is also the first English classic for our knowledge of which we are entirely dependent on a printed text. Caxton?s story of how the book was brought to him and he was induced to print it may be read farther on in his own preface. From this we learn also that he was not only the printer of the book, but to some extent its editor also, dividing Malory?s work into twentyone books, splitting up the books into chapters, by no means skilfully, and supplying the ?Rubrish? or chapter-headings. It may be added that Caxton?s preface contains, moreover, a brief criticism which, on the points on which it touches, is still the soundest and most sympathetic that has been written....

Excerpt: I write this by desire of my brothers and sisters, that if any reports of our strange family history should come down to after generations the thing may be properly understood. The old times at Trevorsham seem to me so remote, that I can hardly believe that we are the same who were so happy then. Nay, Jaquetta laughs, and declares that it is not possible to be happier than we have been since, and Fulk would have me remember that all was not always smooth even in those days....

Contents CHAPTER I. SAULT ST. PIERRE.................................................................................................. 4 CHAPTER II. TREVORSHAM..................................................................................................... 10 CHAPTER III. THE PEERAGE CASE........................................................................................ 23 CHAPTER IV. SKIMPING?S FARM............................................................................................ 35 CHAPTER V. SPINNEY LAWN .................................................................................................... 44 CHAPTER VI. THE WHITE DOE?S WARNING ....................................................................... 51 CHAPTER VII. HUNTING............................................................................................................ 60 CHAPTER VIII. DUCK SHOOTING........................................................................................... 64 CHAPTER IX. TREVOR?S LEGACY......................................................................................... 70...

Excerpt: Notes on Life and Letters by Joseph Conrad.

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 .....................

Considered a change agent in early Gothic romance; oft-referenced in later literary works or paid homage to by such authors as Jane Austen (influential novel ready by her heroine, Catherine Morland, in Northanger Abbey ); Edgar Allen Poe (borrowed plot elements for the short story The Oval Portrait ); and Sir Walter Scott. - In The Mysteries of Udolpho , one of the most famous and popular gothic novels of the eighteenth century, Ann Radcliffe took a new tack from her predecessors and portrayed her heroine's inner life, creating an atmosphere thick with fear, and providing a gripping plot that continues to thrill readers today. - The Mysteries of Udolpho , set in Europe in the year 1584, is the story of orphan Emily St. Aubert, who finds herself separated from the man she loves and confined within the medieval castle of her aunt's new husband, Montoni, after being forced to travel through France and Italy. Inside the castle, she must cope with an unwanted suitor, Montoni's threats, and the wild imaginings and terrors that threaten to overwhelm her. - The mysterious happenings in the story always have a natural and probable explanatio...

Horror/Ghost stories, Literature, Fiction

Excerpt: Prayers Written at Vailima and a Lowden Sabbath Morn by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Contents Prayers Written At Vailima ...........................................................................4 FOR SUCCESS................................................................................................................................ 6 FOR GRACE.................................................................................................................................... 7 AT MORNING ................................................................................................................................. 7 EVENING ......................................................................................................................................... 7 ANOTHER FOR EVENING........................................................................................................... 8 IN TIME OF RAIN .......................................................................................................................... 8 ANOTHER IN TIME OF RAIN ..................................................................................................... 8 BEFORE A TEMPORARY SEPARATION ...................................

Introduction: In September of the year during the February of which Hawthorne had completed ?The Scarlet Letter,? he began ?The House of the Seven Gables.? Meanwhile, he had removed from Salem to Lenox, in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, where he occupied with his family a small red wooden house, still standing at the date of this edition, near the Stockbridge Bowl....

Excerpt: DEDICATION. The word lorette is a euphemism invented to describe the status of a personage, or a personage of a status, of which it is awkward to speak; the French Academie, in its modesty, having omitted to supply a definition out of regard for the age of its forty members. Whenever a new word comes to supply the place of an unwieldy circumlocution, its fortune is assured; the word lorette has passed into the language of every class of society, even where the lorette herself will never gain an entrance. It was only invented in 1840, and derived beyond a doubt from the agglomeration of such swallows? nests about the Church of Our Lady of Loretto. This information is for etymoligists only. Those gentlemen would not be so often in a quandary if mediaeval writers had only taken such pains with details of contemporary manners as we take in these days of analysis and description....

Excerpt: I have made for you a song, And it may be right or wrong, But only you can tell me if it?s true; I have tried for to explain Both your pleasure and your pain, And, Thomas, here?s my best respects to you!...

Contents Dedication ........................................................................................................................................ 5 Danny Deever ................................................................................................................................... 6 Tommy ............................................................................................................................................... 8 Fuzzy-Wuzzy ................................................................................................................................... 10 Soldier, Soldier................................................................................................................................ 13 Screw-Guns ..................................................................................................................................... 15 Cells ................................................................................................................................................. 18 Gunga Din .......................................................................................

Charlotte Temple, a cautionary tale for young women, follows the unfortunate adventures of the eponymous heroine as she is seduced by a dashing soldier, Montraville. Influenced by both her lover and an unruly teacher at her boarding school, she is persuaded to run away to America, where she is eventually abandoned by Montraville after he becomes bored, leaving her alone and pregnant. First published in England in 1791, it went on to become America's bestselling novel, only being ousted by Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. (Summary by BumbleVee)...

Fiction, Literature, Romance

Excerpt: Two Poets by Honore de Balzac, translated by Ellen Marriage.

Excerpt: Welcome to the second volume of the Best of Four. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we have enjoyed bringing it to you. The primary purpose of Best of Four is to bring the best writing produced in English 004 to the widest possible audience. Our students have important stories to tell and powerful voices waiting to be harnessed. The students who read these essays will learn that they too have permission to state what is important to them in a public voice....

Contents 5 ............................................................................................... How to Use This Magazine 6 .................................................................................................... What Is College Writing? 7 ........................................................................................................... The Writing Process 8 ............................................................................................................. Writing for a Public 10 .............................................................................. Boston?s Treasure by Julio Rodriguez 11 ..................................................................................... Life is a Beach by Gerard Delisio 13 ................................................................................................ Dreamland by Mat Ciprich 14 ............................................................................... The Central Hotel by Jacob Gerhard 15 ....................................................................... My Hero, Uncle Bob by Deirdre Haubert 16 .............................

Excerpt: ONE THING was certain, that the white kitten had had nothing to do with it: --it was the black kitten?s fault entirely. For the white kitten had been having its face washed by the old cat for the last quarter of an hour (and bearing it pretty well, considering); so you see that it couldn?t have had any hand in the mischief. Through the Looking Glass The way Dinah washed her children?s faces was this: first she held the poor thing down by its ear with one paw, and then with the other paw she rubbed its face all over, the wrong way, beginning at the nose: and just now, as I said, she was hard at work on the white kitten, which was lying quite still and trying to purr --no doubt feeling that it was all meant for its good. But the black kitten had been finished with earlier in the afternoon, and so, while Alice was sitting curled up in a corner of the great arm-chair, half talking to herself and half asleep, the kitten had been having a grand game of romps with the ball of worsted Alice had been trying to wind up, and had been rolling it up and down till it had all come undone again; and there it was, spread over the hearth-rug...

Table of Contents: I. Looking-Glass House, 1 -- II. The Garden of Live Flowers, 14 -- III. Looking-Glass Insects, 23 -- IV. Tweedledum and Tweedledee, 33 -- V. Wool and Water, 47 -- VI. Humpty Dumpty, 57 -- VII. The Lion and the Unicorn, 68 -- VIII. ?It?s my own Invention?, 78 -- IX. Queen Alice, 92 -- X. Shaking, 107 -- XI. Waking, 108 -- XII. Which Dreamed it?, 110...

Before we ascend to the thoughts and deeds of Keloğlan, it may be desirable to explore the foundations of Turkish oral literature, which enjoys its share of archetypes. One such internationally known character is Nasreddin Hoja (or, Hoca), representing the voice of reason in a witty manner. On one occasion, Nasreddin borrows a kazan (large cauldron) from his neighbor. When Nasreddin returns the kazan, the neighbor sees that there is a small cooking pot in the bottom. He asks Nasreddin: "What is this?" Nasreddin replies: "Apparently the kazan had been pregnant and it has given birth to this small pot." The neighbor unquestioningly accepts the kazan and the pot. Some weeks later, Nasreddin wishes to borrow the same kazan. The neighbor is only too happy to oblige. This time, a month passes. The neighbor calls on Nasreddin to inquire about his kazan. Nasreddin, with a concerned look, announces: "I am sorry, but your kazan died." The neighbor is puzzled. Then becoming angry, he demands: "How could it die?" "You believed that it gave birth, why do you not believe that it died?" ...

On another celebrated occasion, which took place over some eight centuries ago, Nasreddin again demonstrates the necessity of experimental science and reasoning: One day Nasreddin brings home three pounds of meat, expecting his wife to cook it for dinner. At dinner-time, Nasreddin finds no meat on the table. He asks his wife, "What happened to the meat?" His wife replies, "The cat ate it." Nasreddin breezes into the kitchen, puts the cat on the scales, and discovers the cat to be weighing three pounds. Nasreddin quizzically questions the result, "If the meat I brought home weighed three pounds, then, where is the cat? And, if this happens to be the cat, then what happened to the meat?" ...

Table of Contents Preface Introduction Keloğlan from Dream to Throne Keloğlan and His Wise Brother Tekerleme The Keloğlan Who Would Not Tell The Keloğlan Who Guarded the Door How Keloğlan Stole Köroğlu’s Horse, Kırat, for Hasan Pasa Man Persecuted Beause of Wife’s Great Beauty How Hasan and Hasan Differed from Hasan The Heavy Headed Keloğlan The Magic Bird, The Magic Fruit, and the Magic Stick The Pomegranate Thief and the Padişah’s Sons The Blind Padişah with Three Sons The Padişah’s Youngest Son as Dragon-Slayer Keloğlan as Dead Bridegroom How Keloğlan Got a Bride for a Chickpea Keloğlan and the Sheep in the Sea Keloğlan and the Sheep in the River Keloğlan and the Lost but Recovered Ring Keloğlan and the Deceived Judge The Maligned Maiden Keloğlan and the Mirror The Successful Youngest Daughter The Shepherd Who Came as Ali and Returned as a Girl Keloğlan and the Girl Who Traveled Nightly to the Other World The Keloğlan and the Padişah’s Youngest Daughter The Shepherd Who Married a Princess But Became Padişah of Another Country Keloğlan Turns the Shoes How Keloğlan Drowned His Mother-in-Law Keloğlan an...

A collection of poems by Jan De Raeymaeker

-- LOCKED LIPS -- And if lips become locked Should we scramble In search of a key Or should we not, let them be And witness the long silent linger ...

-- TABLE OF CONTENTS -- The mirror .....................4 Tree felled ....................5 Inspire ........................6 Digging spuds ..................7 Locked Lips ....................8 Gravel .........................9 Swimming .......................10 Wrinkles .......................15 Unbalanced .....................16 About Hurling ..................17 Heavenly path ..................18 Thick Fog ......................19 Slug chicane ...................20 Lou Reed .......................21 Wasps ..........................22 Chewing the cud ................23 Her manly hands ................24 Lump ...........................25 Two ducks at dusk ..............26 The world is a buzzing fly .....27 Overlay ........................28 Contradiction ..................29 A clock always ticks ...........30 Whiteout .......................31 Crisp notes ....................32 The old man ....................33 His silent howl ................34 Tommy ..........................35 Born for fire ..................36 Dance ..........................37 Guarding Leinster...

A narrative wandering through the tribulations of working for a family-owned, privately-run French hotel and the various hurdles involved in dealing with guests. Every chapter comes alive through Fool's descriptions and illustrative narration....

I’m a desk clerk in a small privately-owned hotel, and that’s an awkward situation for me because, fundamentally I’m an inward, and by that I mean socially inept, individual. Dealing with strangers on a daily basis is not just difficult for me—demanding an exuberance for my fellow man which I simply do not posses—it is slightly painful at times, at times embarrassing. And, because I have a very low tolerance for either idiocy or pretence, sometimes it becomes almost unbearable. It’s natural, I think, at this point for you to ask how I managed to get into this situation. I’ve gnawed on that so many times that I’ve shattered teeth in the process, but that will be explained in time. The mystery is how I remain. Why FATE should waste so much effort keeping me in this utterly hopeless, painful and senseless situation is beyond me. Clearly the gods have taken a real disliking to Henry Edward Fool....

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The Mosaic is a collection of writing from international students at Brigham Young University-Hawaii. Read poetry, short stories and personal experiences by students from more than 10 different countries as they use English as a common language to share what matters in their lives....

...I grew up on my family’s small farm and helped my parents in their everyday work. I stayed on the farm without going school. I did not go far away from home; I stayed to help my parents. When I turned seven, my parents told me that I needed to go to school, which was 20 km away from our home, in a small town. I was excited, and I could not wait to go to school. On September 1st of 1991, by 7 AM, I was ready to leave my home. Mum and I rode on horseback and started our journey to the school. She enrolled me in the school and a school dorm, and left me there. She said she would come back to pick me up on Friday......

Who Am I? My Evil Sister Vs. My Evil Self Three Dreams Where the Light Enters You Teach me How to Dance Almost the End of the World The Book of Mormon Saving the Face of Hawaii Nature My Best The Broadway Incident The Biggest Disappointment Peculiar Letter from Hell Oye Tu! Remember not to Forget Globalization: Good or Bad for Developing Countries? Comfort Stations Homecoming Nature Mistaking Process Journey for Education ...