The Ultimate Christmas Collection

If you were looking for the definitive Christmas anthology, consider yourself lucky, because you just found it! This book is everything you want Christmas to be — loving, warm and celebratory. Timeless and adorable, beautifully designed, "The Big Book of Christmas" is a great big stocky book — stuffed with novels, novellas, short stories, poems, carols and songs. Inside you'll find: · Novels, novellas and short stories from Charles Dickens, Louisa May Alcott, Hans Christian Andersen, O. Henry, Lucy Maud Montgomery, E. T. A. Hoffmann, L. Frank Baum, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Leo Tolstoy, Henry Van Dyke, Oscar Wilde, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Anton Chekhov and many more! · Poems, carols and songs from John Milton, Clement Clarke Moore, William Blake, W. B. Yeats, Rudyard Kipling, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, H. P. Lovecraft, George MacDonald, Emily Dickinson and many more!

Lewis Carroll est le pseudonyme de Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. Le très sérieux M. Dodgson, professeur de mathématique à l'université d'Oxford, ne voulait en effet reconnaître « aucun rapport entre lui et les livres publiés sous un autre nom que le sien »... C'est-à-dire Lewis Carroll! Né le 27 janvier 1832 à Daresbury, dans le Cheshire, fils d'ecclésiastique, le jeune Charles est admis en 1846 à Rugby, célèbre public school, puis en 1851 à Oxford. Brillant mathématicien, il enseignera à Christ Church College jusqu'en 1881, et publiera, sous son vrai nom, plusieurs ouvrages consacrés aux mathématiques et à la logique symbolique. Passionné de photographie, les enfants demeurent ses modèles favoris; il invente pour eux des jeux de langage et leur dédie des contes, « Alice aux pays des merveilles » (1865), « De l'autre côté du miroir » (1871), « La chasse au Snark » (1876) et « Sylvie et Bruno » (1889). Son goût des énigmes, des jeux de mots et de la parodie en fait l'un des grands maîtres du « non-sense » en littérature. Il meurt en 1898 à Guildford, dans le Surrey.

Hans Christian Andersen est né à Odense, au Danemark, en 1805. Sa famille vit alors dans le plus grand dénuement. Il apprend à lire à l'école des pauvres de l'hospice d'Odense. Très jeune, il est employé dans des manufactures de drap et de tabac. En 1819, il part à Copenhague tenter sa chance. Il mène tout d'abord une vie de bohème et de misère puis rencontre des amis influents qui lui permettront d'obtenir une bourse pour étudier à l'université. Il publie ses premiers poèmes et commence à voyager : Allemagne, Suisse, France, Italie… De là naîtront ses premiers contes. Il fera ensuite paraître régulièrement ses recueils qui remporteront toujours un vif succès. Dans l'Europe entière, qu'il parcourt inlassablement, il est fêté et sollicité. Il meurt en 1875 à Copenhague. Son nom, comme celui des frères Grimm, est devenu synonyme de contes.

De Lytton Strachey, Le Promeneur a déjà publié Scènes de conversation, La douceur de vivre et Cinq excentriques anglais.
Autour du groupe de Bloomsbury, Le Promeneur a également publié Les deux coeurs de Bloomsbury d'Angelica Garrett.

Né en 1564 à Stratford-on-Avon, William Shakespeare fait des débuts de comédien et de poète dramatique. Ayant quitté sa ville natale pour Londres, il acquiert dès 1588 une réputation importante. Parvenu au faîte de la gloire, il se retire à Stratford où il meurt en 1616.

La vie d'Edgar Poe fut une longue pérégrination, de ville en ville et de solitude en solitude, dans une Amérique qui ne peut le comprendre. Fils d'acteurs de tournées, phtisiques et alcooliques, il naît dans une roulotte cahotante. En 1811, il est orphelin et confié à la charité de la bourgeoisie de Richmond. Il est adopté par la famille Allan qui s'installe pour quelque temps à Liverpool: l'Angleterre mystérieuse va impressionner l'enfant et lui donner le goût du fantastique macabre. Il suit des études classiques et littéraires. A l'Université de Virginie, il commence à contracter des dettes de jeu et rompt avec son père adoptif qui refuse de les payer. En 1833, il connaît un premier succès en remportant un prix à un concours organisé par le Saturday Visitor de Baltimor avec son récit "Manuscrit trouvé dans une bouteille". Il entre au Souther Literary Messenger de Richmond et en deviendra rédacteur en chef en 1835. Mais l'alcool et les drogues le plongent dans des accès de dépression et il perd son emploi. Dix ans plus tard, il publie le Corbeau qui bouleverse le public. Poe connaît alors une courte période d'engouements et de succès mondains. Les dettes et l'alcool le précipitent définitivement dans la déchéance. Nul ne saura jamais ce que furent les derniers jours de sa vie: on le découvre, le 3 octobre 1849, dans un ruisseau, près de Light Street à Baltimore. Il meurt quatre jours plus tard au Washington Hospital.

Cham et Dhydra ont réussi à s'enfuir de la Citadelle Noire.
Ils traversent le Territoire des Addraks en direction du sud, dans l'espoir de rejoindre le royaume d'Ombrune. Mais la route est longue et dangereuse : pour atteindre les Montagnes du Nord, qui marquent la frontière entre les deux pays, la mère et le fils devront passer par un inquiétant marécage... Le onzième épisode d'une fantastique aventure !

Rudyard Kipling est né en 1865 à Bombay. Après avoir fait ses études en Angleterre, il retourne aux Indes à l'âge de 17 ans. Journaliste à Lahore, il commence à écrire, notamment les «Simples Contes de collines» qui seront publiés en 1887. Deux ans plus tard, il revient en Angleterre. Là, il publie la majeure partie de son œuvre, et plus particulièrement le «Premier Livre de la jungle», le «Second Livre de la jungle» et «Kim». Rudyard Kipling a obtenu le prix Nobel de littérature en 1907. Il est mort à Londres en 1936.

C'est à Oxford qu'Oscar Wilde (1854- 1900) a la révélation de son esthétique personnelle: l'harmonie " grecque ".Aux années d'Oxford succède la vie londonienne: il ne faudra que trois ans au jeune Wilde pour devenir la " personnalité " la plus en vue d'Angleterre. C'est l'étape charnière des débuts de Wilde mal connue du public, que ce que met en lumière.

Comme August, son narrateur de seize ans, Mark Twain (1835-1910) avait été apprenti imprimeur dans sa jeunesse.
Pour cet ultime roman, auquel il a consacré les douze dernières années de sa vie - en le recommençant pas moins de trois fois -, l'auteur des Aventures de Tom Sawoyer et de Huckleberry Finn avait le désir d'écrire avec une totale liberté. Il voulait montrer - sans se soucier des préjugés, des opinions ou des croyances d'autrui - ce qui constituait selon lui le fond de l'âme humaine. Twain était un conteur, un humoriste, mais aussi un pamphlétaire de génie.
Dans N° 44, le Mystérieux Étranger, il pousse l'art du roman au maximum de ses possibilités, alliant la puissance d'imagination des grands récits fondateurs aux audaces stylistiques les plus modernes. Il évoquait l'écriture de ce livre comme un " luxe inimaginable ", une " ivresse intellectuelle ". Liberté coupable : après sa mort, c'est un montage de bric et de broc considérablement expurgé qui sera publié.
Resté inédit aux États-Unis jusqu'en 1969, ce chef-d'oeuvre paraît en France pour la première fois tel que Mark Twain l'avait écrit.

Charles Dickens est né en 1812 en Angleterre. Sa carrière de romancier débuta vraiment à l'âge de vingt-quatre ans, quand il s'engagea auprès d'un éditeur à publier ses écrits sous la forme de feuilleton périodique. Son oeuvre, imprégnée par ses souvenirs d'enfance, dénonce souvent l'injustice et l'égoïsme. Ceci n'empêchera pourtant pas Charles Dickens de laisser libre court à son imagination et à sa fantaisie débordante. Un chant de Noël, publié en 1843, en est une belle illustration. William Geldart aime beaucoup les personnages et l'atmosphère des livres de Dickens. Pour illustrer ce livre, il a superposé les crayons de couleur et l'aquarelle afin d'obtenir de subtils jeux d'ombres. L'iconographie aussi riche que variée gravures, dessins d'époque, reproductions de peintures accompagnées de légendes documentaires invitent le lecteur à un extraordinaire voyage dans le temps, et permet à la fois de situer l'oeuvre et de mieux la comprendre.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), le père de Sherlock Holmes, n'était pas écrivain mais médecin. Par goût de l'aventure, il parcourut les mers, de l'Arctique aux côtes d'Afrique, prit part aux campagnes du Soudan et de la guerre des Boers. Il écrivit des romans policiers, des romans d'aventures et des ouvrages historiques, et fut anobli par la reine Victoria pour une œuvre patriotique sur la guerre en Afrique. C'est pourtant la première aventure de Sherlock Holmes qui lui vaudra un succès immédiat.

Agatha Christie est la reine incontestée du crime. On ne présente plus la vieille dame indigne de Torquay qui reste aujourd’hui l’un des auteurs les plus lus au monde, toutes générations confondues.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) est né à Édimbourg, en Écosse.
Ayant reçu une éducation presbytérienne, il s'émancipe dès l'âge de dix-sept ans en entrant à l'université et mène une vie bohème. Il se consacre alors à l'écriture et au voyage. Il est l'auteur de nombreux romans dont L'Île au trésor, Voyage avec un âne dans les Cévennes ou encore ce chef-d'oeuvre : L'Étrange Cas du docteur Jekyll et de M Hyde. Il meurt à Apia, dans l'île d'Upolu (Océanie). Cet auteur majeur du XIXe siècle a su enchanter petits et grands lecteurs.
Michel Le Bris, romancier et créateur du festival " Étonnants Voyageurs ", est un spécialiste mondialement reconnu de Stevenson, auquel il a consacré une monumentale biographie, Les années bohémiennes.

James Joyce est né le 2 février 1882 à Rathgar, dans la banlieue de Dublin. Dès 1897, il commence à écrire. Il entre à University College en 1898, et c'est en 1900 qu'il fait un véritable début littéraire, avec un article sur Ibsen. En 1920, James Joyce s'installe à Paris sur les conseils d'Ezra Pound. Il fait la connaissance d'Adrienne Monnier, de Sylvia Beach, qui publie Ulysse en 1922, de Valery Larbaud, qui le présente au Tout-Paris littéraire. En 1940, il se réfugie à Zurich, où il meurt le 13 janvier 1941.

Chloé Lambert est éblouissante et piquante dans le role de Lady Susan.
Avec la complicité démoniaque de Georgia Scalliet, alias Alicia Johnson, elle séduit et manipule avec une insolente effronterie les cinq autres figures de cet échange épistolaire.

Edition d'Alain Jumeau, professeur émérite à la Sorbonne.

George Orwell (de son vrai nom Eric Blair) est né aux Indes en 1903 et a fait ses études à Eton. Sa carrière est très variée et beaucoup de ses écrits sont un rappel de ses expériences. De 1922 à 1928 il sert dans la police indienne impériale. Pendant les deux années suivantes il vit à Paris puis part pour l'Angleterre comme professeur. En 1937 il va en Espagne combattre dans les rangs républicains et y est blessé. Pendant la guerre mondiale il travaille pour la B.B.C., puis est attaché, comme correspondant spécial en France et en Allemagne, à l'Observer. Il meurt à Londres en janvier 1950.

DAMON RUNYON (1880-1946) was an American newspaperman and short-story writer. He was best known for his short stories celebrating the world of Broadway in New York City that grew out of the Prohibition era. He spun humorous and sentimental tales of gamblers, hustlers, actors, and gangsters, with characters that went by colorful monikers such as “Nathan Detroit”, “Big Jule”, “Harry the Horse”, “Good Time Charley”, or “Dave the Dude”.
Born Alfred Damon Runyan on October 4, 1880 in Manhattan, Kansas, his family moved westward in 1882, eventually settling in Pueblo, Colorado in 1887, where Runyon spent the rest of his youth and began to work in the newspaper trade under his father.
In 1898 Runyon enlisted in the U.S. Army to fight in the Spanish-American War, and was assigned to write for the Manila Freedom and Soldier’s Letter. He then began working for various Colorado newspapers in 1900, his first job being as a reporter for the Pueblo Star. This was followed by serving as sporting editor and then as a staff writer in the Rocky Mountain area, including the Denver Star News, during the first decade of the 1900s.
Runyon moved to New York City in 1910 and for the next ten years covered the New York Giants and professional boxing for the New York American. He was the Hearst newspapers’ baseball columnist, beginning in 1911, and his knack for spotting the eccentric and the unusual, on the field or in the stands, was credited with revolutionizing the way baseball was covered.
He died in New York City on December 10, 1946, aged 66.
WALTER WINCHELL (1897-1972) was a popular American newspaper gossip columnist and radio news commentator. Originally a vaudeville performer, Winchell began his newspaper career as Broadway reporter, critic and columnist for New York tabloids in the Roaring Twenties. He rose to national celebrity in the 1930s with Hearst newspaper chain syndication and a popular radio program.

Howard Phillips Lovecraft est né en 1890 et mort en 1937. Auteur de nombreuses créatures fantastiques qui sillonnent l’ensemble de son œuvre prolifique, il est considéré comme le père d’un certain genre mêlant fantastique et horreur, à travers une écriture délicate et qui a fait école. Les angoisses qui l’inspirent font apparaître l’homme comme le dérivé d’un monstre, en proie à d’affreux cauchemars révélateurs d’un monde disparu et ténébreux. Il a créé une mythologie, reprise par de nombreux auteurs de science-fiction, autour d’une force mystérieuse, nommée Cthulhu, un être échappé des forces cosmiques et à l’origine de la prolifération du mal. Lovecraft vécut de manière solitaire, souvent malade et en proie à une mélancolie constante, il n’a jamais connu le succès de son vivant. C’est de manière posthume que la plupart de ses œuvres furent publiées, et il fait aujourd’hui l’objet d’une adulation de la part d’un large public.

John Donne; (22 January 1572 – 31 March 1631) was an English poet, scholar, soldier and secretary born into a recusant family, who later became a cleric in the Church of England. Under royal patronage, he was made Dean of St Paul's Cathedral in London (1621–1631). He is considered the preeminent representative of the metaphysical poets. His poetical works are noted for their metaphorical and sensual style and include sonnets, love poems, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs, and satires. He is also known for his sermons.

William Wordsworth (7 April 1770 – 23 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication Lyrical Ballads (1798). Wordsworth's magnum opus is generally considered to be The Prelude, a semi-autobiographical poem of his early years that he revised and expanded a number of times. It was posthumously titled and published by his wife in the year of his death, before which it was generally known as "the poem to Coleridge". Wordsworth was Poet Laureate from 1843 until his death from pleurisy on 23 April 1850.

John Milton (1608-1674) est l'un des géants de la poésie anglaise.
Auteur de nombreux pamphlets politiques et sociaux, il fait preuve, en plein XVIIe siècle, d'une grande modernité. Mais son chef d'œuvre est Le Paradis perdu. L'influence de Milton sera déterminante pour la littérature romantique et, plus particulièrement, pour le poète John Keats.

Biographie d'Emily Dickinson Retirée du monde sa vie durant, Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) écrivit près de 1800 poèmes, dont seulement une poignée furent publiés de son vivant. En rébellion contre son milieu social, la "reine recluse" concentre dans sa poésie sa vie intérieure tumultueuse et la puissance de sa pensée d'une écriture concise, vibrante et déroutante. Ses lettres à ses amis et à ses amours sont, elles aussi, des trésors poétiques. Un immense voyage intérieur, sans quitter l'horizon d'une chambre.

Willa Cather a obtenu en 1922 le prix Pulitzer pour L'Un des nôtres.
Son art d'éprouver et d'exprimer l'éveil d'un être et d'une conscience l'a consacrée comme l'une des grandes romancières du XXe siècle, à l'instar de Virginia Woolf, d'Eudora Welty et d'Edith Wharton.

William Makepeace Thackeray; * 18. Juli 1811 in Kalkutta, Indien; † 24. Dezember 1863 in London) war ein britischer Schriftsteller und gilt neben Charles Dickens und George Eliot als bedeutendster englischsprachiger Romancier des Viktorianischen Zeitalters.

Louisa May Alcott naît en 1832 en Pennsylvanie et meurt à Boston en 1888.
A l'âge de seize ans, elle écrit son premier livre, un recueil de poèmes. Mais c'est le théâtre qui l'attire : elle veut devenir actrice et écrit plusieurs comédies. Elle fait paraître des poèmes et des nouvelles dans un journal. Pendant la guerre civile, elle sert comme infirmière. Elle se rend ensuite en Europe, où elle dirige un journal pour enfants. Avec Les Quatre Filles du docteur March, Louisa May Alcott connaît un succès qui l'encourage à écrire une suite.
A travers ses romans transparaît sa personnalité généreuse et altruiste.

Beatrix Potter est née le 28 juillet 1866, dans une famille du barreau londonien.
Elle passe son enfance et son adolescence dans l'ambiance austère et compassée de la haute bourgeoisie victorienne. Pour elle, point d'amis, point d'école. Les années se suivent avec leur rituel immuable de séjours à la mer, en Écosse, ou à la campagne dans la région des lacs. On se déplace en famille, avec gens de maison et en voiture à cheval. Elle trompe la solitude et l'ennui à coups de crayon et de pinceau.
Observatrice avisée, elle croque tout ce qui l'entoure, faune et flore, et se prend de passion pour les champignons. Bien vite ses cahiers se remplissent et le troisième étage de la maison familiale se transforme en un véritable zoo : elle y élève lapins, souris blanches, oiseaux. Les années passent, plus de trente, avant qu'une lettre envoyée à un petit garçon, pour lequel elle invente une histoire autour de son cher lapin Peter, ne donne le départ à la courte mais très féconde période de création qui la rendra légendaire.
Éditée chez Warne à partir de 1901, elle publie en treize ans une vingtaine de livres. Forte personnalité, dotée d'un caractère assez abrupt, bourru et parfois autoritaire, elle a créé tout un monde peuplé de personnages croqués sur le vif et toujours pleins d'espièglerie. Artiste authentique d'une extrême sensibilité, cette pionnière de l'écologie, à sa façon, est décédée en 1943, à l'âge de 77 ans.

Ecossais bon teint issu d'une grande famille de l'aristocratie, Kenneth Grahame, né en 1859 et mort en 1932, fut à la fois Secrétaire de la Banque d'Angleterre, mais surtout en littérature le seul alter ego crédible de Lewis Carroll.Orphelin élevé par sa grand-mère au fond des parcs, gamin sauvage en dépit d'une carrière brillante dans la finance, il a laissé avec Le Vent dans les saules un classique à part entière traduit dans presque toutes les langues.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (21 October 1772 – 25 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He also shared volumes and collaborated with Charles Lamb, Robert Southey, and Charles Lloyd. He wrote the poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan, as well as the major prose work Biographia Literaria. His critical work, especially on William Shakespeare, was highly influential, and he helped introduce German idealist philosophy to English-speaking culture. Coleridge coined many familiar words and phrases, including "suspension of disbelief". He had a major influence on Ralph Waldo Emerson and American transcendentalism. Throughout his adult life Coleridge had crippling bouts of anxiety and depression; it has been speculated that he had bipolar disorder, which had not been defined during his lifetime. He was physically unhealthy, which may have stemmed from a bout of rheumatic fever and other childhood illnesses. He was treated for these conditions with laudanum, which fostered a lifelong opium addiction.

Anthony Trollope est né à Londres en 1815 et mort en 1882. Fils d'un avocat raté et d'une femme de lettres qui eut une certaine notoriété, il fit carrière comme inspecteur des postes jusqu'en 1867. Entre 1847, date de parution de son premier livre, et sa mort, il publia près de cinquante romans ainsi que des nouvelles et connut une grande célébrité.

Biographie de Saki Né en 1870 en Birmanie de parents écossais, Hector Hugh Munro a emprunté son pseudonyme de Saki aux Rubaiyat d'Omar Khayyam. Après une enfance ombrageuse et une adolescence en apparence frivole, il publie les histoires de Reginald (1904-1910) puis les Chroniques de Clovis (1911), qui assurent sa gloire. Il meurt le 13 novembre 1916 sur le front, près de Beaumont-Hamel, au fond d'un trou d'obus, après s'être écrié : "Eteignez cette cigarette, nom de Dieu !".

Même s’il eut la malchance d’être le contemporain de Shakespeare, Ben Jonson reste célèbre en Grande Bretagne à travers quelques grandes comédies, souvent représentées, comme L’Alchimiste , La Foire de la Saint-Barthélemy et, surtout, Volpone ou le Renard qui date de 1606.

William Blake was born and raised in East Yorkshire. A writer all his life, The Liberation of Albion is his first published work. Having recently achieved a BA in English Literature, he will soon be studying for an MA in Renaissance Literature at York University.

Robert Burns, now retired, spent 40 years teaching and researching in universities around the world. From training students to be geography teachers in University Departments of Education, and ‘A’ level examiner in physical geography, he later used his deep interest in the psychological aspects of student learning and motivation to study and qualify as a psychologist. In retirement, the climate ‘wars’ redirected his interest back to Earth sciences. Burns is an experienced author with over 20 texts published by major publishing houses including Longmans, Sage, Allen and Unwin, Kluwer, and Addison-Wesley.

William Butler Yeats war ein irischer Dichter, Dramatiker und Nobelpreisträger für Literatur. Er wurde am 13. Juni 1865 in Dublin, Irland, geboren und verstarb am 28. Januar 1939 in Menton, Frankreich. Yeats gilt als einer der bedeutendsten Dichter des 20. Jahrhunderts und eine der zentralen Figuren des literarischen Revivals in Irland. Yeats wurde in eine künstlerisch und literarisch interessierte Familie hineingeboren. Schon früh zeigte er ein Talent für Dichtung und Literatur. Er studierte zunächst Kunst in Dublin und London, bevor er sich ganz der Dichtung widmete. Yeats war von mystischen und spirituellen Ideen fasziniert und ließ sich von irischen Volksmärchen, Legenden und der keltischen Mythologie inspirieren. Er war Mitbegründer des Abbey Theatre in Dublin, das sich der Förderung irischer Dramatik widmete. Viele seiner Theaterstücke, wie zum Beispiel "Cathleen ni Houlihan" (1902) und "The Countess Cathleen" (1892), behandeln irische Themen und spielen eine wichtige Rolle im literarischen Nationalismus Irlands. Yeats' Lyrik umfasst eine große Bandbreite an Themen, darunter Liebe, Politik, Spiritualität und Vergänglichkeit. Seine Sammlungen "The Tower" (1928) und "The Winding Stair and Other Poems" (1933) werden als Höhepunkte seines poetischen Schaffens angesehen. Seine Sprache ist oft symbolisch und lyrisch, und er experimentierte mit verschiedenen Versformen und Stilen. Im Jahr 1923 erhielt William Butler Yeats den Nobelpreis für Literatur. Er wurde für seine lyrische Meisterschaft und die inspirierte Interpretation einer großen Dichtertradition gewürdigt. Seine Gedichte werden für ihre Schönheit, ihre rhythmische Qualität und ihre tiefgründige spirituelle Dimension geschätzt. Yeats verstarb am 28. Januar 1939 in Menton, Frankreich. Sein literarisches Erbe und seine Bedeutung für die irische und internationale Literatur sind von großer Bedeutung. Yeats' Werke prägten die moderne Dichtung und sein Einfluss ist bis heute spürbar. Als einer der wichtigsten irischen Schriftsteller des 20. Jahrhunderts bleibt er ein Symbol für kulturelle Identität und künstlerische Ausdruckskraft.

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and short-story writer. He was best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age—a term which he popularized. During his lifetime, he published four novels, four collections of short stories, and 164 short stories. Although he temporarily achieved popular success and fortune in the 1920s, Fitzgerald only received wide critical and popular acclaim after his death. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century.

Robert Herrick, born in 1868 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was a pivotal figure in early 20th-century American literature. A Harvard graduate, Herrick's career spanned academia and fiction writing, with his works often exploring the complexities of modern life and the human condition. His tenure at the University of Chicago as a professor of English provided him with a platform to influence and mentor a generation of writers.
Herrick's literary contributions are marked by his keen observations on social issues, including the struggles of the working class and the moral dilemmas faced by individuals in an increasingly industrialized society. His narratives frequently delved into the psychological landscapes of his characters, offering readers a profound understanding of their inner conflicts and societal pressures.
Controversy surrounded Herrick's candid portrayals of societal flaws, which some contemporaries viewed as too critical or pessimistic. Nonetheless, his willingness to tackle taboo subjects and challenge the status quo earned him both admiration and criticism. Herrick's works resonated with contemporary writers who were similarly disillusioned with the American Dream, influencing notable figures such as Theodore Dreiser and Sinclair Lewis.
A champion of revolutionary ideas, Herrick advocated for social reform and was deeply invested in the Progressive Movement. His literary legacy is one of courage and introspection, providing a mirror to the societal transformations of his time. Herrick's ability to intertwine personal and societal narratives ensures his relevance to modern readers who grapple with similar themes in today's world.

Né en 1783 dans une famille de commerçants, enfant épris d'école buissonnière, grand voyageur puis défenseur avant l'heure du droit d'auteur et de la protection de la propriété intellectuelle, créateur du nom de « Gotham City », Washington Irving, admiré par Lord Byron, fut, aux côtés de James Fenimore Cooper, le premier écrivain américain à succès. Il est mort dans son lit en novembre 1859 à l'âge de soixante-seize ans.

Nikolai Wassiljewitsch Gogol, * 20. Märzjul. / 1. April 1809greg. in Bolschije Sorotschinzy, Gouvernement Poltawa, Russisches Reich; † 21. Februarjul. / 4. März 1852greg. in Moskau, Russisches Reich) war ein russischer Schriftsteller, Dramatiker und Publizist ukrainischer Herkunft (damals als „Kleinrussland“ bezeichnet), sowie ein Ethnograph und Sammler ukrainischer Folklore.

Née à l'Île-du-Prince-Édouard en 1874, Lucy Maud Montgomery, comme plusieurs de ses héroïnes, s'est retrouvée orpheline très tôt. Élevée par ses grands-parents, elle a vécu une enfance difficile. Rêvant de devenir écrivaine, Lucy Maud a commencé à écrire à l'âge de neuf ans en tenant son journal intime dans la petite ville de Cavendish, qui ressemble à s'y méprendre au village d'Avonlea où se déroule l'histoire de sa célèbre Anne. Elle a tour à tour été institutrice et journaliste avant de devenir romancière et finalement l'une des auteures canadiennes les plus connues dans le monde.

James Allen was a British philosophical writer and poet and a pioneer of the self-help movement. At the turn of the 20th century, he was one of the most popular writers on spirituality, his many books comforting millions of readers with their simple, unpretentious wisdom about living a joyful life.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in 1807 in Portland, Maine, and he became a professor of modern languages at Harvard. His most famous narrative poems include The Song of Hiawatha, Paul Revere's Ride, "The Village Blacksmith," "The Wreck of the Hesperus." From his friend Nathaniel Hawthorne, Longfellow got a brief outline of a story from which he composed one of his most favorite poems, "Evangeline". The original story had Evangeline wandering about New England in search of her bridegroom. One of the first poets to take the landscape and stories of North America as his subjects, Longfellow became immensely popular all over the world, and he was the first American commemorated in the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey. He was given honorary degrees at the great universities of Oxford and Cambridge, invited to Windsor by Queen Victoria, and called by request upon the Prince of Wales. He was also chosen a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and of the Spanish Academy. He died on March 24, 1882.

An author is the creator or originator of any written work such as a book or play, and is also considered a writer. More broadly defined, an author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything.

Biographie de Harriet Beecher-Stowe Le nom de Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896), fille d'un pasteur presbytérien, romancière et militante abolitionniste américaine, est à jamais associé à son oeuvre la plus célèbre, La Case de l'Oncle Tom (1852), qui eut une influence majeure sur le mouvement antiesclavagiste, jusqu'à Abraham Lincoln lui-même. Son chef-d'oeuvre a occulté ses nombreux autres écrits, essais, nouvelles et romans, la plupart inédits en français à l'exception de Ma femme et moi (Théotex, 2019).

Selma Lagerlöf (1858-1940), prix Nobel de littérature en 1909, est sans conteste l’un des plus célèbres écrivains suédois. Son œuvre est nourrie des légendes et de l’histoire de la région de Värmland, merveilleusement transposées par son imagination lyrique hors du commun.

Avant de prendre le pseudonyme de O Henry, William Sydney Porter, né en Caroline du Nord en 1862, devient chroniqueur et reporter.
En 1897, il est incarcéré pour une sombre histoire de détournement de fonds. A sa sortie de prison, il s'installe à New York et publie sous son pseudonyme. Le succès est immédiat. Nouvelliste prolifique, il publiera plus de trois cents nouvelles en quinze ans. Ravagé par l'alcool, O Henry meurt à l'âge de 48 ans.

Née à Thornton (Yorkshire) en 1820, décédée à Scarborough en 1849, Anne Brontë est la sœur de Charlotte et d'Emily, également romancières. Elle s'adonna de bonne heure à la littérature composant contes, nouvelles, journaux et romans.

Lyman Frank Baum (May 15, 1856 – May 6, 1919) was an American author best known for his children's books, particularly The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its sequels. He wrote 14 novels in the Oz series, plus 41 other novels (not including four lost, unpublished novels), 83 short stories, over 200 poems, and at least 42 scripts. He made numerous attempts to bring his works to the stage and screen; the 1939 adaptation of the first Oz book became a landmark of 20th-century cinema.

François Edouard Joachim Coppée (26 January 1842 – 23 May 1908) was a French poet and novelist. Coppée was famed as le poète des humbles (the poet of the humble). His verse and prose focus on plain expressions of emotion, patriotism, the joy of young love, and the pitifulness of the poor. He continued to write plays, mostly serious dramas in verse, two in collaboration with Armand d'Artois. The performance of a short episode of the Commune, Le Pater, was prohibited by the government in 1889. Coppée published his first prose work in 1875 and went on to publish short stories, an autobiography of his youth, a series of short articles on miscellaneous subjects, and La Bonne Souffrance, a popular account of his reconversion to the Roman Catholic Church. His conversion was due to a severe illness which twice brought him close to death.

Johann Wolfgang Goethe, ab 1782 von Goethe (* 28. August 1749 in Frankfurt am Main; † 22. März 1832 in Weimar), war ein deutscher Dichter und Naturforscher. Er gilt als einer der bedeutendsten Schöpfer deutschsprachiger Dichtung.

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, 11 November 1821 – 9 February 1881, sometimes transliterated Dostoyevsky, was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist and philosopher. Dostoevsky's literary works explore human psychology in the troubled political, social, and spiritual atmospheres of 19th-century Russia, and engage with a variety of philosophical and religious themes. His most acclaimed works include Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1869), Demons (1872) and The Brothers Karamazov (1880). Dostoevsky's oeuvre consists of 11 novels, three novellas, 17 short stories and numerous other works. Many literary critics rate him as one of the greatest psychologists in world literature. His 1864 novella Notes from Underground is considered to be one of the first works of existentialist literature. (Wikipedia)

Leo Tolstoy’s novels, such as War and Peace, are classics of the genre. 2010 marks the 100th anniversary of his death.

<p>George MacDonald (1824–1905) was a Scottish author, poet, and preacher. He published some fifty volumes of novels, poetry, short stories, fantasy, sermons, and essays.</p>

Biographie de Mary Austin Mary Austin (1868-1934), auteure prolifique, s'engagea en son temps en faveur des causes féministes et pour la défense des droits des Amérindiens.

Francis Marion Crawford (1854-1909) was an American writer noted for his many novels. He was born at Bagni di Lucca, Italy. In 1879 he went to India, where he studied Sanskrit and edited the Allahabad Indian Herald. Returning to America he continued to study Sanskrit at Harvard University for a year, contributed to various periodicals, and in 1882 produced his first novel, Mr Isaacs. “The Witch of Prague” is about a man who searches world for the woman he loves, gets to Prague and falls under the spell of a hypnotist/witch. Truth and good finally prevail. A story of love and obsession, the search for eternal life, the nature of magic and hypnotism. (Excerpt from Goodreads)

Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch (1863-1944), often known by his pen name "Q," was a towering figure in English literature, renowned for his literary criticism, anthologies, and fiction. Born in Cornwall, England, Quiller-Couch's deep connection to the region profoundly influenced his writing, infusing it with a rich sense of place and cultural heritage.Quiller-Couch's contributions to literature were multifaceted. He was a prolific writer, producing novels, short stories, and essays that captured the imagination of his time. His "Oxford Book of English Verse," first published in 1900, remains a seminal anthology, celebrated for its comprehensive and discerning selection of poetry. This work alone cemented his reputation as a literary tastemaker.A professor of English literature at the University of Cambridge, Quiller-Couch was instrumental in shaping the study of English literature as an academic discipline. His lectures, characterized by their wit and erudition, inspired a generation of students, including the young E.M. Forster and F.R. Leavis, who would themselves become influential literary figures.Quiller-Couch was not without controversy. His staunch defense of the literary canon and traditional values sometimes put him at odds with the modernist movements gaining traction in his later years. Nevertheless, his advocacy for clear, expressive prose and his disdain for pretentious writing resonated widely, influencing contemporary writers and critics.A champion of the "common reader," Quiller-Couch believed literature should be accessible and enjoyable for all. His revolutionary idea of prioritizing the reader's pleasure and engagement over academic elitism continues to echo in today's literary landscape, ensuring his legacy endures.

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (29 January 1860[note 2] – 15 July 1904 was a Russian playwright and short-story writer, who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short fiction in history. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics. Along with Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg, Chekhov is often referred to as one of the three seminal figures in the birth of early modernism in the theatre. Chekhov practiced as a medical doctor throughout most of his literary career: "Medicine is my lawful wife", he once said, "and literature is my mistress." (Wikipedia)

Andrew Lang FBA (31 March 1844 – 20 July 1912 ) was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University of St Andrews are named after him. (Wikipedia)

An author is the creator or originator of any written work such as a book or play, and is also considered a writer. More broadly defined, an author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility for what was created

Ralph Henry Barbour (1870-1944) was an American author, best known for his works of young adult fiction, particularly sports-themed novels. He was a prolific writer who created stories that often revolved around the lives and adventures of young athletes and students. Ralph Henry Barbour's books have left a lasting legacy in the world of young adult literature, particularly in the subgenre of sports-themed fiction. His stories have resonated with generations of readers and continue to be enjoyed by those seeking engaging tales of young athletes and students.

Heywood Campbell Broun was an American newspaper columnist and critic, best known for his strong stance against social injustice.

Ellis Parker Butler was an American writer whose sharp wit and gift for everyday observation made him one of the most widely read humorists of the early twentieth century. Born in Iowa and later based in New York, he built a long literary career through magazine stories, essays, sketches, and books that captured the comic strains of ordinary American life with remarkable ease. His work often turned on misunderstandings, domestic frustrations, small-town ambitions, and the absurdities of modern convenience, yet beneath the laughter there was usually a keen eye for human foibles and social change. Butler’s most enduring writing shows how humor can reveal truth rather than escape it, and that is part of why he still matters: his stories anticipate the anxieties and pressures of contemporary life, where technology, status, family expectations, and public manners can still produce wonderfully awkward results. He remains significant as a master of concise comic storytelling, one who understood that the smallest domestic scene could illuminate larger cultural habits. Readers today who enjoy classic humor, character-driven satire, and gently pointed observations about human behavior will find him especially rewarding.

Mary Mapes Dodge (January 26, 1831 – August 21, 1905) was an American children's author and editor, best known for her novel Hans Brinker. She was the recognised leader in juvenile literature for almost a third of the nineteenth century. (Wikipedia)

Elizabeth Harrison was an influential American educator, writer, and early advocate for children’s learning who helped shape modern ideas about childhood at the turn of the twentieth century. Born in 1849, she devoted much of her life to education, especially the study of kindergarten methods and the belief that young children flourish when imagination, kindness, and thoughtful guidance are brought together. Through her essays, lectures, and practical writing, she became a respected voice in the growing progressive education movement, helping to bring the ideas of Friedrich Froebel to a wider American audience. Her work often blended moral reflection, domestic life, and a deep faith in the formative power of early experience, making her writing both instructive and warmly human. Harrison’s central themes include the importance of nurturing children’s inner lives, the value of family and community, and the idea that education should cultivate character as well as intellect. Those concerns remain strikingly relevant today, as readers continue to think about how children learn, how adults shape their development, and how care and creativity can coexist in everyday life. Her legacy lies not only in her literary contributions but also in her influence on educational thought, and she remains a rewarding read for anyone interested in childhood, reform, women’s writing, or the history of education.

FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL (14 December 1836 - 3 June 1879) was an English religious poet and hymn writer. Take My Life and Let it Be and Thy Life for Me (also known as I Gave My Life for Thee) are two of her best known hymns. She also wrote hymn melodies, religious tracts, and works for children.
She was born into an Anglican family at Astley in Worcestershire. Her father, William Henry Havergal (1793-1870), was a clergyman, writer, composer, and hymn writer. Her brother, Henry East Havergal, was a priest in the Church of England and an organist.
In 1852-1853 she studied in the Luisenschule, Düsseldorf, and at Oberkassel. She enjoyed travel, particularly to Switzerland, and supported the Church Missionary Society.
She died of peritonitis near Caswell Bay on the Gower Peninsula in Wales at age 42. She is buried in the churchyard at St Peter’s parish church, Astley, together with her father and near her sister, Maria Vernon Graham Havergal.
Her sisters saw much of her work published posthumously. Havergal College, a private girls’ school in Toronto, is named after her, and composer Havergal Brian adopted the name as a tribute to the family.

William Dean Howells was one of the defining voices of American realism, a writer, editor, critic, and literary tastemaker whose career helped shape the direction of late nineteenth-century literature in the United States. Born in Ohio in 1837 and largely self-educated, he worked as a printer, journalist, diplomat, and eventually became editor of the influential Atlantic Monthly, where he championed writers who looked closely at ordinary life rather than romantic fantasy. Over his long career, he produced novels, essays, criticism, travel writing, and memoir, but he is best remembered for his clear-eyed fiction about middle-class ambition, social mobility, marriage, conscience, and the subtle pressures of modern life. His work often explores the tension between moral idealism and practical compromise, and he had a remarkable gift for capturing speech, manners, and the quiet drama of everyday choices. That makes him still relevant today, when readers continue to wrestle with questions of status, authenticity, success, and how to live ethically in a competitive society. Howells’s legacy lies not only in his own novels but in his role as a guide for American literary realism, helping open the door for later generations of writers to portray life with honesty, nuance, and compassion. Readers who enjoy intelligent social fiction, psychologically precise character studies, and novels that reveal the hidden complexity of ordinary experience will find him especially rewarding.

James Russell Lowell (February 22, 1819 – August 12, 1891) was an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He is associated with the Fireside Poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets that rivaled the popularity of British poets. These writers usually used conventional forms and meters in their poetry, making them suitable for families entertaining at their fireside. (Wikipedia)

Charles Mackay was a Scottish poet, journalist, songwriter, and social commentator whose life moved between the literary world and the practical concerns of the age in which he lived. Born in 1814, he built his career in newspapers and public writing, traveling widely and observing societies at close range, experiences that gave his work both curiosity and authority. He is best remembered for his penetrating examinations of collective behavior, public hysteria, speculation, and the strange ways crowds can be swept into shared illusions, achievements that made him one of the most insightful observers of mass psychology in the nineteenth century. Alongside this, he wrote poetry and songs that helped secure his reputation as a versatile and accessible voice. His central themes—human credulity, the power of rumor, the pull of financial frenzy, and the recurring tendency of people to repeat old mistakes—remain strikingly contemporary in an age of viral misinformation, market bubbles, and online contagion. Mackay’s enduring significance lies in his ability to combine clear prose, moral seriousness, and a journalist’s eye for detail, producing work that still feels relevant to readers trying to understand how societies convince themselves of almost anything. Readers who enjoy history, social psychology, and sharp-eyed nonfiction about the follies of crowds will find him especially rewarding.

Alice Duer Miller (July 28, 1874 – August 22, 1942) was an American writer whose poetry actively influenced political opinion. Her feminist verses made an impact on the suffrage issue, and her verse novel The White Cliffs encouraged U.S. entry into World War II. She also wrote novels and screenplays.

Mary Noailles Murfree (January 24, 1850 – July 31, 1922) was an American fiction writer of novels and short stories who wrote under the pen name Charles Egbert Craddock. She is considered by many to be Appalachia's first significant female writer and her work a necessity for the study of Appalachian literature, although a number of characters in her work reinforce negative stereotypes about the region. She has been favorably compared to Bret Harte and Sarah Orne Jewett, creating post-Civil War American local-color literature.

Katharine Pyle (November 23, 1863 – February 19, 1938) was an American artist, poet, and children's writer. Born in Wilmington, Delaware, the youngest offspring of William Pyle and Margaret (Painter), she was the sister of author and artist Howard Pyle. She was educated at the Women's Industrial School and the Drexel Institute, then studied at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women and the New York Art Students' League. She lived in Wilmington her whole life, except four years in New York during the 1890s.

Nora Archibald Smith was an American writer, editor, and educator whose life was shaped by a deep commitment to children’s reading, moral development, and the power of literature to enrich everyday life. Born in Connecticut in 1859 and active during a period when children’s publishing was becoming an important cultural force, she built a career that bridged journalism, criticism, and writing for young readers. She became especially respected for her work in children’s literature and for the care with which she approached stories, essays, and editorial projects aimed at young audiences and the adults who guided them. Across her career, Smith helped define a style of writing that was thoughtful, humane, and attentive to the inner lives of children, while also reflecting the values and educational ideals of her era. Her work often emphasizes family, character, imagination, and the shaping influence of home and community, themes that still feel relevant in a world that continues to ask how children learn, grow, and make sense of themselves. She remains significant as part of the tradition that helped establish children’s literature as a serious literary field, not merely a didactic one, and readers today can still appreciate her gentle intelligence and moral seriousness. Nora Archibald Smith will especially appeal to readers who enjoy classic children’s literature, literary history, and thoughtfully written stories that balance warmth, purpose, and emotional insight.

Sara Teasdale (1884-1933) was an American lyric poet. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, she was known for her emotionally charged poems that explored themes such as love, nature, and death. She received several awards and honors during her lifetime, including the Columbia Poetry Prize in 1918 and the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1918 for her collection "Love Songs". She was also a member of the Poe-Emerson-Longfellow Group, a literary club in New York City. Teasdale struggled with depression and took her own life in 1933 at the age of 48. Despite her relatively short life, her poetry continues to be widely read and celebrated for its haunting beauty and melancholic tone.

Kate Douglas Wiggin, (1856-1923) was an American children's author and educator. She was born in Philadelphia, and was of Welsh descent. She started the first free kindergarten in San Francisco in 1878. With her sister in the 1880s she also established a training school for kindergarten teachers. Her best known books are The Birds' Christmas Carol, Polly Oliver's Problem, A Cathedral Courtship, New Chronicles of Rebecca and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.