Showing titles in Linguistics

Lady Windermere's Fan is a four-act comedy by Oscar Wilde. Like many of Wilde's comedies, it bitingly satirizes the morals of Victorian society, particularly marriage. The story concerns Lady Windermere, who discovers that her husband may be having an affair with another woman. She confronts her husband but he instead invites the other woman, Mrs. Erlynne, to his wife's birthday ball. Angered by her husband's unfaithfulness, Lady Windermere leaves her husband for another lover. Or does she?

Fitz James O'Brien (1828 - 1862) was an Irish-born American writer, some of whose work is considered the forerunner of today's science fiction. The Diamond Lens is his most famous short story and tells the strange story of a scientist who invents a powerful microscope and discovers a beautiful woman in an enchanting microscopic world inside a drop of water.

This is the handwritten book that Carroll wrote for private use before being urged to develop it later into Alice in Wonderland. It was meant to entertain his family and friends. When a sick child in a hospital enjoyed it so much, the mother wrote him saying it had distracted her for a bit from her pain and led eventually to Carroll expanding the story.

Zane Grey's tale shines like the gold in this story. He deftly combines the contemporary history of the border uprising between the United States and Mexico with a fast-moving adventure tale. The prologue describes the finding of gold and the sad plight of the prospectors who discovered it. They will the treasure to the story's heroine. Dick Gale, an eastern college football star, and not much else, teams up with an old friend to rescue the girl and make a man of himself.

All of us want to leave a mark on our world. We want to be remembered for the good we did. This is the dilemma for author Ellis Parker Butler, a contemporary of Mark Twain. In the case of Butler, he found that the more he followed rabbit trails and gathered 'goat-feathers' without actually doing much to finish the work he thought was more important, the less fulfilled he became. Filled with humor and wit, this author's lamentation is both understood and smiled at.

This short story takes you back to the start of radio in America. Filled with just the right amount of humor this story takes a millionaire's final wish and makes it possible for him to broadcast an approved message through a loud speaker in his headstone. This captured the attention of the nation, but no one expected the worst case scenario, but it is just this scenario that empties a cemetery. Narrated by Glenn Hascall.

This novel tells the story of impoverished, embarrassment-prone Archibald "Archie" Moffam and his difficult relationship with his art-collecting, hotel-owning, millionaire father-in-law, Daniel Brewster, the father of Archie's new bride, Lucille. Archie's attempts to ingratiate himself with Brewster only get him further into trouble. The story takes place in New York City.

This classic thriller, set in England prior to World War II, involves murder, mystery, a country-wide chase, espionage and international intrigue.

Urged on by the lovely Hilda, Solness, a successful builder, takes their relationship a step too far.

A magical fairy tale, which features a feisty princess who has the unfortunate curse of life without gravity. Can the curse be broken before she floats away. Beautifully retold to entertain children of all ages.

Allan Quatermain, or Hunter Quatermain as his friends call him, recounts his South African adventure of hunting four lions.

The Border Legion is the adventure of a daring frontierswoman and the men she inspires. Joan Randle is a strong, capable woman living with her uncle in the wilds of Idaho. She likes Jim Cleve but is impatient with his laziness. After a quarrel, Jim heads to the lawless Montana border to prove himself, and a remorseful Joan tries to track him and bring him back.

Nome, where gold glitters in the sand and armies of men come to scoop it out. For the lucky ones, fortunes are made overnight. But fortunes can be lost just as fast. Claim jumpers are as thick as fleas. With the backing of a greedy judge, big-city interests are moving in and seizing small claims through smart, corrupt, legal manipulations. Tricked by the city slickers and frustrated by the corrupt court, the hardy miners take matters into their own hands.

The Lady, or The Tiger, written by Frank R. Stockton and narrated by Rebecca Thomas, invites the listener into a semi-barbaric world where justice is decided by fate. The right choice rewards the innocent with marriage; the wrong choice punishes the guilty by serving him to a starving tiger. When the princess' lover is sent to the arena, she discovers the secret of the choice. But what choice does she herself make?

First published in 1853 amidst rumors that Thomas Jefferson fathered children with one of his slaves, Clotel is a fictional chronicle of one such child. After Jefferson's death, his mistress and her two daughters are auctioned. One daughter, Clotel, is purchased by a white man from Virginia who impregnates her. Despite the promise of marriage, Clotel is instead sold to another man and separated from her daughter. After escaping from the slave dealer, Clotel returnss to Virginia to reunite with her daughter - now a slave in her father's house.

This time Tom Swift is off to Alaska to hunt for the valley of gold. His friend Abe Abercrombie, an old miner, claims to know approximately where it lies: "up where the icebergs and caves of ice are." But he needs Tom and his airplane to help him locate the exact spot. Unknown to Tom, his chief rival, Andy Foger, gets wind of the project and vows to beat Tom to the prize. Unknown to both are the Alaskan natives who will kill to protect their gold...

Convinced of the worthiness of a giant, earth-boring machine, David Innes becomes a willing participant in an experiment. On the machine's maiden attempt at boring through the Earth, David and inventor Perry are trapped in the control room as the machine turns into a runaway. It bores steadily down toward the center of the Earth until finally it penetrates into a strange, subterranean world. The two travelers are immediately welcomed by a huge bear-like creature interested solely in having them for breakfast.

Between Conniston, of His Majesty's Royal Northwest Mounted Police, and Keith, the outlaw, there was a striking physical and facial resemblance. Both had observed it, of course. It gave them a sort of confidence in each other. Between them it hovered in a subtle and unanalyzed presence that was constantly suggesting to Conniston a line of action that would have made him a traitor to his oath of duty. For nearly a month he had crushed down the whispered temptings of this thing between them.

Alexandra Bergsons, the daughter of Swedish immigrants, inherits her family's ailing farm in Hanover, Nebraska upon the death of her father. Over the years, she turns the farm into a successful enterprise. However, success has not brought peace, as passion and love intervene.

In Articulate While Black, two renowned scholars of Black Language address language and racial politics in the U.S. through an insightful examination of President Barack Obama's language use--and America's response to it. In this eloquently written and powerfully argued book, H. Samy Alim and Geneva Smitherman provide new insights about President Obama and the relationship between language and race in contemporary society.