Francis Bret Harte – författare

Colorful, vivid stories of the California Gold Rush, the Wild West, and the Mexican War made Bret Harte one of the most popular writers of his time. The Bell-Ringer of Angel’s short story title is the epithet of one Alexander McGee, whose accurate aim would pierce the bull''s eye of a mechanical target and cause a bell to ring. The Luck of Roaring Camp is the story of an infant born into a mining camp who changes the lives of the miners and brings them good luck, until tragedy strikes. The Outcasts of Poker Flats tells the story of several “immoral” characters who are cast out of their town only to show their true colors when their situation becomes dire. The Idyl of Red Gulch centers on a young schoolmistress, a drunken but charming young man, and a prostitute in a quiet, moralistic tale with a few unexpected twists and turns.

Contents:1. The Scarlet Letter and "Rappaccini''s Daughter", by Nathaniel Hawthorne2. "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", by Washington Irving3. "Eleonora", "The Fall of the House of Usher", and "The Purloined Letter", by Edgar Allan Poe4. "The Luck of Roaring Camp", "The Outcasts of Poker Flat", and "The Idyl of Red Gulch", by Francis Bret Harte5. "Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog", by Samuel L. Clemens6. "The Man Without a Country", by Edward Everett HaleAlso available:The Complete Harvard Classics Collection (51 Volumes + The Harvard Classic Shelf Of Fiction)50 Masterpieces You Have To Read Before You Die (Golden Deer Classics)

Washington Irving: Rip Van Winkle (1820) Edgar Allan Poe: The Gold Bug (1842)The Purloined Letter (1845) Nathaniel Hawthorne: Howe''s Masquerade (1838) The Birthmark (1843) Francis Bret Harte: The Outcasts of Poker Flat (1869)Robert Louis Stevenson: The Sire de Malétroit''s Door (1878) Markheim (1885)Rudyard Kipling: Wee Willie Winkie (1888)

Excerpt: "Mankind has always loved to tell stories and to listen to them. The most primitive and unlettered peoples and tribes have always shown and still show this universal characteristic. As far back as written records go we find stories; even before that time, they were handed down from remote generations by oral tradition. The wandering minstrel followed a very ancient profession. Before him was his prototype—the man with the gift of telling stories over the fire at night, perhaps at the mouth of a cave. The Greeks, who ever loved to hear some new thing, were merely typical of the ready listeners." (Excerpt from Wikipedia)