Central Kansas Library System

Wilde the writer is known to us from his plays and prose fiction, but apparently it was in his conversation that his genius reached its summit. His talk is lost and his autobiography was never written, but his letters reveal him at his spontaneous, sparkling best. Wilde the writer is known to us from his plays and prose fiction, yet it was in his conversation that his genius reached its summit. His talk is lost, his autobiography was never written,...

A Memoir of Jane Austen is the Austen family's memoir of the beloved 19th century English novelist. Written and compiled by Austen's nephew, James Edward Austen-Leigh, A Memoir of Jane Austen reveals the author as her family knew her, while at the same time protecting the author's privacy in keeping with the Victorian conventions of the time. A Memoir of Jane Austen did, however, reveal for the first time Austen's authorship of such classic stories...

This biography of philosopher, scientist, and writer Sir Francis Bacon (1561—1626), part of the “English Men of Letters” series, is an invaluable resource for students of history. Bacon, a highly influential figure in his era, is considered the father of scientific empiricism, and is also believed by some to have written some of the plays attributed to Shakespeare.

"The Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau" is a one-of-a-kind autobiography. Up until its publication in 1782, only two autobiographies had ever been written, and both were written by devout religious saints. Highly scandalous yet witty in nature, calling Rousseau's work an "autobiography" is a loose categorization of the text, as many of the stories and tales have been proven false, yet Rousseau told the truth about the spirit of his life through...

A chemist's life is transformed by the wonders of selling snake oil in this satire of early–twentieth century capitalism by the author of The Time Machine. As a young assistant chemist, George Ponderevo rode his uncle's coattails to a great fortune. His uncle Edward's meteoric rise was all thanks to a miraculous patent medicine, Tono-Bungay-which George knew to be nothing more than sugar water. Though it provided none of its promised curative...

This vintage book (first published in 1948) contains a short biography of Mark Twain, with a wonderful selection of humourous and often aphoristic quotations taken from his writings. This concise and easy-to-digest text is full of interesting and entertaining information concerning Mr. Twain, and is highly recommended for those with an interest in his life and mind. A profusely illustrated antiquarian volume, this book is not to be missed by the discerning...

This biography of poet Edmund Spenser (c. 1552—1599), is an invaluable source for students of Spenser. Unparalleled in its information about one of the greatest poets in the English language, Church illuminates the life of a man who is best known for his epic poem “The Faerie Queene”, an adventure-filled tale that is also an allegory about living a moral, virtuous life.

Una colección de historias cortas llenas de valores morales y valiosas lecciones de vida. Aunque se centra en las tradiciones y estilos de vida de la gente de una pequeña ciudad siciliana, este libro cubre una variedad de sensaciones basadas en creencias religiosas, mitos, leyendas tradicionales, devoción, fuerza y valor, todas las características que a menudo damos por sentadas o que son algo descuidado en las ciudades más modernas. Se trata...

H. D. Traill examines the life of Laurence Sterne, from his clergyman days to the scandals created by his comic and bawdy novel The Life and Opinions of Tristam Shandy, Gentleman. This biography reveals a story about a man who discovered his literary talents late in life to become a man of notoriety and wealth.

This 1878 volume in the English Men of Letters series explores the life of Edward Gibbon, author of “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”. According to a contemporary review by Mark Pattison in the Academy, "Future numbers of the series may imitate, they cannot surpass, the present specimen." A splendid perspective on the life of an intriguing man.