O. Henry’s (September 11, 1862 – June 5, 1910) widely varied background provided not only plots for his tales but also characters drawn from all walks of life. Ham in “The Hiding of Black Chief,” Caesar in “A Municipal Report,”… Read More ›
Search results for ‘Charles Dickens’
Analysis of J. D. Salinger’s Stories
The main characters of J. D. Salinger (January 1, 1919 – January 27, 2010), neurotic and sensitive people, search unsuccessfully for love in a metropolitan setting. They see the phoniness, egotism, and hypocrisy around them. There is a failure of… Read More ›
MOCK TEST 3 UGC NTA NET JRF ENGLISH EXAM
PDF MOCK TEST 3 UGC NTA NET JRF ENGLISH EXAM All questions are compulsory and each carry equal marks. Time 35 Minutes 1. The term invective refers to (A) The abusive writing or speech in which there is harsh denunciation of… Read More ›
Analysis of Vladimir Nabokov’s The Defense
Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977) wrote The Defense, his third novel, in Berlin in 1929 and published it serially under the penname Sirin in the Paris-based Russian journal Sovremennye zapiski (Notes from the fatherland). The novel was first published in Russian in… Read More ›
State Eligibility Test (English) Questions and Answers
STATE ELIGIBILITY TEST (ENGLISH) PROVISIONAL ANSWER KEY EXAM CONDUCTED ON 29 SEPTEMBER 2019 Which character in Chaucer’s General Prologue was stout and brawny, with a wart on his nose? A) The Summoner B) The Monk C) The Miller D) The PardonerANSWER:… Read More ›
Analysis of J. B. Priestley’s Plays
Much of J. B. Priestley’s ((13 September 1894 – 14 August 1984)) drama explores the oneness of all human beings. That notion leads the dramatist to view individuals as members of a charmed or magic circle. The circle is continually… Read More ›
Analysis of William Makepeace Thackeray’s Novels
Long remembered as a social satirist par excellence, William Makepeace Thackeray (18 July 1811 – 24 December 1863) wrote more in the manner of Henry Fielding than of Samuel Richardson and more in the realistic vein than in the style… Read More ›
Analysis of Agatha Christie’s Novels
Agatha Christie’s (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) trademarks in detective fiction brought to maturity the classical tradition of the genre, which was in its adolescence when she began to write. The tradition had some stable characteristics, but she… Read More ›
Detective Novels and Novelists
The detective story is a special branch of crime fiction that focuses attention on the examination of evidence that will lead to the solution of the mystery. The Oxford English Dictionary records the first printed use of the noun “detective”… Read More ›
Analysis of Angela Carter’s Novels
The search for self and for autonomy is the underlying theme of most of Angela Carter’s ) ( 7 May 1940 – 16 February 1992), fiction. Her protagonists, usually described as bored or in some other way detached from their… Read More ›
Modern Novels and Novelists
One way to understand the modern novel is to show its development in the work of writers such as Joseph Conrad, Marcel Proust, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Franz Kafka, and William Faulkner. This list is by no means exclusive, but… Read More ›
Gothic Novels and Novelists
The gothic novel is a living tradition, a form that enjoys great popular appeal while provoking harsh critical judgments. It began with Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1765), then traveled through Ann Radcliffe, Matthew Gregory Lewis, Charles Robert Maturin,… Read More ›
Analysis of Anthony Trollope’s Novels
Anthony Trollope (24 April 1815 – 6 December 1882) was acknowledged during his lifetime as a prominent though not necessarily a weighty or enduring writer. He wished to entertain and he did so, at least until the late 1860’s when… Read More ›
Realism and Naturalism in Europe and America
Realism was by no means a uniform or coherent movement; a tendency toward realism arose in many parts of Europe and in America, beginning in the 1840s. The major figures included Flaubert and Balzac in France, Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Leo Tolstoy… Read More ›
Analysis of Mary Shelley’s Novels
Shelley’s literary reputation rests solely on her first novel, Frankenstein. Her six other novels, which are of uneven quality, are very difficult indeed to find, even in the largest libraries. Nevertheless, Mary Shelley lays claim to a dazzling array of… Read More ›
Analysis of Mary McCarthy’s Novels
Mary McCarthy’s (June 21, 1912 – October 25, 1989) novels often feature herself, with an assumed name, as protagonist; she also exploited her husbands and other people close to her for fictional purposes. Her characters generally have a superior education… Read More ›
Analysis of Oscar Wilde’s Plays
To accuse Oscar Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) of anything so active-sounding as “achievement” would be an impertinence that the strenuously indolent author would most likely deplore. Yet it must be admitted that Wilde’s presence, poses, ideas,… Read More ›
Analysis of Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s Plays
Richard Brinsley Sheridan (30 October 1751 – 7 July 1816) was the best playwright of eighteenth century England, a time of great actors rather than great playwrights. Judged on theatrical rather than strictly literary merit, Sheridan also ranks with the… Read More ›
Analysis of George Eliot’s Novels
George Eliot’s (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880) pivotal position in the history of the novel is attested by some of the most distinguished novelists. Reviewing Middlemarch in 1873, Henry James concluded, “It sets a limit, we think, to… Read More ›
A Brief History of Italian Novels
Giovanni Papini (1881-1956) argued that Italians are less suited temperamentally to writing novels than to writing poetry, essays, and biographies. Certainly, the art of storytelling has long been esteemed in Italy; Baldassare Castiglione, in Il cortegiano (1528; The Book of… Read More ›
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