Cotton Mather

Cotton Mather (1663-1728) was an American Congregational clergyman who was the son of Increase Mather. Cotton Mather was born in Boston Massachusetts and attended Harvard University. From 1685 until his death he served as minister of Boston's North Church. Along with Dr. Zabdiel Boylston, he helped conquer prejudice against smallpox inoculation in America during 1721.

There exists speculation as to the true level of involvement of Cotton Mather in the famous Salem witchcraft trials in 1692. While there is uncertainty of the extent of his participation in the Salem witchcraft investigations which led to the trials, it is generally excepted that Cotton Mather did condone the witchcraft trials. His name will forever be connected to the Salem witchcraft trials as a result of his extensive writings about witchcraft including the book Wonders of the Invisible World.

Cotton Mather wrote many books on many subjects including science, history, biographies, and theology. Some of the more famous books by Cotton Mather are Wonders of the Invisible World (1693), Magnalia Christi Americana (1702), Theopolis Americana (1710), The Christian Philosopher (1721), The Angel of Bethesda (1924), and Ratio Disciplina (1726).

Edgar Lee Masters

Edgar Lee Masters (1869-1950) was a American author who was in Garnett Kansas, and attended Knox College in Galesburg Illinois. Edgar Lee Masters was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1891 and was a practicing attorney in Chicago until 1920. Before gaining fame in American Literature, Edgar Lee Masters wrote a number of plays and A Book of Verses (1898). The book which earned him popularity as an American writer was A Spoon River Anthology (1915), which was written as a series of revelations of the secret lives of people in a small Midwestern town supposedly made by them after death. In contrast to popular American Literature of the time A Spoon River Anthology displays irony and realism. A Spoon River Anthology remains an important example of a rejection of the social standards that flourished in American society during the first and second decades of the 20Th century. Through out his writing career, Edgar Lee Masters wrote many books including books of poems, biographies, and novels. Among the other books by Edgar Lee Masters are Songs and Satires (1916), Domesday Book (1920), Mitch Miller (1920), Children of the Market Place (1922), Skeeters Kirby (1923), The New Spoon River (1924), Vachel Lindsay a Biography (1935), Poems of People (1936), Whitman a biography (1937), The New World (1937), Mark Twain a Biography (1938), More People (1939), Illinois Poems (1941), and Along the Illinois (1942).



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Edward Bulwer Lytton

Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron Lytton of Knebworth (1803-1873) was an English author, politician, and dramatist who was born in London England, and completed his education at Cambridge University. Edward Bulwer Lytton began writing at an early age, and completed his first book of poetry before attending Cambridge University. Following his graduation from Cambridge he attained much popularity among British social circles, as he described in his first notable book Pelham (1828). For ten years (1831-1842) Edward Bulwer Lytton was a part of the British Liberal Party as a member of Parliament. In 1852 he left the Liberal Party and joined the Conservative Party, and was again elected to Parliament. During his term, which ended with his elevation in 1866 to the peerage, he also served as Colonial Secretary during 1858 and 1859.

Edward Bulwer Lytton wrote many books which gained notable popularity during the middle and late 19Th century. His best books, which are primarily history novels, include The Last Days of Pompeii (1834; Rienzi (1835), a book that provided the theme of Richard Wagner's opera by the same name; Ernest Maltravers (1837); Alice (1838); Lucretia, or children of the night (1846); Harold, or The Last of the Saxon Kings (1848); The Caxtons (1849); and A Strange Story (1862). Edward Bulwer Lytton also wrote a number of plays which included the popular Richelieu (1839) and The Lady of Lyons (1838).

The book by Edward Bulwer Lytton which continues to stir controversy is The Coming Race (1871). While it was a fictional story, many believed it described a master race which used an occult power referred to as Vril. In a popular conspiracy theory it is believed that Adolf Hitler and many high ranking Nazi Party members were part of a secret Vril Society.

The Ancient Novel

Ancient forms of the novel are as old as the drama. Many stories which became part of the European traditional literature originated in Egypt. In India the ancient novel most likely began with the Adventures of the Ten Princes by Dandin, who was a Sanskrit in the late part of the 6Th century A.D. The ancient Chinese novel began to develop during the time of the Yuan Dynasty of the 13Th and 14Th centuries; which is full of dramatic content but lacks in characterization. The first notable ancient Japanese novel is The Tale of Genji from the 11Th century. This novel is a very long book which contains a great deal of information about Japanese court society around 1000 A.D. After a long decline the ancient Japanese novel entered a renaissance during the 17Th century, as is seen in the novels by Bakin, Kioden, Saikaku, and Tanechiko. Bakin is probably the most famous of these authors, with his novel Tale of The Eight Dogs as one of the most famous ancient novels in Japanese literature. In the early centuries of Christianity, ancient Greek novels enjoyed considerable popularity. Some of the notable ancient Greek novels are AEthiopica by Heliodorus of Emesa, Syria; the Ephesiaca (which has many parallels to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet) by Xenophon of Epheus; Apollohius of Tyre and Clitophon and Leucippe by Achilles Tatius of Alexandria Egypt; and Daphnis and Chloe by the famous Greek author Longus. The most notable ancient novels written in Latin during this time period are the Metamorphoses or The Golden Ass by Lucius Apuleius, a native of Numidia, and the Satyricon which is considered to be a novel by the Roman author Gaius Petronius Arbiter. The ancient novel lead the way for advancements in the novel during the Middle Ages and Renaissance period.

Novels Categories

Novels are divided into four main categories which are:
- Novels of Incident which contain the categories of adventure novels, biography novels, and military, naval or sports novels.
- Novels of Artifice which contain the categories of detective novels, mystery novels, novels of the unknown (similar to mystery novels), and suspense novels.
- Novels of Ordinary life which contain the categories of novels of purpose, and realistic or naturalistic novels.
- Psychological Novels which contain the categories of novels of character, and problem novels.

Detective novels place emphasis on investigation and the solving of crime.

Mystery novels are generally centered more on the atmosphere and the characters involved. The atmosphere can be sinister, terrifying, or depressing for the characters.

Novels of the unknown are centered around the supernatural, occult, or other strange circumstances.

Suspense novels are different from mystery novels in that they are centered on the characters and the realistic situations of intrigue, violence, or pursuit they are involved in.

Novels of ordinary life explore moral, life, and religious issues.

Realistic novels focus on meticulous details to present an illusion of being a true story.

Novels of character focus on analysing and investigating a primary character to establish motive, purpose, and to demonstrate how the atmosphere effects the character.

Problem novels deals with conflicts between characters, and with self conflict within characters.

Many novels contain elements of more than one of the above categories, and can be difficult to classify into a particular category for this reason.

American Bible Society

The American Bible Society is a society that was founded in New York in 1816 to promote world wide circulation of the Bible to all people without denominational or racial discrimination. As a standard practice the Bibles have been distributed at or below cost through the agencies of the American Bible Society. The Record is the official publication of the American Bible Society, and can be subscribed to online. The American Bible Society launched its first online ministry in 1999.

In 1963 the American Bible Society had to date distributed 658,121,937 Bibles in 231 languages. Bibles for the blind in braille, Moon, New York Point, and other systems had been distributed since 1835. Membership in the American Bible Society had reached around 165,000 by 1963.

During World War I the American Bible Society distributed over 6,800,000 Bibles. In World War II it distributed over 14,500,000 Bibles in 40 different languages over the six year period.

The Library of the American Bible Society in New York City is known to contain some of the worlds most rare and valuable editions of the Bible.

The Age of Reason

The Age of Reason is a controversial book about religion by Thomas Paine, the Anglo American author who also wrote two of the most famous books in American Literature titled The Rights of Man and Common Sense. The Age of Reason was published as part one in 1794, and as parts one and two in 1796. Thomas Paine endorsed a natural religion based entirely on reason, and was against atheism and Christianity equally. Thomas Paine decided to write The Age of Reason because the French Revolution in 1789 was opposed to all established religions, as is evident in the quote "lest, in the general wreck of superstition we lose sight of morality, of humanity, and of the theology that is true". The Age of Reason alienated Thomas Paine from most of his friends, including George Washington, because of its radical attack on popular religion. It should however be noted that although it was viewed with great distaste, The Age of Reason has withstood the test of time. This lasting impact of the book is due to its influence on 19Th century criticism of Christianity and the Bible.



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Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400) was the first major English poet. He was born in London, and probably attended the Saint Paul's Cathedral School in London. Geoffrey Chaucer was a page in the home of Prince Lionel son of King Edward III. During the Hundred Years War he served with the English army in from 1358 to 1360 and was captured and eventually ransomed. Between 1361 and 1366 he may have studied law at the Inns of Court in London England. Geoffrey Chaucer married Phillippa de Roet, whose sister, Catherine Swynford, married John of Gaunt, another son of King Edward III, as his third wife. Between 1360 and his death Geoffrey Chaucer held a number of official positions and traveled a great deal for diplomatic reasons, and therefore must have been an important man of affairs. He journeyed often to France for government business, and at least twice to Italy, where, it is believed, he was first introduced to the books of famous Italian writers Dante Alighieri, Francesco Petarch, and Giovanni Boccaccio. Geoffrey Chaucer held the important and lucrative post of controller of the customs of wools, skins, and hides for England from 1374 to 1386, and lived during his posting to this position in a house above Aldgate, one of the gates to London. It is believed that he lived thereafter mainly in Kent, where he served as justice of the peace, and a member of Parliament. In 1389 he was appointed clerk of the King's works, which place him in charge of repair and construction of extensive Royal buildings. This position proved to be dangerous, because in a span of four days he was assaulted and robbed at least twice in 1390; he resigned the position in 1391. He was then appointed as deputy forester in North Petherton. Near the end of his life Geoffrey Chaucer apparently had the favor of King Richard II and King Henry IV, although it is believed that he suffered from financial troubles during this time.
The books Geoffrey Chaucer wrote prior to 1382 are dominated by prevailing literary mode common to the late Middle Ages, characterized by symbolic interaction between allegorical or fanciful persons who seem to live in a dream world, or cut off from reality. Most of these Middle Ages poems are composed in the Octosyllabic couplet common in early medieval narrative verse.
Geoffrey Chaucer's translation of Le Roman De la Rose, a popular 13Th century book, by French poets Guillaume de Lorris and Jean Clopinel, was probably written during this time prior to 1382. Among his other early books are The Book of the Duchess, a sensitive and evocative elegy in the form of dream vision, written in honor of Blanche, the first wife of John of Gaunt; the unfinished poem The House of Fame, a partly humorous, very fanciful dream vision in which Geoffrey Chaucer himself, in imitation of a more solemn scene in Dante's The Divine Comedy, is carried by a talkative eagle form the earth to a strange land; In The Parlement of Foules, also known as The Parliament of Birds, he is led in a dream into a garden, where he first enters a temple dedicated to goddess Venus and devoted apparently to romantic and sensual love, and then sees the judgement of Dame Nature in distributing mates to various birds representing various kinds of people. Part of the intention of Geoffrey Chaucer at this time was to portray love in marriage.

The books by Geoffrey Chaucer written in the later part of his life, generally depict solid individuals in the everyday world and contain some notable technical innovations in English Literature. During this time he made extensive use of rime royal stanza in his conservative, formal, or religious narratives, and he introduced the iambic pentameter couplet to English literature, using it in his satirical books.
Geoffrey Chaucer relies again on dream vision in The Legend of Good Women, but passes to the successive stories of famous women whose love was villainously betrayed by their men. Troilus and Cressida, a romance based in ancient Troy, displays simularities to another romance of the same subject by Giovanni Boccaccio. However, the book by Geoffrey Chaucer differs in representing sensitively the psychological stages of the noble but inconstant Cressida's love for and desertion of the warrior Troilus. The poem succeeds in relating these occurrences to a larger view of man's fate, partly through the reactions of the wise character Pandarus. The book Geoffrey Chaucer is most famous for is The Canterbury Tales which was written between 1386 and 1400. The Canterbury Tales comprises a series of extraordinarily diverse tales and viewpoints tied together by revelations of the characters of the tellers, a band of pilgrims. Geoffrey Chaucer exhibits in this book his mastery of story telling and his unique understanding of humanity. In addition to The Canterbury Tales and the other books previously described, he also authored shorter poems, and other books, of which some have been lost to time.

As a result of his masterpiece The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer is viewed as one of the greatest authors of English literature. The qualities that have endeared his books to generations of readers are his unique understanding of humanity, and his creation of loving and unique characters. Geoffrey Chaucer brought together in literary books of a new subtlety and urbanity the courtly and idealized view of life common to medieval romance, the spiritual insight common to medieval religious books, and the robust and lusty perception of human frailty common in medieval satire.
In Geoffrey Chaucer's time and the three prior centuries, French and Latin were the languages used by the upper classes in England. As a result, such classic books by Geoffrey Chaucer as The Canterbury Tales, The Parliament of Birds, and Troilus and Cressida were highly influential in establishing English as the common language of books in English literature. Following his death Geoffrey Chaucer was buried in Westminster Abbey, in what is known today as The Poets' Corner.





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Margaret Mitchell

Margaret Mitchell (1900-1949) was an American writer who was born in Atlanta Georgia, and attended school at the Washington Seminary in Atlanta, and at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. Margaret Mitchell was a writer and reporter at the Atlanta Journal between 1922 and 1926; in the latter year she started writing her most famous book Gone With The Wind and completed it in 1936. Gone With The Wind describes a romantic life in the South during the American Civil War period, and became an almost instant classic in American Literature. Gone With The Wind saw sales of over 1,500,000 copies in the first year alone, and in the following year Margaret Mitchell received the 1937 Pulitzer Prize. Within the following ten years Gone With The Wind was translated into over 30 languages and was made into a classic movie in 1939. In 1949 Margaret Mitchell died shortly after being struck by a car in Atlanta.



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Thomas Mann

Thomas Mann (1875-1955) was a German American author and critic who was born in lubeck and attended school in Munich. He was the brother of Heinrich Mann and father of Klaus and Erika Mann. In his youth Thomas Mann was a clerk at an insurance company in Munich. Later he served on the staff of the Munich satiric journal Simplicissimus, before writing as a full time career. Thomas Mann was one of the most important German authors of the early 20Th century. His books explore the relationship between the exceptional individual and his environment, either of the family or of the world in general; they are characterized by accurate reproduction of details of both early 20Th century and ancient living, by profound intellectual analysis of ideas and characters, and by a detached, somewhat ironic view point combined with a deep sense of the tragic circumstances of life.

Thomas Mann wrote many short stories and novels including Buddenbrooks (1901), which was his first important book. Some of the other books by Thomas Mann include Fiorenza (1906), a poetic drama about the conflict between artist men and their environment; Tonio Kroger (1903); Bekenntnisse des Hockstapiers Felix Krull (1911); Death in Venice (1912); and The Magic Mountain (1924), which remains Thomas Mann's most famous book and is recognized as one of the greatest books of the 20Th century. In The Magic Mountain Thomas Mann analysed early 20Th century society and civilization.
Thomas Mann continued to write numerous other books, and was a critic of politics and literature. In 1929 he was awarded a Nobel Prize in literature, and shortly after, he fled Germany and, in 1944, he became an American citizen. Thomas Mann continued to write books in America including Doctor Faustus (1947), and The Holy Sinner (1951). Thomas Mann eventually moved to Switzerland, where he passed away 1953.





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John P. Marquand

John Phillips Marquand (1893-1960)was an American writer who was born in Wilmington, Delaware, attended Harvard University. John P. Marquand was assistant to the managing editor of the Boston Transcript from 1915 to 1917 and worked in the Sunday department of the New York Herald Tribute in 1919 and 1920. The first of John P. Marquand books was The Unspeakable Gentleman (1922). As a writer of American detective stories, John P. Marquand was known for his creation of the fictional Japanese detective Mr. Moto, the main character in Thank You, Mr Moto (1936) and other detective stories by John P. Marquand. His most successful books satirized middle class society, particularly in that of Boston middle class; they include The Late George Apley (1937), which won John P. Marquand a Pulitzer Prize in 1938; Wickford Point (1939); and H. M. Pulham, Esq. (1941). Other books by John P. Marquand include So Little Time (1943), Repeat in Haste (1945), B.F.'s Daughter (1946), Point of No Return (1949), Melvin Goodwin, USA (1951), Sincerely, Willis Wayde (1955), and Life at Happy Knoll (1957).





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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) was an American poet who was born in Portland Maine. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was educated at Bowdoin College, and also studied in France, Italy, and Spain. He later became a professor of modern language at Bowdoin College and at Harvard University from 1835 to 1854, after which he devoted himself entirely to writing books. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was one of the most celebrated and popular American poets of his time. The sales of his books of verse amounted to more than three hundred thousand copies by 1857. He was honored by royal and educational institutions in Europe and England as a great figure of American literature; after his death a bust of him, the first of an American writer, was placed in the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was the author of some of the most famous American poems, including The Village Blacksmith, Paul Revere's Ride, The Wreck of the Hesperus, Excelsior, My Lost Youth, The Psalm of Life, and The Skeleton in Armor. His books of poetry are characterized by familiar themes, easily grasped ideas, and clear, simple, melodious language. Most modern day critics are not in agreement with the popularity held by his contemporaries. According to present standards the poetry of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is trite and commonplace in idea, and lacks genuine lyric power; and his reaction to nature and basic emotions is superficial. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow nevertheless remains a greatly popular American writer.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow received his first wide spread public recognition with his book of verse Voices of the Night (1839). Other poetry books of his include Ballads and Other Poems (1841); three long narrative poems about American themes, Evangeline (1847), The Song of Hiawatha (1855), and The Courtship of Miles Standish (1858); The Seaside and the Fireside (1850); Tales of a Wayside Inn (1863); Three Books of Song (1872); Aftermath (1873); The Hanging of the Crane (1874); and Ultima Thule (1880). Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was also the author of a verse translation of Dante's Divine Comedy (1867); and a number of prose books, including a travel books and two novels.



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Novels

A Novel is generally a fictional story in which the situations and characters can be based on real life, or entirely fiction. The situations and characters are usually formed within the structure of a plot. Although novels have served as the instrument of instruction, of satire, of political argument, and of moral edification, the novels primary purpose has always been entertainment. It constitutes the third stage in the development of fiction, the epic, and the romance, being the first and second stages.

The tern "novel" appears to have been applied at the outset to any new story. In the 12Th and 13Th centuries it was common practice among the Provencal poets of France for a realistic tale of intrigue told in verse form. The term novella was made popular in Italy by Giovanni Boccaccio as the title of a short anecdotal narrative in prose. When these novels were translated into English the term "novels" itself passed into English Language. The earliest ascertained use of the word "novels" in English literature occurred in The Palace of Pleasure, a group of tales translated by William Painter from the novels of Giovanni Boccaccio and the Piedmontese writer Matteo Bandello and published in 1566. The Italian novella was then progressively expanded by English writers to the 18Th century. Despite this development, however, and the multiplication of incidents, novels remained essentially a formless rambling story, lacking the structure formed in a plot. The English author who wrote the first modern novel was Samuel Richardson. His novel Pamela (1740) was in epistolary or letter form, and recounts the trials and victory of a maidservant in preserving her virtue from the dishonorable advances of her employer.

Bay Psalm Book

The Bay Psalm Book, while often excluded from consideration as traditional American literature, is the earliest book ever published and printed in the British colonies in America and the first American book of psalms. Its authors were the American clergymen Richard Mather, Thomas Welde, and John Eliot, and was printed by Stephen Day in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1640. Generally among collectors of American literature books the Bay Psalm Book is considered the most valuable book ever printed in the United States because of its rarity and historical importance. An original copy of the Bay Psalm Book was sold in 1947 for $151,000.

Middle Ages Children's Literature

In Britain during the Middle Ages the oldest forms of oral literature, shared by young and old over generations, were simple folk tales, usually of Celtic or Anglo Saxon origin. These children's literature stories included the hearty folk ballads, among then Robbin Hood, and the narratives sung by wandering bards about King Arthur and his knights as well as other stories about heroes of chivalry.

The first stories of the Middle Ages intended for children were Latin collections of the 7Th and 8Th centuries. The best known books, written by such outstanding ecclesiastic scholars as Aldhelm, Alcuin, and Bede, were used as children's literature books in the monastery schools.

Children's Literature

Children's Literature are books designed for children, or books that children can read with interest, including fiction, poetry, biography, and history. Children's literature also includes riddles, percepts, fables, legends, myths, and folk lore based upon written or spoken traditional stories. Primitive or very ancient literature, such as the Babylonian animal stories or the books of Homer, is often adapted to children's literature because of the simple narrative form of such books and stories.

Until the Renaissance the main sources of children's literature in the West were the Bible and the Greek and Latin classic books. The expansion of literacy following the invention of book printing in the 15Th century increased the range of children's literature, and a new source became the stories of national history. Following the 18Th century archaeologists, philologists, and anthropologists began adding material for stories from the history of various world cultures and previously unused European folklore. Typical of these new stories are the many children's literature books related to American and British history.

The modern publishers of leather bound books have printed numerous children's literature books including such titles as the many Disney stories, A. A. Milne's Winnie The Pooh stories, Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, L. Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz stories, and hundreds of other children's literature books.

Aldous Huxley

Aldous Leonard Huxley (1894-1963) was a British writer, essayist, and critic, grandson of Thomas Henry Huxley, and born in Godalming, Surrey. He was educated at English schools Eton College and Oxford University. In 1919 Aldous Huxley worked on the staff of the English magazine Athenaeum in London England, writing musical dramatic, and art criticism. He also, in 1929, started working as a dramatic critic on the English literary periodical the Westminster Gazette. In 1937 Aldous Huxley emigrated to the United States. The first book by Aldous Huxley Crome Yellow (1921) was followed, among others, by Antic Hay (1923), dealing with the effect of skepticism on life; Those barren Leaves (1925); Point Counter Point (1928), perhaps his most widely discussed fiction book; Brave New World (1932), one of his more famous books; Eyeless in Gaza (1936); After Many a Summer Dies the Swan (1939); The Genius and the Goddess (1955); Brave New World Revisited (1958); and Island (1962). Among Aldous Huxley's other books are volumes of essays On the Margin (1923), Jesting Pilate (1926), Proper Studies (1927), Music at Night (1931), The Olive Tree (1936), and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow (1956). Notable Aldous Huxley poetry books include The Burning Wheel (1916), Leda (1920), Arabia Infelix (1929), and The Cicadas (1931). The books of short stories by Aldous Huxley include Little Mexican and Other Stories (1924), Two or Three Graces (1926), and Brief Candles (1930). He is also the author of Grey Eminence (1941), a study of relations between politics and mystical religion, in the form of a biography of Father Joseph , coadjutor of the French ecclesiastic Cardinal Richelieu; The Art of Seeing (1942); Perennial Philosophy (1945); Science, Liberty and Peace (1946); Ape and Essence (1948); The Devils of Loudun (1952); The Doors of Perception (1954); Heaven and hell (1956); and Literature and Science (1963).



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Omar Khayyam

Omar Khayyam was a famous Persian mathematician, astronomer, poet and author of the famous book titled Rubaiyat, who was born in Nishapur, Khurasan. On the accession as sultan of Jalal ad Din Malik Shah, Omar Khayyan received the appointment of astronomer royal to the court. He was engaged with seven other astronomers to reform the calender, which resulted in the adoption of a new era, the Jalalian or Malik Shahi. This mode of reckoning dated from March 15, 1079. As an algebraist Omar Khayyam stands out as the most notable mathematician of his time. He was the first to attempt a systematic classification of types of equations of the first three degrees and to consider cubics from the standpoint of the general equation. He also wrote three different books on subjects of natural science and three books on metaphysics. However it is his verse as the author of the book Rubaiyat, or quatrains, that earned him his greatest fame. Edward Fitzgerald was the first to introduce Omar Khayyam to the Western World through a version of 100 of the Rubaiyat quatrains. The version is indeed a paraphrase, yet often very close, and reflects with great accuracy the spirit of the original Rubaiyat. About 1000 of these four line stanzas are found, in different books and manuscripts attributed to him.

Robert Frost

Robert Lee Frost (1874-1963) was an American poet and teacher who was born in San Francisco California, and attended school at Dartmouth College and Harvard University. Robert Frost's ancestors settled in New England in 1634. In 1885 his father died and he moved with his mother to Lawrence Massachusetts, where he completed his high school education. After graduation he sporadically attended college and earned his living by working as a bobbin boy in a wool mill, a shoemaker, country school teacher, editor of a rural newspaper, and, after inheriting a farm from his grandfather, a farmer. Throughout this period Robert Frost also wrote poetry, but he had little success in getting his poems published. In 1912 he sold his farm, gave up a teaching post at the New Hampshire Normal School, and moved to England. In England he met many established English poets such as Edward Thomas, Lascelles Abercrombie, and Wilfrid Gibson, who became his friends and helped to launch his literary career in poetry. Through their help, his first two books, a group of lyrics entitled A Boy's Will (1913) and a series of New England dramatic monologues entitled North of Boston (1914), were published. Those books won Robert Frost immediate recognition, and in 1915 he returned to the United States to find that his fame had preceded him. Thereafter he continued to write poetry with ever greater success, while living on farms in Vermont and new Hampshire, and teaching literature at Amherst College, the University of Michigan, and Harvard University. Among the poetry books by Robert Frost are Mountain Interval (1916), West Running Brook (1928), A Way Out (1929) a play, From Snow to Snow (1936), A Witness Tree (1942), Masque of Reason (1945), Steeple Bush (1947), Complete Poems (1949), The Road Not Taken (1951), You Come Too (1960), and In The Clearing (1962).

Robert Frost is one of the most important poets in 20Th century American literature. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry four times and was made a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1953. In 1961 Robert Frost became the first poet invited to read a poem at a Presidential inauguration, an honor which highlighted his importance as a poet in American Literature. He is also among the few poets whose poems became classics in his own lifetime. The poetry of Robert Frost, mainly about life in rural New England, is written in the plain, intimate, conversational tone of a typical New England poet. Although he chose ordinary subjects for his themes, his emotional range is wide and deep, capable of shifting in the same poem from witty to the profoundest expression of feelings of pain and renunciation. A love for country things, a traditional New England individualism, and a hard headed belief in the values of old fashion liberalism combined in Robert Frost to produce the subtle and sensible philosophy that underlies his poetry.



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Eugene O'Neill

Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (1888-1953) was an American dramatist, who was the son of the Irish American actor James O'Neill, and was born in New York City. Eugene O'Neill accompanied his father on theatrical tours during his childhood, attended Princeton University for one year, and worked as a clerk in New York City. From 1909 to 1912 he prospected for gold in Honduras, served as assistant manager of a theatrical troupe organized by his father, went to sea as an ordinary seaman, toured as an actor with his father's troupe, and worked as a newspaper reporter in New London, Connecticut. Having contracted a mild case of tuberculosis, in 1912 he became a patient in a sanatorium; there he wrote his first plays, some of which are included in Thirst and Other One Act Plays (1914). Eugene O'Neill later studied the art of play writing at Harvard University under the American author and educator George Pierce Baker.
Eugene O'Neill lived during most of the next ten years in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and Greenwich Village, New York City, where he was associated both as a dramatist and as a manager with the Provincetown Players. This experimental theatrical group staged a number of his one act plays, beginning with Bound East for Cardiff (1916), and several long plays, including The Hairy Ape (1922), Beyond the Horizon (1920) a domestic tragedy in three acts, was produced successfully on Broadway and won a Pulitzer Prize in 1921, The Emperor Jones (1920), a study of the disintegration of a dictator's mind under the influence of fear. In Strange Interlude (1927) Eugene O'Neill sought to portray the way in which psychological processes impinge upon outward actions, and it won a Pulitzer Prize in 1928. His most ambitious book, the trilogy Mourning Becomes Electra (1931), was an attempt to recreate the power and profundity of the ancient Greek tragedies by setting in 19Th century New England the themes and plot of the Oresteia by the ancient Greek dramatist Aeschylus. Ah, Wilderness (1932), written in a relatively light vein, was also highly successful.
Eugene O'Neill suffered from poor health from 1934 until his death in 1953. During this entire period he worked intermittently on a long series of plays dealing with the history of an American family but completed only A Touch of the Poet, which was published in 1958. After 1939 he wrote three other plays unrelated to the American series, The Iceman Cometh (1946), which portrays a group of characters to live without illusions, and two tragedies dealing with his family, Long Day's Journey Into Night (published 1956), and A Moon for the Misbegotten (published in 1957). In 1936 Eugene O'Neill was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature.
Many of Eugene O'Neill's dramas are marked by new theatrical techniques and symbolic devices which express religious and philosophical ideas and give his characters much psychological depth. He employed the sound of tom toms gradually increasing in volume to mark an increase in tension, masks to indicate shadings of personality, lengthy asides in which is characters voice their hidden thoughts, and choruses used like in ancient Greek tragedies to comment on the action of his plays.
Eugene O'Neill is generally considered the most important American dramatist. Throughout his career he attempted to deal with fundamental human problems seriously and with integrity. His best books convey forcibly his vision of modern man, a victim of circumstances who cannot believe in God, destiny, or free will and who therefore blames impersonal causes for his misery and punishes himself for his own sin and guilt. Despite the seriousness and theatrical brilliance of many of Eugene O'Neill's plays, much of his symbolism is obscure, and his innovations in stagecraft often do not achieve the desired effects. In addition, the language of his characters has been criticized for lapses into banality or bathos at many of the most compelling moments in his plays. However, by bringing psychological realism, philosophical depth, and poetic symbolism into the American theater, Eugene O'Neill's plays raised the standards of most later American dramatists and their plays.
Eugene O'Neill's other plays include Moon of the Caribees (1918), Anna Christie (1921) which also won a Pulitzer Prize in 1922, All God's Chillun Got Wings (1924), Desire Under the Elms (1924), The Great God Brown (1926), Lazarus Laughed (1926), Marco Millions (1928), Dynamo (1929), and Days Without End (1934).





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John O'Hara

John O'Hara (1905-1970) was an American author and short story writer who was born in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, and educated at Niagara Preparatory school in Niagara Falls New York, John O'Hara was successively a newspaper reporter, a drama and movie critic, and a movie screen writer. His first book, Appointment in Samara (1934), brought him wide spread public recognition. John O'Hara is best known for his book Butterfield 8 (1935), a tragic story of life in the night clubs and underworld of New York City; and for his short stories Pal Joey (1940), in the form of letters be a cynical night club singer. The latter were made into a musical comedy by the same name, for which John O'Hara helped write the libretto. John O'Hara books of fiction are distinguished by satiric, ironic, and tragic realism; stress on characterization rather than plots; and a style marked by simplicity and power. Other books by John O'Hara include The Doctor's Son and Other Stories (1935), Rage to Live (1949), Sweet and Sour essays (1954), Ten North Frederick (1955), From the Terrace (1958), and Sermons and Soda Water (1960); and the books of short stories File on Parade (1939), Pipe Night (1945), Hellbox (1947), and Assembly (1961).



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George Orwell

George Orwell is the pen name of author Eric Arthur Blair (1903-1950), who was a British author born in Motihari, India, and educated at Eton. George Orwell served with the India Imperial Police in Burma from 1922 to 1927, when he returned to Europe. In poor health, and desperately trying to become a writer, George Orwell lived for several years in poverty, first in Paris and then in London. His first books entitled Down and Out in Paris and London (1933) and Burmese Days (1934) are largely autobiographical. Having become an anti-imperialist while serving in Burma, George Orwell had meanwhile joined the Marxist movement, and from 1936 and 1937 he fought for the Republican cause in the Spanish Civil War. He described his war experiences in his book Homage to Catalonia (1938). In the most significant phase of his writing career, George Orwell's political convictions underwent a profound change. Becoming increasingly anti-Stalinist and anti totalitarian, he developed an overriding concern for the future of individual liberty. His condemnation of a regimented society is expressed in the satire Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty Four (1949). These later George Orwell books present a terrifying picture of life in a completely authoritarian society. Among George Orwell's other books are Keep the Aspidistra Flying (1936), Critical Essays (1946), The English People (1947), and Shooting An Elephant (published posthumously in 1950).



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Sinclair Lewis

Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951) was an American novelist who was born in Sauk Center, Minnesota, and educated at Yake University. From 1907 to 1916 Sinclair Lewis was a newspaper reporter and an editor for a number of magazines and a publishing house. Lewis' earliest books, Our Mr Wrenn (1914) and The Trail of the Hawk (1915), were conventional and unoriginal; he first began to write with literary originality in his book The Job (1917), a realistic story of New York City. In Main Street (1920) Sinclair Lewis first developed the theme which would characterize most of his later books; the dullness, monotony, emotional frustration, and lack of spiritual and intellectual values in various types of American middle class life, especially the life of the Midwestern small town. His book Babbit (1922) is a merciless satire of the middle class American businessman who conforms blindly to the materialistic social and ethical standards and practices of his environment; the term "babbit", identifying a businessman of this type, is now a part of the English language. In Arrowsmith (1925) Sinclair Lewis exposed the lack of scientific idealism sometimes seen in medical professions; Elmer Gantry (1927) was a violent attack on a type of hypocritical and mercenary religious leader; and The Men Who Knew Coolidge (1928) is another satire of an average businessman. In Dodsworth (1929) Sinclair Lewis satirized the egotistic, shallow, pretensions, and selfish married woman sometimes seen among the American upper middle class circles. The books mentioned above are generally considered the best books by Sinclair Lewis. Others of his books are Ann Vickers (1933), which deals with a woman social reformer; Work of Art (1934), another story of a successful businessman; It Can't Happen Here (1935), a story about a future revolution leading to fascist control in the United States; The Prodigal Parents (1938); Bethel Merriday (1940), a novel of stage life; Cass Timberlane (1945); Kingblood Royal (1947), a novel about racial intolerance; and The God Seeker (1949). Sinclair Lewis was also a playwright; among his plays are Hobohemia (1919), a dramatization of Dodsworth (with Sidney Coe Howard, 1934), and Jayhawker (with Lloyd Lewis, 1934). From Main Street to Stockholm, a collection of his letters, was published posthumously in 1952.



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Helen Keller

Helen Adams Keller was an American author and lecturer who was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama. When only nineteen months old, Helen Keller was stricken with an acute illness which left her deaf and blind. No way could be found to educate her until she was seven years old, when she started her special education in reading and writing with Anne Mansfield Macy of the Perkins Institute for the blind. She quickly learned to read by the Braille system and to write by means of a special typewriter. In 1890 she learned to speak after only one month of study. Ten years later she was able to enter Radcliffe College, from which she graduated with honors in 1904. Helen Keller then served on the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind, and shortly thereafter lectured throughout the world, using her life as an inspiration for other handicapped people. After World War II Helen Keller visited wounded veterans in hospitals all over America, and in 1946 spoke in England, France, Italy, and Greece on behalf of the physically handicapped. She received the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964. Her books include The Story of My Life, The World I Live In, Out of the Dark, Midstream - My Later Life, Let Us Have Faith, Teacher: Anne Sullivan Macy, and The Open Door. Helen Keller's biography, The Story of My Life, was presented in a documentary film The Unconquered.

Theodore Dreiser

Theodore Dreiser, (1971-1945), was an American author and journalist who was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, and educated at the University of Indiana. Theodore Dreiser began newspaper reporting for the Chicago Daily Globe in 1892, and was dramatic editor and traveling correspondent of the St. Louis Globe Democrat from 1892 to 1893, and traveling correspondent for the St. Louis Republic from 1893 to 1894. Dreiser's career as a novelist began in 1900 with the book Sister Carrie, which he wrote in the intervals between writing for various magazines. Public outcry for the book for its realistic treatment of sexual problems caused the publisher to temporarily suspend sales of the book. Theodore Dreiser continued writing, and was managing editor of Broadway Magazine from 1906 to 1907, and editor in chief of Butterick publications from 1907 to 1910. By the time his second novel, Jenny Gerhardt, was published in 1911, Theodore Dreiser books had found influential supporter, including Frank Norris, H. G. Wells, and Hugh Walpole, and he was able to devote himself solely to writing his books. His books continued to excite controversy, In The Financier (1912) and The Titan (1914), he drew a harsh portrait of a type of ruthless businessman. In The Genius (1915) he presented a study of the artistic temperament in a mercenary society. This last novel increased his influence among young American writers, who acclaimed him as the leader of the new school of social realism. Theodore Dreiser, however, did not come to meet his real fame until 1925, when his book American Tragedy has great popular success. The novel was dramatized, and it was made into a movie. Although Theodore Dreiser's style was regarded by some critics as clumsy and awkward, he was generally regarded as a pioneer in American Literature. The author Sinclair Lewis hailed his book Sister Carrie as "The first book free of English literature influence." Toward the end of his career Theodore Dreiser devoted himself largely to promoting his radical political views. He had visited the Soviet Union and, in his book Dreiser Looks at Russia (1928) avowed his sympathy for that country. Six months before his death , it was announced that he had become a member of the United States Communist Party. His last book, The Bulwark, was published the year after his death, Other books by Theodore Dreiser include Plays of the Natural and Supernatural (1916), A Hoosier Holiday (1916), Twelve Men (1919), A Book About Myself (1922), The Color of a Great City (1923), Moods (1926), Chains (1927), A Gallery of Women (1929), Dawn (1931), Tragic America (1923), and America Is Worth Saving (1941).



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The Latter Rain

Submitted by Ray on December 09,2008.

"Salvation comes from God, whom the Bible calls as the Living God and Savior. God is employing a human being in order for His will to be fulfilled ... and that is the salvation of man.
Our Lord Jesus Christ will bring two kinds of salvation, through the Bible. At the time He assumed human form, He saved Israel from its sinfulness. That is written in Matthew 1:21, which says-
"And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins."
However, when He comes again, for the second time, He will bring salvation to the faithful. And, the Bible is teaching us how we can become one among those people that our Lord Jesus Christ will save come judgment day. The first verse that we have to pay attention to is Ephesians 3:6, which says-
"That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the Gospel."
St. Paul, the Apostle, said, "The Gentiles should be fellow heirs." But before we continue analyzing this verse, let us find out from the Bible: who are called "Gentiles" and why are they also called "heirs?" In Ephesians 2:11-12, this is what is written--
"Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world."
In those lines, St. Paul reminds the Christians in Ephesus of their former conditions. According to the Bible, during those times, "they were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel." Therefore, Biblically speaking, the Gentiles are those who were apart from Christ. They were "strangers from the covenants of promise," ... they were the hopeless, and they were without a God in the world because they were not part of Israel. And we, who live at the present time, may also be called Gentiles if we will use the Bible as our basis.
According to St. Paul, for the Gentiles to be a part of the salvation that comes from our Lord Jesus Christ, they have to be made parts first of the body; and only after that will they become partakers of a promise in Christ by the Gospel.
You will notice that St. Paul made reference to a "body" ... a body into which the Gentiles must integrate themselves so that they also become heirs. The explanation to that may be read in Colossians 1:18-
"And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the first born from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence."
Therefore, the body whose head is Christ is the CHURCH. At this point, we must understand that the Gentiles, like us, must join the body, or the Church. And when we say that we must join the Church, it means that we no longer have to build any. We no longer have to establish our own church just for us to become partakers of a promise in Christ.
And whenever we say "join," or be a part of the body, of the Church, it denotes that, there is already an existing Church. In fact, this Church already exists even before the promise of salvation was given to the Gentiles. There is an existing Church even before Paul was made apostle. And this was the same Church that our Lord Jesus Christ taught, when he assumed human form. ... And there can never be another church.
Today, there are preachers who claim that another church had appeared in the Philippines. And according to them, this church was different from the one in Israel. If this is the case, it would appear that, despite the fact that there was already a church in Israel, another church appeared in the Philippines. As far as the Bible is concerned, such a belief is wrong because, according to St. Paul's epistle to the Ephesians, in 4:4-
"There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling."
There is just one body ... there is no other body. And the proof that there is only one body can be read in Colossians 3:15-
"And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which ye are called in one body; and ye be thankful."
Here, St. Paul is addressing the brethren who, in the beginning were Gentiles, but were eventually called to one body. In other words, the body that the early Christians (the Israelites) made themselves a part of, is also the same body, or church, into which the Gentiles were being called upon to join. Now, if the Gentiles will just integrate themselves to the body, then, the Church will remain ONE.
It is against the teachings of God, and of the Holy Scripture, that other churches is built in other places, let's say in the US, or in England, or in Germany, or in Rome. They also claim that another church had also been founded in the Philippines. The truth is, God did not give any right to anybody to build his own church. It is indeed disgusting that today, a lot of ministers build churches of their own. They deliberately oppose and defy what the Bible said - that, the Gentiles, like us, must join or make ourselves a part of the body, or the Church, for us to be saved.
And what is the reason why we must abide by it? It is because, as far as God is concerned, He did not give anybody His consent to build a church right now in our time. This is what Psalms 127:1 says-
"Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that built it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."
The verse mentioned of a "house," which becomes useless if it is not built by the Lord. Let us now ask the Bible. What is being referred to as the "house," which only God has the right to build? In I Timothy 3:15, it says-
"But if I tarry long , that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."
If you have noticed, in the New Testament, the word house refers to the Church of God. This is, truly, the house of God because it was built by God, Himself. That is why, if, in our time, you come across churches, whose founders are also their ministers, you can be sure that they are NOT REAL!"

Saint Augustine

Saint Augustine, (354-430), was the greatest of the Latin Fathers and one of the most eminent Doctors of the Western Church. Saint Augustine was born in Tagaste, Numidia (now Soukh Ahras, Algeria). His father, Patricius, was a pagan who later converted, but his mother was a devout Christian who laboured untiringly for her son's conversion and who was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church. Saint Augustine was educated as a rhetorician at Tagaste, Madaura, and Carthage. From around the age of sixteen he lived for many years with a concubine, by whom he had one natural son, whom he named Adeodatus.

Through reading Hortensius by the Roman writer Marcus Tullius Cicero, Saint Augustine became an earnest seeker of truth. He considered becoming a Christian, but experimented with several philosophical systems before finally joining the Christian faith. For nine years he adhered to Manichaeism, a Persian dualistic philosophy then widely practiced in the Western Roman Empire. With its fundamental principle of conflict between good and evil, Manichaeism seemed to Saint Augustine at first to correspond to the facts of the experience and to furnish the most plausible hypothesis upon which to build a philosophical and ethical system. Moreover, its demands upon novices were not strict enough to cause great uneasiness of conscience; hence Saint Augustine's petition, which he later recorded, "Lord, make me pure and chaste but not quite yet!" Disillusioned by the impossibility of reconciling certain contradictory Manichaeist doctrines, Saint Augustine abandoned Manichaeism and turned to skepticism.

Around 383 Saint Augustine left Carthage for Rome, but he soon went on to Milan as a teacher of rhetoric. There he fell under the influence of the philosophy of Neoplatonism, and there also he met the bishop of Milan, Ambrose, then the most distinguished ecclesiastic in Italy. Saint Augustine presently was attracted again to Christianity. At last one day, according to his own account, he seemed to hear a voice, like that of a child, repeating, "Take and Read". Unable to recall any game in which children were known to utter these words, he interpreted them as divine orders to open the Bible and read the first passage he happened to see. Accordingly, he opened the Bible and read "Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and impurities, not in contention and envy, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh in its concupiscence" (Rom. 13:13-14). Saint Augustine immediately resolved to embrace Christianity. With his natural son he was baptized by Ambrose on Easter Eve in 387. His mother, who had rejoined him in Italy, was rejoiced at this answer to her prayers and hopes. She died soon after at Ostia.

Saint Augustine returned to Africa and was made Presbyter in 391. He became bishop of Hippo in 395, an office he held until his death. It was a period of political and theological unrest, for while the barbarians pressed in upon the empire, even sacking Rome itself, schism and heresy also threatened the Church. Saint Augustine threw himself wholeheartedly into the theological battle. Besides combating the Manichaean heresy, Saint Augustine engaged in two great theological conflicts. One was with the Donatists, a sect which held that the sacraments were invalid if administered by ecclesiastics who had denied Christ under persecution. In the course of the controversy he developed his ecclesiastic and sacramental theories. The other conflict was with the Pelagians, followers of a British monk who denied the doctrine of original sin. In the course of this conflict, which was long and bitter, Saint Augustine developed his theories of sin and grace, of divine sovereignty, and of predestination. Augustine's doctrines can be interpreted from two sides, the ecclesiastical and the theological. The Roman Catholic church has found special satisfaction in the former; Catholic and Protestant theology alike are based on the latter. The French and German Reformation leaders, John Calvin and Martin Luther, were both close students of Saint Augustine.

Saint Augustine taught that the true Church was characterized by four qualities, namely unity, holiness, catholicity, and apostolicity. Outside this Church there could be no salvation. Convinced of the indispensable necessity of church membership, Saint Augustine finally came to believe it right to coerce the intractable; it was the duty of the Christian state to compel them to come in. The force doctrine can be found clearly stated in his Ninety third Epistle (408), where he cites the Parable of the Wedding Feast in support of his position. Saint Augustine's doctrine stood between the extremes of Pelagianism and Manichaeism. Against Pelagian naturalism he held that death came into the world as the result of sin, and that man is saved by divine grace; against Manichaeism he vigorously defended free will.

The place of prominence held by Saint Augustine among the Fathers and Doctors of the Church is comparable to that of Saint Paul among the Apostles. As a writer Saint Augustine is prolific and persuasive and a brilliant stylist. His best known book is his autobiography, The Confessions of Saint Augustine, which was written in 397. In his great apologetic book, The City of God (426), Saint Augustine appears in the role of seer, unfolding the meaning of the past and the secrets of the future with abundant learning and imagination. Ten of the twenty two books by Saint Augustine are devoted to refuting the pagan belief that worship of the gods insures prosperity in life or the after life. The remaining twelve books by Saint Augustine trace the origin, progress, and destiny of the city of God and the city of this world and foresee the final triumph of the former, which is the Christian Church. In 428 Saint Augustine wrote the Retractions, in which he registers his final verdict upon his previous books, correcting whatever his maturer judgement held to be misleading or wrong. The other books by Saint Augustine include the Epistles, of which there are 270 in the Benedictine edition, various dated between 386 and 429; his treatise On Free Will, On Christian Doctrine, On Baptism: Against the Donatists, On the Trinity, and On Nature and Grace; and Homilies upon several books of the Bible.

Bible

The Bible, which is often referred to as the Holy Bible, is the sacred Scriptures of the Jews and Christians. The English word "Bible" is derived from the Greek plural biblia (books). The change from plural to singular, that occurred before the 9Th century A.D. in Latin, came about probably because the books which were combined to form the Bible were already considered a unity. The term "Holy Bible" is taken directly from the Latin biblia sacra (sacred books). Because this title was first specially applied by Christians to their own collection of sacred writings, it is merely in a figurative way that the Bibles of other religions may also be referred to as "Holy Bible".

The Bible, when considered to include the Apocrypha, or writings of secondary importance or doubtful authority, is divided into eight books, produced between 1200 B.C. and 150 A.D. The first thirty nine comprising the Old Testament, were written for the most part originally in Hebrew between 1200 B.C. and 100 B.C., and are accepted as being divinely inspired by both Jewish and Christian scholars. In their current order, as found in the authorized Bible version, known as the King James Bible, the books are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. The next twenty seven books of the Bible comprising the New Testament, were written originally in Greek between 50 and 150 A.D., and are accepted only by Christians. In their current order the books of the New Testament are the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; the Acts of the Apostles; Romans; 1 and 2 Corinthians; Galatians; Ephesians; Philippians; Colossians; 1 and 2 Thessalonians; 1 and 2 Timothy; Titus; Philemon; Hebrews; James; 1 and 2 Peter; Epistles; 1,2, and 3 of John; Jude; and Revelation. The fourteen additional books found in the Septuagint, or Greek version of the Old Testament, but not printed in the Authorized Version are known as the Apocrypha. These books of the Bible date from the period between 200 B.C. and 100 A.D. and are only accepted among Christians of the Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Eastern Orthodox faith. The fourteen books of the Bible known as the Septuagint are 1 Esdras (3 in the Vulgate); 2 Esdras (4 in the Vulgate); Tobit; Judith; certain parts of Esther; The Wisdom of Solomon; The Wisdom of Jesus, the Son of Sirach, or Ecclesiasticus; Baruch; The Song of the Three Holy Children; The History of Susanna; Bel and the Dragon; The Prayer of Manasses, King of Judah; and 1 and 2 Maccabees.

It is essential to consider the Bible as a collection of writings written against the background of Near and Middle Eastern culture and history. This is necessary because both Judaism and Christianity are historical religions in that their spiritual development, as recorded in their sacred scriptures, forms an integral part of their historical background.

The Old Testament and the Apocrypha are almost all the writings that remain from an ancient Hebrew literature, although many other books must have once existed. What distinguishes these surviving documents of the Hebrew literature from the national literatures of Greece, Rome, India, Great Britain, and America is their almost exclusively religious character. Other literatures contain numerous books poetry, drama, satire, biographical, history, or philosophy. In the Old Testament and Apocrypha, pure or mixed examples of some of these styles of literature can be found (such as the histories of 1 and 2 Kings, the poetry of the Psalms, or the dramatic dialogues of Job), but they are still characterized by the religious purpose that pervades the entirety of the books. There is no real parallel to this situation found in any other literature throughout history. As a result, no other pre Christian religion, except maybe that of ancient Greece, is so well documented as that of ancient Israel. This is especially fortunate for that the Old Testament enshrines many of the highest and noblest teachings and ideals known to mankind.

The New Testament of the Bible differs from the Old Testament in that it is not a national literature, but instead is a international religious literature. It was basically Jewish in spirit, but written in Greek, saw its rise in Greek speaking Gentile churches as the Christian supplement to the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, to which the Greek speaking Jewish had added the Apocrypha. These early Christian Bible writings, along with the Septuagint, or Greek Old Testament, were produced, preserved, copied, and made part of Holy Scripture by the process of constant use in Christian worship, in the instruction of converts and youth, and in study, exposition, and preaching everywhere in the Christian church.

Continuous Bible research over the last four centuries, and especially that of combined scholarship of Jewish, and Roman Catholics, and Protestants since 1800, has made it possible to trace the successive stages in the development of the Bible as we know it today. Significant in this Bible research has been the realization that various forms of linguistic usage found in the Bible presuppose the probable existence of certain original documents. Scholars maintain that these documents must have been combined subsequently to form part of the present Bible Versions. The earliest of the presumed documents is called "J" because it uses the Judean name for God, Jahweh. A later document is called "E" because it uses the Northern Israelite name for God, Elohim. Parts of documents "J" and "E" were later combined to form a singular narrative and incorporated in a third presumed document, the "P" for Priestly found in the priestly sections of the first six books of the Old Testament.

The Bible in all its Versions has been read and printed more than any other book in history. The various Versions serve as the foundation of faith for untold millions of worshippers throughout history. The Bible is also one of the most debated books in history, due to the reinterpretation of the text.



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Bible Society

A Bible society is an association having as its objective the diffusion of the Scriptures. The first Bible society is believed to have been formed in 1710 at Halle, Saxony. By 1834 that society had distributed 2,754,350 copies of the Bible, and about 2 million copies of the New Testament. The English Bible society, founded in 1780, is known as the Naval and Military Bible Society. In 1792 an association was form in London under the name French Bible Society. The British and Foreign Bible Society, founded in 1804, has promoted the translation and distribution of the Bible in 450 languages and dialects. Bible societies now exist in all parts of the Christian world. The three largest Bible societies in the world, the British and Foreign Bible Society, the American Bible Society, and the National Scottish Bible Society, have, since they were founded, distributed billions of copies of the Bible and other Christian books.



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Bible Versions

Among the ancient Bible versions the most important are the following:

Armaic Bible Versions, including the Targums.

Armenian Bible Version, a translation into Armenian, about the 5Th century, of the Old Testament, based on Origen's text of the Septuagint, and of the New Testament from the Syriac, later revised according to the Greek texts.

Egyptian Coptic Bible Versions, primarily in three forms, the Sahidic, sometimes known as the Thebaic, of Upper Egypt, perhaps the oldest; the Fatumic, or Middle Egyptian; and the Bohairic, now in ecclesiastical use among Copts, or Egyptian Christians. These Bible versions do not date before the 4Th century and are based on the Septuagint for the Old Testament and on some unknown Greek text for the New Testament.

Ethiopean or Geez Bible Version, a faithful translation into Ethiopic of the entire Bible, including nearly the whole of the Apocrypha, based on a Greek text dating from between the 4Th and 6Th centuries, the only authorized bible version among Abyssinian Christians.

Georgian Bible Version, a translation of the whole Bible into the ancient Iberian from Greek, part of which date from the 5Th century.

Gothic Bible Version, a translation by Ulfilas into Ostrogothic from the Greek, of the whole Bible except, according to tradition, the Book of Kings; only fragments remain.

Greek Bible Versions, besides the Septuagint, there are three translations, known by the names of their authors:
- Aquila's Version, a translation of the Old Testament by Aguila of Pontus in the 2Nd century.
- Symmachus' Version, the Old Testament from the late 2Nd century, by Symmachus of Samaria.
- Theodotion's Version, a revision of the Septuagint, used by Origen in his Hexapla.

Latin Bible Versions, aside from the Vulgate and Itala, the old Latin translations from Greek texts, existing only in fragments, representing manuscripts from African, European, and Italian sources.

Samartian Bible Versions, the Samartian Pentateuch, a revision of the Jewish Pentateuch, possibly pre-Christian in origin, the current text from the 2Nd century; and the Samartian Targum, a translation of the Pentateuch into the Samartian dialect.

Syriac Bible Versions, besides the Peshito, a translation of the Diatessaron of Tatian; and the Evangelion da Mepharreshe or Gospel of the Separated Omes, probably from the 2Nd century.

Palestinian Bible Version, a New Testament Bible Version in Aramaic, probably dating form no earlier than the 6Th century.



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Odyssey

About Homer's Odyssey
The Odyssey is an epic poem by the Greek poet Homer, recounting the wanderings of the Greek hero Odysseus after the fall of Troy, Like the Iliad, it is regarded as one of the greatest books ever produced. Particularly noteworthy in the Odyssey are the majesty of language, the saga like descriptions of Odysseus' desperate efforts to return to his home in Ithaca, and the detailed declination of the hero's character.

Homer's narrative begins with the victorious Greeks returning to their homes after sacking Troy. Odysseus' ships are driven by a storm on the coast of Thrace, where he plunders the land of the Chicones but loses a number of his crew. When he re embarks, a north wind blows his vessels to the country of the Lotophagi, on the coasts of Libya, where some of the companions of Odysseus eat the wondrous fruit and wish to rest forever. However their leader compels them to leave the land, and, sailing north again, they touch at the Island of Goats, where Odysseus leaves his fleet. Thence, with one ship, he proceeds to the land of the Cyclopes, where occurs the adventure in the cave of Polyphemus. With his reunited fleet he now visits the island of AEolus, ruler of the winds, who gives him a favoring breeze and the unfavorable winds tied in a skin. His companions, in search of treasure, open the skin, and at once they are swept back to island from which they are now sternly excluded. They then reach the land of the Laestrygonians, a race of cannibals who destroy all the ships but one, in which Odysseus escapes, landing next on the island of AEaea, inhabited by the sorceress Circe. After a year's sojourn there he is sent by Circe to the Kingdom of Hades, to inquire about his return from the seer Tiresias. Tiresias tells Odysseus the implacable enmity of the sea god Poseidon, whose son, Polyphemus, Odysseus has blinded, but encourages him at the same time with assurance that he will yet reach Ithaca in safety, if he does not meddle with the herds of the sun god Helios in Thrinacia.

Odysseus next passes in safety the perilous island of Sirens, but, when he sails between the monsters Scylla and Charybdis, Scylla devours six of his companions. He next comes to Thrinacia, where his crew insists on landing; while they are storm bound and while Odysseus is asleep, they kill, in spite of their oath, some of the cattle of Helios. When they sail away a fierce storm arises and Zeus sends forth a flash of lightning that destroys the ship. Everyone on board is drowned except Odysseus, who clings to the mast and is finally washed ashore on the island of Ogygia, the abode of the nymph Calypso, by whom he is held for seven years. The nymph offers him immortality if he will remain, but his love for his wife Penelope and longing for his home is too strong, and at the entreaty of his special guardian, Athena, Zeus sends Hermes, messenger of the gods, to command his release. Sailing eastward in a skiff of his own building, he is seen by the implacable Poseidon, who rouses against him a terrible storm which wrecks his skiff. He barely escapes, by the aid of the sea goddess Leucothea to the land of the Phaeacians. Naked and worn by fatigue, Odysseus falls asleep, but is found by Nausicaa, daughter of the King, Alcinous; she receives him kindly and brings him to the city. Entering the palace under Athena's protection, he is entertained by the King, who promises him safe convoy to his home. On the magic Phaeacian ship he falls asleep, and is landed, at Ithaca, with the rich presents of the Phaeacians, while still unconscious.

Disguised as a beggar, he goes to the hut of the swineherd Eumaeus, and there meets and reveals himself to his son Telemachus. The next day he is brought by Eumaeus to the palace, where he is recognized only by his old dog, Argus, and is harshly treated by the suitors of his wife, who during his long absence have been living riotously on his estate. After an interview with the unsuspecting Penelope, to whom he foretells her husbands return, he is recognized by his old nurse. Eurycleia, whom he binds to silence. When the suitors all fail to string the great bow, the test Penelope has proposed for her suitors, Odysseus takes it, easily strings it, and shoots the arrow through a row of twelve axes. Then, aided by Telemachus, Eumaeus, and the cowherd Philaetius, he slays all the insolent suitors. The last book of the Odyssey records his recognition by his father, Laertes, and a final reconciliation with the friends of the suitors, brought about by Athena's aid.





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Homeric Question

The Homeric question is a controversy surrounding the identity of the Greek epic poet Homer, regarded traditionally as the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey. Although the first written texts of these epics date from the 6Th century B.C., at least hundreds of years after the presumed death of Homer, it was generally agreed by ancient scholars that Homer was the author. Critical study of the Homeric texts was first undertaken during the Alexandrian period, beginning with Zenodotus (around 325-260 B.C.). The Alexandrian scholars made recensions of the texts and provided them with commentaries (scholia), but cast little doubt upon Homer being the author.

In modern times the German scholar Friedrich August Wolf was the first to question Homer as the author of the Iliad and Odyssey. In his prolegomena ad Homerum (1795) Wolf expounded the theory that the Iliad and the Odyssey are the work of several poets, arguing that the two poems were composed from pre-existing material by an editor of a later period. Wolf's ideas were extremely influential despite the opposition of many poets and scholars, including the German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who were convinced that books revealing such unity of plot and consistency of characters as the Homeric epics could have been only written by one great poet. Wolf's theory was refined by the German philosopher Johann Gottfried von Herder, who maintained that the Iliad and Odyssey were not literary epics but folk epics composed during a long period of time by a number of anonymous poets, The theory was greatly elaborated and given its definitive statement in the books of German philologist Karl Konrad Friedrich Wilhelm Lachmann. On the basis of an extended comparison between the Homeric books and the medieval German epic poem Nibelungenlied, lachmann attempted to show that the Iliad consists of sixteen independent folk epics, or lays, which were enlarged and compiled in to the present form of the work. Toward the end of the 19Th century most scholars adhered to the theory that the Iliad and the Odyssey were each an editorial hodgepodge based either on various earlier folk epics or, according to the German philologist Ulrich von Wilamowitz Moellendorff, on a lost original Iliad or Odyssey.

With the greater archaeological knowledge of ancient Greece and Asia which was gained during the late 19Th and the early 20Th century, and with the ore careful study of the Homeric question by philologists and other scholars, the arguments of Wolf and his successors gradually were refuted. The scholarly consensus during the first half of the 20Th century was the Iliad and Odyssey are both the books of Homer as a single great poet. Despite some changes that have made their way into the books over the last two thousand years, it is assumed presently that the text of both epics is, for the most part, that of the original poet Homer. This opinion is borne out by the recent discover that a form of Greek was written as early as 1400 B.C., in a Minoan script. The only substantial disagreement is that between those scholars who hold, as did the ancients, that both poems were written by a single poet, and those who hold that the Odyssey was written some time later by an imitator of Homer. Modern scholars continue to agree with Wolf and Lachmann that the epics contain many incidents, characters, and stock epithets which previously might have been embodied in heroic folk songs. However, they assume that the poet or poets used these materials to compose completely original poetry, discounting the theory that the material merely were compiled into their present form by an editor or group of editors.





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Jack London

About Jack London
Jack London was an American author, born in San Francisco under the given names John Griffith. Jack London's formal education of a year in high school and a few months at the University of California. From the age of fifteen to twenty two London was in turn a seaman, a tramp, a seeker of gold in the Klondike, and a militant socialist; he was a newspaper correspondent during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05) and in Mexico (1914). Jack London's literary career commenced in 1898 with the sale of a number of magazine stories; his first book, a collection of stories, was The Son of the Wolf (1900). Jack London went on to write over forty books, including novels, short stories, and miscellaneous books. His fictional books, in which the central character is usually a man of simple, primitive, and vigorous character, are marker by powerful realism, romantic feeling, and humanitarian sentiment. His books (novels unless otherwise characterized) include The God of his Fathers (1901), Short stories of the Klondike; A Daughter of the Snows (1902); The Call of the Wild (1903), a famous tale of the reversion of a tamed dog to a savage state; The Sea Wolf (1904), a tale of wild adventure; Tales of the Fish Patrol (1905), short stories of adventure; The Game (1905), a tragic tale of the prise ring; The Iron Heel (1908), which prophesied the coming of fascism; Martin Eden (1909); The Abysmal Brute (1913), another tale about pugilism; John Barleycorn (1913), an autobiographical account of the author's struggle against alcoholism; The Valley of the Moon (1913) in which Jack London set forth his Socialist ideas; The Star Rover (1915), a novel concerning reincarnation; and Jerry of the Islands (posthumously published, 1917), a tale of an Irish setter. Among others of Jack London books are a book of Socialist essays, The War of the Classes (1905), and a sociological study of life in the poverty stricken East End section of the city of London, The People of the Abyss (1913).



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