Kafka's five-year correspondence with the woman he claimed to love reveals much about his complex personality and his literary life.

The Barthes Effect was first published in 1987. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions. The author acknowledges the essay as an eccentric phenomenon in literary history, one that has long resisted entry into the taxonomy of genres, as it concentrates on four works by Roland Barthes: The Pleasure of the Text, A Lover's Discourse, Roland Barthes by Roland Barthes, and Camera Lucida. Maintains that with Barthes the essay achieves a status of its own, as reflective text. ". . . a study rigorously conscious of the critical maneuvers it executes and, more importantly, questions as critical practice . . . " Bensmaïa's strategy produces a successful investigation of the interstices and slippages of meaning which Barthes addressed in his work." SubStance Reda Bensmaia is associate professor in the departments of French and comparative literature at the University of Minnesota, and translator Pat Fedkiew, a graduate student in French at Minnesota. Michele Richman is associate professor of French at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Reading Georges Bataille: Beyond the Gift.

Describes growing up in the Islamic Republic of Iran and the group of young women who came together at her home in secret every Thursday to read and discuss great books of Western literature, explaining the influence of Lolita, The Great Gatsby, Pride and Prejudice, and other works on their lives and goals. 25,000 first printing.

First published in 1946, this autobiography of the well-known Filipino poet describes his boyhood in the Philippines, his voyage to America, and his years of hardship and despair as an itinerant laborer following the harvest trail in the rural West.

Through years of meticulous research and access to the literary estate of G.K. Chesterton, Joseph Pearce presents a major biography of a 20th century literary giant, providing a great deal of important information on GKC never before published. This is a thoroughly readable and delightful biography of a multi-faceted author, artist and debater who loved the friendship of children, idolized his wife and enjoyed great friendships with the likes of Hillaire Belloc, Bernard Shaw and H.G. Wells. Illustrated.

Here the master storytellers Geoffrey Ward, Ken Burns, and Dayton Duncan give us the first fully illustrated biography of Mark Twain, American literature's touchstone, its funniest and most inventive figure.".

Author, intellectual, and social critic, Ralph Ellison (1914-94) was a pivotal figure in American literature and history and arguably the father of African American modernism. Universally acclaimed for his first novel, Invisible Man, a masterpiece of modern fiction, Ellison was recognized with a stunning succession of honors, including the 1953 National Book Award. Despite his literary accomplishments and political activism, however, Ellison has received surprisingly sparse treatment from biographers. Lawrence Jackson’s biography of Ellison, the first when it was published in 2002, focuses on the author’s early life. Powerfully enhanced by rare photographs, this work draws from archives, literary correspondence, and interviews with Ellison’s relatives, friends, and associates. Tracing the writer’s path from poverty in dust bowl Oklahoma to his rise among the literary elite, Jackson explores Ellison’s important relationships with other stars, particularly Langston Hughes and Richard Wright, and examines his previously undocumented involvement in the Socialist Left of the 1930s and 1940s, the black radical rights movement of the same period, and the League of American Writers. The result is a fascinating portrait of a fraternal cadre of important black writers and critics--and the singularly complex and intriguing man at its center.

Originally published over 100 years ago, Roughing It was Mark Twain's second major work after the success of his 1869 travel book, Innocents Abroad. This time Twain travels through the wild west of America. With relentless good humor, Twain tells of his misfortunes during the quest to strike it rich by prospecting in the silver mines.

This carefully crafted ebook: “The Beautiful and Damned - The Original 1922 Edition” is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. The Beautiful and Damned, first published by Scribner's in 1922, is F. Scott Fitzgerald's second novel. It portrays the Eastern elite during the Jazz Age, exploring New York Café Society. As in Fitzgerald's other novels, the characters are complex, especially with respect to marriage and intimacy. The book is believed to be largely based on Fitzgerald's relationship with Zelda Fitzgerald. The Beautiful and Damned tells the story of Anthony Patch, a 1910s socialite and presumptive heir to a tycoon's fortune, his relationship with his wife, Gloria, his service in the army, and his alcoholism. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (1896 – 1940) was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigmatic writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century.

LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI by MARK TWAIN. CONTENTS: CHAPTER I. - THE RIVER AND ITS HISTORY. The Mississippi is Well worth Beading about It is Beraarkable Instead of Widening towards its Mouth, it grows Narrower It Emptiesfour hundred and six million Tons of Mud It was Hrst Seen in1542 It is Older than some Pages in European History Be So to has the Poll Older than the Atlantic Coast Some Halfbreeds chip in La Sa He Thinks he will Take a Hand. CHAPTER II. - THE RIVER AND ITS EXPLORERS. La Salle again Appears, and so does a Catfish Bufaloes also Some Indian Paintings are Seen on the Rocks The Father of Waters does not Flow into the Pacific More History and Indians Some Curious Performances, not Daily English Natchez, or the Site of it, is Approached. CHAPTER III. - FRESCOES FROM THE PAST. A little History Early Commerce Coal Fleets and Timber Rafts We start on a Voyage I seek Information Some Music The Trouble begins Tall Talk The Child of Calamity Ground and lofty Tumbling The Washup Business and Statistics Mysterious Band Thunder and Lightning The Captain speaks AUbright weep The Mystery settled ChaffI am Discovered Some Artwork proposed I give an Account of Myself Released. CHAPTER IV - THE BOYS AMBITION. CHAPTER V - I WANT TO BE A CUB PILOT. CHAPTER VI - CUB PILOTS EXPERIENCE. CHAPTER VII - A DARING DEED. CHAPTER VIII - PERPLEXING LESSONS. CHAPTER IX - CONTINUED PERPLEXITIES. CHAPTER X. - COMPLETING MY EDUCATION. CHAPTER XI. - THE RIVER RISES. CHAPTER XII. - SOUNDING. CHAPTER XIII- A PILOTS NEEDS. CHAPTER XIV. - RANK AND DIGNITY OF PILOTING. CHAPTER XV. - THE PILOTS MONOPOLY.