Autobiographical journal, with first-hand account of slavery in Georgia, first published in 1863. According to Wikipedia: "Frances Anne Kemble (27 November 1809 - 15 January 1893), was a famous British actress and author in the early and mid nineteenth century… In 1834, she retired from the stage to marry an American, Pierce Butler, grandson of the Founding Father Pierce Butler, and heir to a large fortune founded on cotton, tobacco and rice... Butler squandered a fortune estimated at $700,000, but was saved from bankruptcy by the March 2–3, 1859 sale of his 436 slaves at Ten Broeck racetrack, outside Savannah, Georgia—the largest single slave auction in American history. Following the American Civil War, he tried to make his plantations profitable with free labor, but was unsuccessful. Butler died in Georgia, of malaria, in 1867. Neither he nor Fanny ever remarried... In 1877, Fanny returned to England, where she lived using her maiden name till her death. During this period, Fanny Kemble was a prominent and popular figure in the social life of London. She became a great friend of and inspiration for Henry James during her later years. His novel Washington Square (1880) was based upon a story Fanny had told him concerning one of her relatives... Her various volumes of reminiscences contain much valuable material illuminating the social and dramatic history of the period. Her elder daughter Sarah married a doctor, Owen Jones Wister, and they had one child, Owen Wister (b. 1860), the popular American novelist and author of the 1902 western novel, The Virginian."

According to Wikipedia: "Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603) was Queen regnant of England and Queen regnant of Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty. The daughter of Henry VIII, she was born a princess, but her mother, Anne Boleyn, was executed two and a half years after her birth, and Elizabeth was declared illegitimate. Her brother, Edward VI, bequeathed the crown to Lady Jane Grey, cutting his sisters out of the succession. His will was set aside, Lady Jane Grey was executed, and in 1558 Elizabeth succeeded the Catholic Mary I, during whose reign she had been imprisoned for nearly a year on suspicion of supporting Protestant rebels... Elizabeth's reign is known as the Elizabethan era, famous above all for the flourishing of English drama, led by playwrights such as William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, and for the seafaring prowess of English adventurers such as Sir Francis Drake. Some historians are more reserved in their assessment. They depict Elizabeth as a short-tempered,[4] sometimes indecisive ruler,[5] who enjoyed more than her share of luck. Towards the end of her reign, a series of economic and military problems weakened her popularity to the point where many of her subjects were relieved at her death. Elizabeth is acknowledged as a charismatic performer and a dogged survivor, in an age when government was ramshackle and limited and when monarchs in neighbouring countries faced internal problems that jeopardised their thrones. Such was the case with Elizabeth's rival, Mary, Queen of Scots, whom she imprisoned in 1568 and eventually had executed in 1587. After the short reigns of Elizabeth's brother and sister, her 44 years on the throne provided welcome stability for the kingdom and helped forge a sense of national identity."

Essay about the legend/history behind Alexander Dumas' novel. According to Wikipedia: "Andrew Lang (March 31, 1844, Selkirk - July 20, 1912, Banchory, Kincardineshire) was a prolific Scots man of letters. He was a poet, novelist, and literary critic, and contributor to anthropology. He now is best known as the collector of folk and fairy tales

The war-time diary of a young girl, first published in 1913.

This collection includes: Elective Affiniities and shorter works by Goethe. The German Classics Of The Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries, Volume 2, edited by Kuno Francke.

Fictionalized history. According to Wikipedia: "Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835 – 1910), better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. Twain is most noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which has since been called the Great American Novel and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. He is extensively quoted. During his lifetime, Twain became a friend to presidents, artists, industrialists and European royalty. Twain enjoyed immense public popularity, and his keen wit and incisive satire earned him praise from both critics and peers. American author William Faulkner called Twain "the father of American literature."

Conrad's autobiography. According to Wikipedia: "Joseph Conrad (1857 – 1924) was a Polish-born English novelist. Many critics regard him as one of the greatest novelists in the English language—a fact that is remarkable, as he did not learn to speak English fluently until he was in his twenties (and always with a strong Polish accent). He became a naturalized British subject in 1886. Conrad is recognized as a master prose stylist. Some of his works have a strain of romanticism, but more importantly he is recognized as an important forerunner of modernist literature. His narrative style and anti-heroic characters have influenced many writers, including Ernest Hemingway, D. H. Lawrence, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Graham Greene, William S. Burroughs, Joseph Heller, V.S. Naipaul, Italo Calvino and J. M. Coetzee."

According to Wikipedia: "Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826)[1] was the third President of the United States (1801–1809), the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and one of the most influential Founding Fathers for his promotion of the ideals of republicanism in the United States. Major events during his presidency include the Louisiana Purchase (1803) and the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806). As a political philosopher, Jefferson was a man of the Enlightenment and knew many intellectual leaders in Britain and France. He idealized the independent yeoman farmer as exemplar of republican virtues, distrusted cities and financiers, and favored states' rights and a strictly limited federal government. Jefferson supported the separation of church and state[2] and was the author of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (1779, 1786). He was the eponym of Jeffersonian democracy and the co-founder and leader of the Democratic-Republican Party, which dominated American politics for a quarter-century. Jefferson served as the wartime Governor of Virginia (1779–1781), first United States Secretary of State (1789–1793) and second Vice President (1797–1801). A polymath, Jefferson achieved distinction as, among other things, a horticulturist, statesman, architect, archaeologist, inventor, and founder of the University of Virginia."

Classic collection of essays on great men, with 13 illustrations. According to Wikipedia: "Representative Men is a collection of seven lectures by Ralph Waldo Emerson, published as a book of essays in 1850. The first essay discusses the role played by "great men" in society, and the remaining six each extoll the virtues of one of six men deemed by Emerson to be great: Plato ("the Philosopher"), Emanuel Swedenborg ("the Mystic"), Michel de Montaigne ("the Skeptic"), William Shakespeare ("the Poet"), Napoleon ("the Man of the World"), and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ("the Writer"). The work was described by Matthew Arnold as "the most important work done in prose"... Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882) was an American essayist, philosopher, poet, and leader of the Transcendentalist movement in the early 19th century. His teachings directly influenced the growing New Thought movement of the mid 1800s. Emerson gradually moved away from the religious and social beliefs of his contemporaries, formulating and expressing the philosophy of Transcendentalism in his 1836 essay, Nature. As a result of this ground breaking work he gave a speech entitled The American Scholar in 1837, which Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. considered to be America's "Intellectual Declaration of Independence". Emerson once said "Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you."

Travelogue/memoir that begins "The journey which this little book is to describe was very agreeable and fortunate for me. After an uncouth beginning, I had the best of luck to the end. But we are all travellers in what John Bunyan calls the wilderness of this world - all, too, travellers with a donkey: and the best that we find in our travels is an honest friend. He is a fortunate voyager who finds many. We travel, indeed, to find them. They are the end and the reward of life. They keep us worthy of ourselves; and when we are alone, we are only nearer to the absent."

An essay. According to Wikipedia: "Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (1854 - 1900) was an Irish playwright, novelist, poet, and author of short stories. Known for his barbed wit, he was one of the most successful playwrights of late Victorian London, and one of the greatest celebrities of his day. As the result of a famous trial, he suffered a dramatic downfall and was imprisoned for two years of hard labour after being convicted of the offence of 'gross indecency.'"

Anthropology and theory of myths and myth-making. According to Wikipedia: "Andrew Lang (March 31, 1844, Selkirk - July 20, 1912, Banchory, Kincardineshire) was a prolific Scots man of letters. He was a poet, novelist, and literary critic, and contributor to anthropology. He now is best known as the collector of folk and fairy tales."

Biography. According to Wikipedia: "Edward Sylvester Ellis (April 11, 1840 – June 20, 1916) was an American author who was born in Ohio and died at Cliff Island, Maine. Ellis was a teacher, school administrator, and journalist, but his most notable work was that that he performed as author of hundreds of dime novels that he produced under his name and a number of noms de plume. Notable works by Ellis include The Huge Hunter, or the Steam Man of the Prairies and Seth Jones, or the Captives of the Frontier. Internationally, Edward S. Ellis is probably best known for his Deerhunter novels widely read by young boys up to the 1950s (together with works by James Fenimore Cooper and Karl May). In the mid-1880s, after a fiction-writing career of some thirty years, Ellis eventually turned his pen to more serious works of biography, history, and persuasive writing."

Dodo Collections brings you another classic from Irvin S. Cobb, ‘"Speaking of Operations". ? Speaking of Operations is a monologue about the author's experience in having an operation in 1915 written in his typical tongue-in-cheek style. ? American author, humorist, editor and columnist from Paducah, Kentucky who relocated to New York during 1904, living there for the remainder of his life. ? Cobb joined the staff of the magazine Saturday Evening Post during 1911, and covered the Great War for the magazine. At the same time, he wrote a book about his experiences, published during 1915, titled Paths Of Glory. After a second visit to France to cover the Great War, Cobb publicized the achievements of the unit known as theHarlem Hellfighters, most notably, Croix de Guerre recipients Henry Lincoln Johnson and Needham Roberts. His article "Young Black Joe," published on August 24, 1918 in theSaturday Evening Post and later republished in Cobb's book, The Glory of the Coming, highlighted the discipline and courage displayed by black American soldiers fighting in Europe during World War I. The three-page article and half-page photograph reached a national audience of more than two million readers, and was widely reprinted in the black press.

Dodo Collections brings you another classic from Henry James, ‘The Letters of Henry James: Volume Two’. ? The Complete Letters of Henry James fills a crucial gap in modern literary studies by presenting in a scholarly edition the complete letters of one of the great novelists and letter writers of the English language. Comprising more than ten thousand letters reflecting on a remarkably wide range of topics—from James’s own life and literary projects to broader questions on art, literature, and criticism. ? Henry James, OM (15 April 1843 – 28 February 1916) was an American writer who spent most of his writing career in Britain. He is regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr. and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James. ? He is best known for a number of novels showing Americans encountering Europe and Europeans. His method of writing from a character's point of view allowed him to explore issues related to consciousness and perception, and his style in later works has been compared to impressionist painting. His imaginative use of point of view, interior monologue and unreliable narrators brought a new depth to narrative fiction. ? James contributed significantly to literary criticism, particularly in his insistence that writers be allowed the greatest possible freedom in presenting their view of the world. James claimed that a text must first and foremost be realistic and contain a representation of life that is recognizable to its readers. Good novels, to James, show life in action and are, most importantly, interesting. In addition to his voluminous works of fiction he published articles and books of travel, biography, autobiography, and criticism, and wrote plays. James alternated between America and Europe for the first twenty years of his life; eventually he settled in England, becoming a British subject in 1915, one year before his death. James was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911, 1912, and 1916.

Dodo Collections brings you another classic from M. M. Mangasarian, ‘What was the Religion of Shakespeare?’ ? It is by observing the frequency and emphasis with which certain views and expressions occur and reoccur in an author, and the consistency with which they are given the preference, that we may be able to generalize as to his philosophy or religion. As Shakespeare's works are neither a treatise on theology nor a manual of philosophy, our only means of discovering his attitude toward the problems of life and destiny is by reading, as it were, between the lines. A great mind can neither sophisticate nor suppress its earnest convictions. This does not mean that anyone with earnest convictions must necessarily be a propagandist. To think and to let think, represents a state of mind which is entirely consistent, both with enthusiasm and toleration, if not with proselytism. We believe that Shakespeare has unmistakably expressed himself on the subject of religion, as he has on that of patriotism, for instance, but without any missionary zeal, which fact has led not a few students of his works to the conclusion that of all the great poets Shakespeare is the only one without a religion. ? During his life Mangasarian wrote a number of books. His most popular, including The Truth About Jesus — Is He a Myth? (1909) andThe Bible Unveiled (1911), deal with the evidence against the existence of an historical Jesus. He also wrote hundreds of essays and lectures on questions of the times. His books and essays were translated into French, German, Spanish, and other foreign languages. The general subject of his writing was religious criticism and the philosophy of religion.

Collection of humorous essays. According to Wikipedia: "Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874 - 1936) was an influential English writer of the early 20th century. His prolific and diverse output included journalism, philosophy, poetry, biography, Christian apologetics, fantasy and detective fiction. Chesterton has been called the "prince of paradox."[1] He wrote in an off-hand, whimsical prose studded with startling formulations. For example: "Thieves respect property. They merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it."[2] He is one of the few Christian thinkers who are equally admired and quoted by both liberal and conservative Christians, and indeed by many non-Christians. Chesterton's own theological and political views were far too nuanced to fit comfortably under the "liberal" or "conservative" banner."

Volumul reune?te c?teva studii ?i eseuri care interogheaz? rela?ia controversat? ?n ?tiin?a actual? dintre comparatism ?i germanistic?, respectiv noua paradigm? cu preten?ii salvatoare, ?germanistica intercultural?“, aduc?nd ?n scen? c?teva analize consacrate scriitorilor germani mai vechi ?i mai noi sau unor probleme de estetic? a crea?iei. Incitante sunt perspectivele deschise de investigarea fenomenologiei faustice ?n hermeneutica lui Ernst Bloch ?i Constantin Noica ?i nu mai pu?in interesante sunt spa?iile de cercetare asupra operei lui Lucian Blaga ?n context german ?i cele dedicate lui Heidegger ?i implica?iei sale politice.Reflex al dublei direc?ii pe care o reprezint? de fapt toate volumele lui Vasile Voia, cartea de fa?? este expresia unei dimensiuni de profunzime ?i, desigur, am putea spune, a unicit??ii ei ?n cultura noastr? actual?. Ea ?mbin? inspirat un comparatism al ideilor cu estetic? ?i filosofia, realiz?nd interferen?a ?i unitatea la nivelul superior al discursului critic.

O confesiune ?i o medita?ie despre mediul evreiesc din Rom?nia de dup? al doilea r?zboi mondial, pornind de la propria experien?? ?i biografie a autorului, ?n prezent conferen?iar la Universitatea Ebraic? din Ierusalim. Av?nd ca nucleu un dialog cu t?n?rul filozof Sandu Frunz?, de la Universitatea din Cluj, cartea reconstituie via?a evreilor din Ia?i (ora?ul natal al autorului), de dup? r?zboi, adolescen?a ?n perioada stalinist?, dilemele ?i reflec?iile stimulate de op?iunile mediului evreiesc din Rom?nia ?n noile condi?ii de dup? r?zboi, av?nd de ales ?ntre integrarea ?n viata social? ?i intelectual? rom?neasc? marcat? de tenta?ia ?i pervertirea comunist? sau, dimpotriv?, alternativa stabilirii ?n Israel. O semnificativ? parte a c?r?ii se concentreaz? asupra evolu?iei acelor intelectuali evrei care au p?r?sit Rom?nia ?n perioada ceau?ist?, dificult??ile ?i dramele adapt?rii la o noua ambian?? cultural?, ca ?i complexa rela?ie cu mediul ?i cultura ?n care s-au format. Pe parcursul a c?teva decenii, amintirile ?i reflec?iile autorului reconstituie, dintr-un unghi inedit ?i foarte personal, mediul universitar ie?ean, ca ?i universul spiritual al intelectualilor israelieni originari din Rom?nia.O medita?ie despre comunism ?i antisemitism, despre dramele dublei apartenen?e culturale, despre emigra?ie, despre tensiuni ?i interferen?e rom?no-evreie?ti, despre lumea v?zut? de la Ia?i ?i de la Ierusalim.

Aceast crticic nu reprezint pariul unor mari ambiii auctoriale, nu urmrete s revoluioneze “filosofia iubirii“, nici s deschid vreun drum nou. Nu este nici un manual, un “ghid“ al relaiei de cuplu, cum au nceput sa apar attea, ca i cum ai putea da sfaturi n ceea ce privete iubirea! Scopul su este infinit mai modest – i anume de a depune mrturie despre un fenomen esenial cum este dragostea, n funcie de experiena proprie, de lecturile ce fac i ele parte din aceasta experien i de meditaia, cat s-a putut de onest, n jurul propriilor mele triri. Dac o singura pereche va nelege ce miracol i se ntmpl, dac un singur solitar ce sufer din dragoste va depi criza, dac un mare dezamgit va cpta puterea i curajul de a mai ncerca o dat, voi crede c n-am scris-o aiurea, c n-am nfruntat n zdar temperaturile unei veri incendiare. Pe deasupra, am crezut, cred i voi crede, pn la extincie, c se mai poate nc scrie despre dragoste i altfel dect n romanele “roz“, n filmele de serie X ori n celebrele telenovele. Dragostea este mult prea importanta pentru a fi abandonata complet i definitiv melodramei, vulgaritii, prostului gust. Un subiect vechi de cnd lumea, frecventat de pene ilustre, compromis de scribi mediocri, te poate solicita s-i ncerci puterile nelegerii, precum i pe cele expresive. M ntreb ct de sincer am reuit s fiu. Dar nu mai este, de-acum, problema mea, ci a eventualilor cititori. Ca niciodat, probabil, oricum nu n aceste proporii, m ncearc emoia. n cele din urm, nu te poi prezenta oricum fa n fa cu dragostea.“ (Liviu Antonesei)

Cea mai inconfortabil? carte a anului editorial 2009. (?tefan Borbely)Tr?darea criticii este o excelent? nara?iune eseistic?, o nara?iune subiectiv?, inevitabil iritant? (fiind vorba de via?a literar? ?i de opiniile radicale ale unui prozator care nu ezit? s? scrie ceea ce crede despre colegii s?i), cu portrete ce se ?in minte, uneori foarte crude, alteori luminoase, dominate de superlative… Meritul ei, dincolo de calit??ile literare, este acela de a deschide o dezbatere real? despre via?a noastr? literar? ?n care grupurile se confrunt? ?i ??i confec?ioneaz? propria istorie ?i propria mitologie. Nicolae Breban vine ?i tulbur? apele, enerv?nd, probabil, pe mul?i, dac? nu pe to?i. (Eugen Simion)Cartea lui Breban e una puternic?, neconcesiv?, sulfuroas?, emo?ionant? prin miza ei optimist?, prin militantismul ei pa?optist ?i prin dorin?a autorului de a ?nfrunta prejudec??ile ?i ridicolul ?n numele idealului tinere?ii lui, care era idealul autonomiei esteticului, ?n numele marii crea?ii – spre care a aspirat continuu – ?i ?n numele na?iunii romane, de care nu ?i e ru?ine s? vorbeasc?. Dar e o carte greu de clasat. Surprinz?toare prin oralitatea ei debordant?, prin colocvialitatea ei dezl?n?uit?. (…) Seam?n? cu un aeropag al destinelor tr?date, preschimbat ?n pledoarie ?i discurs de ?mb?rb?tare. ?i, totu?i, ceva, ?n ?inuta de condotier a autorului m? ?ndeamn? s? asociez discursul acestei c?r?i cu acela al unui general rom?n dup? o b?t?lie pierdut? sau indecis?, undeva ?n Nordul germanic, sau ?n fa?a altei b?talii care ar trebui cu orice pre? c??tigat?. (…) ?ntregul discurs se ?ntemeiaz? pe ideea de dec?dere a spiritului ofensiv, pe ideea de pierdere a vechilor virtu?i; ?i aser?iunile par a veni din partea celui care a cunoscut ?n tinere?e o glorie ?i o m?re?ie greu de egalat. (…) Enun?ul patetic, ?nvolburat, al discursului lui Breban – marcat de furie, de candoare, de dezn?dejde ?i de speran?? – este capabil s? absoarb? portrete, minunatele lui portrete, ?nso?ite de celebrele jerbe de epitete brebaniene. ?n aparteu sunt limpezite situa?ii literare (de exemplu, rolul Europei Libere ?i al Grupului de Dialog Social este foarte atent ?i nemilos analizat); ne sunt oferite amintiri nepre?uite pentru istoria literar?, cu nu pu?ine idei. Pe unele dintre ele le-am adoptat deja pentru c? m-au convins. (Eugen Negrici)Crea?ia literar?, spiritul critic au fost profund afectate de polarizarea etica ?i politic?, dup? sf?r?itul comunismului rom?nesc. Etica ?i politica ?i-au dep??it limitele, chiar f?r? ca ele s? ajung? la o reala putere ?i autonomie. Publicul literar, sub?iat de noile interese proprii unei lumi deschise, s-a risipit ?i asist?nd la luptele fratricide ale scriitorilor ?i criticilor care, sub tiranie, fraternizaser? ?n numele impunerii sau cel pu?in al men?inerii criteriilor de art? ?i valoare. Prozatorul scrie o carte de cunosc?tor, g?ndit? cu o ?n?elegere vie, o carte necesar? realit??ii noastre literare, de ultima or?, dar ?i pentru un timp foarte larg, despre o literatur? ?i o critic? ?tr?date“ ?i mai pu?in traduse. Pentru c? ?tr?dare“ a fost, o ?tim bine, doar nu e vreun secret fer(m)ecat. (Marian Victor Buciu)