The Gift of the Magi is a short story by O. Henry first published in 1905. The story tells of a young husband and wife and how they deal with the challenge of buying secret Christmas gifts for each other with very little money. As a sentimental story with a moral lesson about gift-giving, it has been popular for adaptation, especially for presentation at Christmas time. The plot and its twist ending are a classic example of irony in literature, a technique in which an expectation of what is supposed to occur differs greatly from the actual outcome.
William Sydney Porter (September 11, 1862 – June 5, 1910), better known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American writer known primarily for his short stories, though he also wrote poetry and non-fiction. His works include “The Gift of the Magi”, “The Duplicity of Hargraves”, and “The Ransom of Red Chief”, as well as the novel Cabbages and Kings. Porter’s stories are known for their naturalist observations, witty narration, and surprise endings.
The Night Before Christmas has been called arguably the best-known verse ever written by an American. It is the quintessential holiday poem telling of a visit from Santa Claus, complete with eight reindeer and a bundle of presents, and is largely responsible for some of the conceptions of Santa Claus from the mid-nineteenth century to today. The Santa Clause concept has had a massive effect on the history of Christmas gift-giving. Before the poem gained wide popularity, American ideas had varied considerably about Saint Nicholas and other Christmastide visitors.
Clement Clarke Moore composed the poem for his children on a snowy winter’s day during a shopping trip on a sleigh. His inspiration for the character of Saint Nicholas was a local Dutch handyman as well as the historic Saint Nicholas. Moore originated many of the features that are still associated with Santa Claus today while borrowing other aspects, such as the use of reindeer. The poem was first published anonymously in the Troy, New York Sentinel on 23 December 1823, having been sent there by a friend of Moore, and was reprinted frequently thereafter with no name attached. It was first attributed in print to Moore in 1837. Moore himself acknowledged authorship when he included it in his own book of poems in 1844.
Clement Clarke Moore (July 15, 1779 – July 10, 1863) was an American writer and Professor of Oriental and Greek Literature as well as Divinity and Biblical Learning at the General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in New York City.
He is credited and is most widely known as the author of the Christmas poem originally known as A Visit from St. Nicholas, first published anonymously in 1823. It later became widely known as ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas and has been published in numerous illustrated versions in various languages.
The Night Before Christmas (A Visit from Saint Nicholas)
by Clement Clarke Moore
‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a long winter’s nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
“Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!”
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my hand and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
His eyes — how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night.”
The philosopher king is a hypothetical ruler in whom political skill is combined with philosophical knowledge. The concept of a city-state ruled by philosophers is first explored in Plato’s Republic, written around 375 BC. Plato argued that the ideal state – one which ensured the maximum possible happiness for all its citizens – could only be brought into being by a ruler possessed of absolute knowledge, obtained through philosophical study.
Plato was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world.
Plato is widely considered a pivotal figure in the history of Ancient Greek and Western philosophy, along with his teacher, Socrates, and his most famous student, Aristotle. He has often been cited as one of the founders of Western religion and spirituality, Western political philosophy, and greatly influenced Christianity.
This story represents one of the archetypal and sorrowful dilemmas of an artist, which is the inability to live out their creative life on a realistic plane. As we follow the story we find the artist talking grandiosely about his magnificent artwork ideals, the values of what encompasses great works and his intimate studies of the great works as it relates to his own life. Sadly we find out that execution was not a part of his romantic plan. Then as you follow this modern tragedy what you will find is the enduring quality of the artistic soul as it clashes with the reality of modernity.
Henry James was an American-born British author who is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism. James relocated to Europe as a young man, and eventually settled there, finally becoming a British citizen in 1915, a year before his death. James was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911, 1912, and 1916.
This is a short story about Georg Bendemann and his relationship with his aging father. While Georg is telling his father about his friend in Russia his father goes into a rage, ridiculing and degrading his son. Then at the end of his rant, he issues his final judgment – death by drowning.
Franz Kafka was a Czechoslovakian writer who lived from 1883-1924. Though virtually unknown during his lifetime, Kafka has come to be known as one of the most influential writers of his century. His writings have been recognized as symbolizing modern man’s anxiety-ridden and grotesque alienation in an unintelligible, hostile, or indifferent world.
The idea of perpetual youth has always been part of human mythos epitomized by the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce De Leon searching for the Fountain of Youth in 1513. As age descends on us all, every individual looks back at their youth as the golden age of life. Every person wishes that science would develop a miracle cure for aging so they could live their youthful days in perpetuity. There is never a thought given to the downside of perpetual youth. Kurt Vonnegut takes a nose shot at the youthful mythos in The Big Trip Yonder.
The original story is set in 2185 A.D., 102 years after the invention of a medicine called Anti-Gerasone, which halts the aging process and prevents people from dying of old age as long as they keep taking it. As a result, generations are crammed into one apartment, where the only sense of space is Gramp’s bedroom. Somehow the idyllic concept of perpetual youth takes a nosedive as the futuristic story unfolds.
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. was an American writer known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels. In a career spanning over 50 years, he published 14 novels, 3 short-story collections, 5 plays, and 5 nonfiction works; further collections have been published after his death.
The idea of perpetual youth has always been part of human mythos epitomized by the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce De Leon searching for the Fountain of Youth in 1513. As age descends on us all, every individual looks back at their youth as the golden age of life. Every person wishes that science would develop a miracle cure for aging so they could live their youthful days in perpetuity. There is never a thought given to the downside of perpetual youth. Kurt Vonnegut takes a nose shot at the youthful mythos in The Big Trip Yonder.
The original story is set in 2185 A.D., 102 years after the invention of a medicine called Anti-Gerasone, which halts the aging process and prevents people from dying of old age as long as they keep taking it. As a result, generations are crammed into one apartment, where the only sense of space is Gramp’s bedroom. Somehow the idyllic concept of perpetual youth takes a nosedive as the futuristic story unfolds.
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. was an American writer known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels. In a career spanning over 50 years, he published 14 novels, 3 short-story collections, 5 plays, and 5 nonfiction works; further collections have been published after his death.
In the modern world, humanity places itself at the top of the pyramid of creation, and civilization as its crowing jewel of supremacy. H.P. Lovecraft begs to differ. In The Call of Cthulhu he creates worlds that go beyond human existence, rendering humanity weak compared to the powers that lurk outside of world in time, and inside of our world in space.
Lovecraft’s philosophy of “cosmic indifferentism” demonstrates that human beings do not understand they are subject to powerful beings and other cosmic forces that are not malevolent but totally indifferent toward humanity.
The Call of Cthulhu has made it on the mainstage of modern folklore and demonstrates why H.P. Lovecraft is the father of horror fiction.
Howard Phillips Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American writer of weird, science, fantasy, and horror fiction. He is best known for his creation of the Cthulhu Mythos.
He began to write essays for the United Amateur Press Association, and in 1913 wrote a critical letter to a pulp magazine that ultimately led to his involvement in pulp fiction. He became active in the speculative fiction community and was published in several pulp magazines, and later became the center of a wider group of authors known as the Lovecraft Circle. He would remain active as a writer for 11 years until his death at the age of 46.
The Time Machine is one of the greatest science fictions stories of all time, addressing the basic concepts of Time and Space, the impacts of societal evolution, and the basic emotions that humans share over time. The story starts with the Time Traveler with a group of people that gather for dinner every week at his home.
He begins by questioning basic assumptions of how Time is viewed and suggests it may have unexplored dimensions. He demonstrates a prototype time machine, and then shows the group his new Time Machine. The next week at dinner, the group is waiting for the Time Traveler to show his presence, when he walks in, disheveled, and after cleaning up he begins to tell his tale of Time Travel into the future to the year 802,701 AD. The story weaves through living with Eloi, meeting the dreaded Morlocks, and eventually making his way back home in a harrowing series of events. Eventually, the Time Traveler continues his journey but is never heard from again.
EXCERPT NOTE: This audio book is missing several chapters.
H.G. Wells was an English writer. Prolific in many genres, he wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, history, popular science, satire, biography and autobiography. Wells is now best remembered for his science fiction novels and has been called the “father of science fiction.”
In addition to his fame as a writer, he was prominent in his lifetime as a forward-looking, even prophetic social critic who devoted his literary talents to the development of a progressive vision on a global scale. A futurist, he wrote a number of utopian works and foresaw the advent of many modern technologies of today.
The test of a true literary masterpiece is its relevance throughout history, enduring because it assaults the core foundations of the human condition. THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH transcends a mere macabre horror fiction but delves into the nature of human beings as it reacts to perennial invasions of a deathly disease. This is a story about the NOW, modern civilization’s reaction to the unavoidable contagions of death, exposing the frailty of human restriction. It’s a story about human arrogance, illustrating the notion that modern civilization thinks it has more control over nature than it in fact has, that wealth and power can avoid disease, and the reliance on the powerful psychological transformation of fear into indulgent festivities as a shield against microscopic invasion. The rich discard the poor, running to private enclaves of safety.
However, the revelry of humanity is an illusion. Nature exhibits “Radical Egalitarianism,” an unwillingness to accept differences in talent, power, money, and aptitude as a mitigating factor to its onslaught. Regardless of the beauty of a metaphorical castle, the luxuriance of the setting, or the strength of will possessed by the enthroned, no mortal can escape the creeping death of contagion. THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH continues Poe’s macabre Gothic horror fiction style of storytelling. Poe makes every word count, every symbolism explode with a multiplicity of meaning, and as always sets an ominous mood that does not disappoint.
This American poet and writer is best known for his tales of mystery, horror and sheer terror, at least for the Victorian Age of the mid-1800s, which was his early audience.
O. Henry (William Sydney Porter)
Plato
Henry James
H.P. Lovecraft
Herbert George Well