Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn

Twain's next major publication was The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which drew on his youth in Hannibal. The character of Tom Sawyer was modeled on Twain as a child, with traces of two schoolmates, John Briggs and Will Bowen. The book also introduced in a supporting role the character of Huckleberry Finn, based on Twain's boyhood friend Tom Blankenship.

The Prince and the Pauper, despite a storyline that is omnipresent in film and literature today, was not as well received. Telling the story of two boys born on the same day who are physically identical, the book acts as a social commentary as the prince and pauper switch places. Pauper was Twain's first attempt at fiction, and blame for its shortcomings is usually put on Twain for having not been experienced enough in English society, and also on the fact that it was produced after such a massive hit. In between the writing of Pauper, Twain had started Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and started and completed another travel book, A Tramp Abroad, which follows Twain as he travels through central and southern Europe.

Twain's next major published work, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, solidified him as a noteworthy American writer. Some have called it the first Great American Novel, and the book has become required reading in many schools throughout the United States. Huckleberry Finn was an offshoot from Tom Sawyer and proved to have a more serious tone than its predecessor. The main premise behind Huckleberry Finn is the young boy's belief in the right thing to do even though the majority of society believes that it was wrong. Four hundred manuscript pages of Huckleberry Finn were written in the summer of 1876, right after the publication of Tom Sawyer. Some accounts have Twain taking seven years off after his first burst of creativity, eventually finishing the book in 1883. Other accounts have Twain working on Huckleberry Finn in tandem with The Prince and the Pauper and other works in 1880 and other years. The last fifth of Huckleberry Finn is subject to much controversy. Some say that Twain experiences—as critic Leo Marx puts it—a "failure of nerve." Ernest Hemingway once said of Huckleberry Finn: “If you read it, you must stop where the Nigger Jim is stolen from the boys. That is the real end. The rest is just cheating.”Near the completion of Huckleberry Finn, Twain wrote Life on the Mississippi, which is said to have heavily influenced the former book. The work recounts Twain's memories and new experiences after a 22-year absence from the Mississippi. In it, he also states that "Mark Twain" was the call made when the boat was in safe water - two fathoms.

59. Jack London (1876-1916) , prolific American novelist and short story writer, whose works deal romantically with the overwhelming power of nature and the struggle for survival. His left-wing philosophy is seen in the class struggle novel The Iron Heel (1908). Jack London was born on January 12, 1876, in San Francisco. He was deserted by his father, William Henry Chaney, , and raised in Oakland by his mother Flora Wellman, a music teacher and spiritualist.London's youth was marked by poverty. At the age of ten he became an avid reader, and borrowed books from the Oakland Public Library. After leaving school at the age of 14, London worked as a seaman, rode in freight trains as a hobo and adopted socialistic views as a member of protest armies of the unemployed. In 1894 he was arrested in Niagara Falls and jailed for vagrancy. Without having much formal education, London educated himself in public libraries, and at the age of 19 gained admittance to the University of California at Berkeley. He had already started to write. For the remainder of 1898 London again tried to earn his living by writing. His early stories appeared in the Overland Monthly and the Atlantic Monthly . He started to steadily produce novels, nonfiction and short stories, becoming in his lifetime one of the most popular authors. London's first novel, The Son Of The Wolf , appeared in 1900. His Alaska stories, The Call Of The Wild in which a giant pet dog Buck finds his survival instincts in Yukon, White Fang and Burning Daylight gained a large reading public. Among his other works are The Sea-Wolf and The Road , a collection of short stories. He published his first collection of non-fiction pieces, The War Of The Classes , which included his lectures on socialism. London also published a semi-autobiographical novel Martin Eden (1909) and a travel book The Cruise of the Snark (1911). London had purchased in 1910 a large tract of land near Glen Ellen in Sonoma County, and devoted his energy and money improving and enlarging his Beauty Ranch

Martin Eden. Jack London's novel Martin Eden tells a story of a young poorly educated seaman Martin Eden who falls in love with Ruth Morse, the sister of a well-to-do young man Arthur Morse whom he rescued from hooligans. Martin seemed awkward and rude, but Ruth felt a strong attraction towards him. And in a while they became engaged. Being in love with Ruth who was a model of an educated girl for Martin he decided to educate himself to become her equal. He put a great goal - to become a writer. Ruth was his first reader and critic. For a long time his stories were rejected by the publishers. The doors to the rich houses were closed for him. Ruth's parents were strongly against their relationship because Martin was nobody, so the engagement was broken. And soon his luck held. He became a famous writer and a wanted guest in the rich families. The Morses changed their attitude and wished the engage­ment to be renewed. Martin saw the falsehood, selfishness and hy­pocrisy of the high society. He could not accept the rules of build­ing up relationship and attitude to man in the society for which he was striving so much. He could not return to his class of the poor either. He found himself at the crossroad, became disillusioned and disappointed in life and committed suicide.

60. Jack London (1876-1916) , prolific American novelist and short story writer, whose works deal romantically with the overwhelming power of nature and the struggle for survival. His left-wing philosophy is seen in the class struggle novel The Iron Heel (1908). Jack London was born on January 12, 1876, in San Francisco. He was deserted by his father, William Henry Chaney, , and raised in Oakland by his mother Flora Wellman, a music teacher and spiritualist.London's youth was marked by poverty. At the age of ten he became an avid reader, and borrowed books from the Oakland Public Library. After leaving school at the age of 14, London worked as a seaman, rode in freight trains as a hobo and adopted socialistic views as a member of protest armies of the unemployed. In 1894 he was arrested in Niagara Falls and jailed for vagrancy. Without having much formal education, London educated himself in public libraries, and at the age of 19 gained admittance to the University of California at Berkeley. He had already started to write. For the remainder of 1898 London again tried to earn his living by writing. His early stories appeared in the Overland Monthly and the Atlantic Monthly . He started to steadily produce novels, nonfiction and short stories, becoming in his lifetime one of the most popular authors. London's first novel, The Son Of The Wolf , appeared in 1900. His Alaska stories, The Call Of The Wild in which a giant pet dog Buck finds his survival instincts in Yukon, White Fang and Burning Daylight gained a large reading public. Among his other works are The Sea-Wolf and The Road , a collection of short stories. He published his first collection of non-fiction pieces, The War Of The Classes , which included his lectures on socialism. London also published a semi-autobiographical novel Martin Eden (1909) and a travel book The Cruise of the Snark .Other stories from his Klondike period include: "All Gold Canyon", about a battle between a gold prospector and a claim jumper; "The Law of Life", about an aging man abandoned by his tribe and left to die; and "Love of Life", about a desperate trek by a prospector across the Canadian taiga.

61. Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor and literary critic, and is considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective-fiction genre. He is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction.

He was born as Edgar Poe in Boston.After spending a short period at the University of Virginia and briefly attempting a military career, Poe parted ways with the Allans. Poe's publishing career began humbly, with an anonymous collection of poems, Tamerlane and Other Poems. His work forced him to move between several cities, including Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City. In Baltimore in 1835, he married Virginia Clemm, his 13-year-old cousin. In January 1845, Poe published his poem "The Raven" to instant success He began planning to produce his own journal, The Penn (later renamed The Stylus), though he died before it could be produced. On October 7, 1849, at age 40, Poe died in Baltimore; the cause of his death is unknown and has been variously attributed to alcohol, brain congestion, cholera, drugs, heart disease, rabies, suicide, tuberculosis, and other agents.Poe and his works influenced literature in the United States and around the world, as well as in specialized fields, such as cosmology and cryptography. Poe and his work appear throughout popular culture in literature, music, films, and television. A number of his homes are dedicated museums today.

The Saturday Visitor, a Baltimore paper, awarded Poe a prize in October 1833 for his short story "MS. Found in a Bottle".[39] The story brought him to the attention of John P. Kennedy, a Baltimorian of considerable means.

62. Theodore Dreiser (August 27, 1871 – December 28, 1945) was an American novelist and journalist. He pioneered the naturalist school and is known for portraying characters whose value lies not in their moral code, but in their persistence against all obstacles, and literary situations that more closely resemble studies of nature than tales of choice and agency. Dreiser was born in Indiana. Theodore attended Indiana University before flunking out Within several years, he was writing for the Chicago Globe newspaper and then the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. He wrote several articles .His first novel, Sister Carrie (1900), tells the story of a woman who flees her country life for the city (Chicago) and falls into a wayward life. The publisher did little to promote the book, and it sold poorly.His second novel, Jennie Gerhardt, was published in 1911. Many of Dreiser's subsequent novels dealt with social inequality. His first commercial success was An American Tragedy .Politically, Dreiser was involved in several campaigns against social injustice. In November 1931 Dreiser led the National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners to the coalfields of southeastern Kentucky, where they took testimony from coal miners in Pineville and Harlan on the violence against the miners and their unions by the coal operators.Dreiser, a committed socialist, wrote several non-fiction books on political issues.Sister Carrie (1900) is a novel by Theodore Dreiser about a young country girl who moves to the big city where she starts realizing her own American Dream by first becoming a mistress to men that she perceives as superior and later as a famous actress.Dissatisfied with life in her rural Wisconsin home, 18 year-old Caroline "Sister Carrie" Meeber takes the train to Chicago, where her older sister Minnie, and her husband Sven Hanson, have agreed to take her in. On the train, Carrie meets Charles Drouet, a traveling salesman, who is attracted to her because of her simple beauty and unspoiled manner. They exchange contact information..Carrie soon embarks on a quest for work to pay rent to her sister and her husband, and takes a job running a machine in a shoe factory. Once again taken by her beauty, and moved by her poverty, he encourages her to dine with him, where, over sirloin and asparagus, he persuades her to leave her sister and move in with him. To press his case, he slips Carrie two ten dollar bills, opening a vista of material possibilities to her. The next day, he rebuffs her feeble attempts to return the money, taking her shopping at a Chicago department store and securing a jacket she covets and some shoes. Hurstwood mollifies Carrie by agreeing to marry her, and the couple move to New York City.In New York, Hurstwood and Carrie rent a flat where they live as George and Carrie Wheeler..Hurstwood ultimately joins the homeless of New York, taking odd jobs, falling ill with pneumonia, and finally becoming a beggar. Reduced to standing in line for bread and charity, he commits suicide in a flophouse. Meanwhile, Carrie achieves stardom, but finds that money and fame do not satisfy her longings or bring her happiness and that nothing will.

63. O. Henry was the pen name of American writer William Sydney Porter (September 11, 1862 – June 5, 1910). O. Henry short stories are known for wit, wordplay, warm characterization and clever twist endings.He was born in Greensboro.. As a child, Porter was always reading. He read everything from classics to dime novels. Porter graduated from his aunt Evelina Maria Porter's elementary school in 1876. He then enrolled at the Lindsey Street High School. His aunt continued to tutor him until he was fifteen. In 1879, he started working in his uncle's drugstore and in 1881, at the age of nineteen, he was licensed as a pharmacist. At the drugstore, he also showed off his natural artistic talents by sketching the townsfolk.

Porter traveled with Dr. James K. Hall to Texas in March 1882, hoping that a change of air would help alleviate a persistent cough he had developed. While on the ranch, he learned bits of Spanish and German from the mix of immigrant ranch hands. He also spent time reading classic literature. Porter's health did improve and he traveled with Richard to Austin in 1884, where he decided to remain and was welcomed into the home of the Harrells, who were friends of Richard's. Porter led an active social life in Austin, including membership in singing and drama groups. Porter was a good singer and musician.

O. Henry stories are famous for their surprise endings, to the point that such an ending is often referred to as an "O. Henry ending." He was called the American answer to Guy de Maupassant. Both authors wrote twist endings, but O. Henry stories were much more playful and optimistic. His stories are also well known for witty narration. Most of O. Henry's stories are set in his own time, the early years of the 20th century. Many take place in New York City, and deal for the most part with ordinary people: clerks, policemen, waitresses.Among his most famous stories are:"A Municipal Report";"The Gift of the Magi" about a young couple who are short of money but desperately want to buy each other Christmas gifts. Unbeknownst to Jim, Della sells her most valuable possession, her beautiful hair, in order to buy a platinum fob chain for Jim's watch; while unbeknownst to Della, Jim sells his own most valuable possession, his watch, to buy jeweled combs for Della's hair. The essential premise of this story has been copied, re-worked, parodied, and otherwise re-told countless times in the century since it was written."The Ransom of Red Chief", in which two men kidnap a boy of ten. The boy turns out to be so bratty and obnoxious that the desperate men ultimately pay the boy's father $250 to take him back.

1. Three major literary genres. Characteristic features of literary genres and forms.

2. Anglo-Saxon poetry. The epic poem “Beowulf”.

3. Most popular literary forms of the Medieval (Norman) period. Geoffrey Chaucer - the "Father of English literature". "The Canterbury Tales"

4. Renaissance. Elizabethan poetry and drama

5.Enlightenment in English literature.

6. The beginnings of American literature.

7.Romanticism in English literature. Lake School Poets. Progressive Romanticists

8. Romanticism in American Literature. General analyses: the authors and their works

9. Chartist Literature. Realistic tendencies and revolutionary optimism.

10. Modernism. The abandoning of traditional forms and creating a sense of uncertainty.

11. Lost Generation and Angry Young Men writers. The authors, themes and characters.

12. English literature of the XlXth century. Victorian period.

13. American realism of the XlXth century. General analyses: the authors, themes and characters.

14. Modern English literature. Themes and characters (General analysis).

15.Modern American literature. Themes and characters (General analysis).

16.Decadence. Aestheticism of Oscar Wilde and apologetics of Rudyard Kipling.

17George Gordon Byron. Life and literary activity. "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage".

18.Archibald Joseph Cronin and his novel "Hatter's Castle".

19.Herbert Wells. Social aspects of his novels "The Time Machine".

20.John Fowles and his activity. "The Collector" or any novel to your choice.

21.Jonathan Swift and his novel "Gulliver's Travels".

22.Robert Burns - the enlightener and the first romantic poet.

23Thomas Hardy. Life and literary activity. "Tess of the d'Ubervilles".

24William Shakespeare. Legends around the name and reality. Life story and literary activity

25.Samuel Butler and his novel "The Way of All Flesh".

26.William Shakespeare. "Romeo and Juliet".

27.George Eliot and her novel "The Mill on the Floss".

28William Shakespeare. "King Lear".

29 Charles Dickens and his novel "Dombey and Son".

30John Galsworthy and his trilogies "The Forsyte Saga" and "A Modern Comedy".

31William Makepeace Thackeray and his novel "Vanity Fair".

32William Golding. Literary activity. The novel "Lord of the Flies"