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The story projects Twain’s lifelong struggles with his conscience. Here the conscience admits to being the “most pitiless enemy” of its host, whom it is supposed to “improve” but only tyrannizes with gusto while refusing to praise the host for anythi…

A great writing by Mark Twain based on the short story of classic humour.

"In Defense of Harriet Shelley" is an excellent literary classic for all ages. Twain took much of his ideas and inspiration for his stories and tall tales from real experiences as a river boat pilot, his world travels, friendships, well known people,…

"On the Decay of the Art of Lyingis" a short essay written by Mark Twain in 1885 for a meeting of the Historical and Antiquarian Club of Hartford, Connecticut. In the essay, Twain laments the dour ways in which men of America's Gilded Age employ man'…

Written for the Atlantic magazine in 1877, this is a collection of stories about a trip Mark Twain made with some friends to Bermuda.

The book bears no relationship to Twain's actual life. The two short stories present fictional characters who are supposedly part of Twain's lineage.

"The Tell-Tale Heart" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe first published in 1843. It is told by an unnamed narrator who endeavors to convince the reader of his sanity, while describing a murder he committed. (The victim was an old man with a filmy «…

Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is sometimes considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre. He is further credited with contributing to the emergi…

At age 19 Anne Brontë left home and worked as a governess for a few years before becoming a writer. Agnes Grey was an 1847 novel based on her experience as a governess. Bronte depicts the precarious position of a governess and how that can affect a y…

Emily Brontë's only novel is famous the world over and is the favorite classic of many readers. It is easy to see why, with hardship, insanity, cruelty, frustrated love, and ghosts.

"The American Claimant" is a comedy of mistaken identities and multiple role switches―fertile and familiar Mark Twain territory. Its cast of characters include an American enamored of British hereditary aristocracy and a British earl entranced by Ame…

"Eureka" (1848) is a lengthy non-fiction work by American author Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) which he subtitled «A Prose Poem», though it has also been subtitled as «An Essay on the Material and Spiritual Universe». Adapted from a lecture he had pres…

One of the most renowned public speakers of his day, Mark Twain was often asked to give speeches to mark public holidays or important anniversaries, for school graduations, at banquets for distinguished visitors, and at events sponsored by charitable…

A real storyteller can make a great story out of anything, even the most trivial occurrence. The candid, ironic, playful, and petulant sketches are indispensable to our understanding of a harried genius during thirteen quite amazing years.

The letters of Mark Twain are peculiarly of the revealing sort. He was a man of few restraints and of no affectations. In his correspondence, as in his talk, he spoke what was in his mind, untrammeled by literary conventions.

Bringing together 38 tales and sketches, «The 30 000 Dollar Bequest and Other Stories» provides a rare long view of Twain's work, covering virtually his entire career, from «Advice to Young Girls» (a spoof that appeared in 1865, just months before he…