Ogni settimana Voice of America presenta un breve racconto di uno scrittore americano riscritto in un inglese semplificato “special english”. Qui di seguito potete leggere ed ascoltare alcuni dei racconti. L'indirizzo da dove sono state scaricati e qui riproposti i file audio e le trascrizioni è il seguente:
http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/american-stories.cfm
Le note scritte riportate sulla trascrizione per facilitare, spero, la lettura sono state tratte da:
www.wordreference.com/It/
Luck di Mark Twain "Luck" is an 1886 short story by Mark Twain which was first published in 1891 in Harper's Magazine. It was subsequently reprinted in 1892 in the anthology Merry Tales; the first British publication was in 1900, in the collection The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg. It is one of Twain's more neglected stories, and received little critical attention upon its publication. The story concerns a decorated English military hero, Lord Arthur Scoresby, a total idiot who triumphs in life through good luck.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luck_(short_story)TrascrizioneAudio
A Municipal Report di O. HenryMost critics agree that “A Municipal Report”—set in Nashville, Tennessee, as a challenge to Frank Norris's assertion that the only “story cities” in the United States are New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans—is O. Henry's best. It is often singled out to suggest that O. Henry could have written better stories if he had tried harder, took himself and his writing more seriously, and had more discipline. The story is more sophisticated than other O. Henry stories because of its complex narrative structure and its creation of two compelling characters—the southern lady writer abused by her husband and the African American carriage driver who rescues her. As a result, the story is more ambitious than merely an illustration that an exciting story can be based in such an ordinary place like Nashville.
www.enotes.com/municipal-report-sal...unicipal-reportTrascrizioneAudio
Feathertop di Nathaniel Hawthorne"Feathertop" is the story of a scarecrow who is made into a man by a witch, a woman with magic powers. Feathertop is happy until he meets a pretty girl and falls in love, and wants to be a real man…but he was too good to be a scarecrow. And he was too good to be a man.
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John Henry a tall taleA tall tale is a story with unbelievable elements, related as if it was true and factual. Some such stories are exaggerations of actual events, such as, "that fish was so big, why I tell ya', it nearly sank the boat when I pulled it in!" Other tall tales are completely fictional tales in a familiar setting, such as the American Old West or the beginning of the Industrial Age. Tall tales are often told so as to make the narrator seem to have been a part of the story. They are usually humorous or witty.(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tall_tale)
John Henry is an American folk hero, famous for having raced against a steam powered hammer and won, only to die in victory. He has been the subject of numerous songs, stories, plays, and novels.(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Henry_(folklore)_)
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The Law of Life di Jack LondonJack London’s The Law of Life depicts the indifference of nature to the approaching death of an old man. Abandoned in the snow by his tribe, nearly blind and lame, old Koskoosh lies beside a fire with only a handful of twigs to keep him from freezing. He is aware of his imminent end, but calmly accepts the fact that all men must die.(
www.shvoong.com/books/1741784-law-life/)
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Paul Bunyan a tall talePaul Bunyan is a mythological lumberjack who appears in tall tales of American folklore. He is usually portrayed as a giant as well as a lumberjack of unusual skill. The character originated in the work of American journalist James MacGillivray. Historically, the character has been popular in the northern region of the United States, around Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota.(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Bunyan_(lumberjack)_)
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Paul's Case di Willa CatherPaul's Case is a short story by Willa Cather. It was first published in McClure's Magazine in 1905. Paul, a suspended high school student in Pittsburgh is bored with his humdrum life and decides on a trip to New York City.(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul%27s_Case)
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Benito Cereno di Herman MelvilleThe novella centers on a slave rebellion on board a Spanish merchant ship in 1799 and because of its ambiguity has been read by some as racist and pro-slavery and by others as anti-racist and abolitionist text. Earlier critics, however, had seen Benito Cereno as a tale that primarily explores human depravity and does not reflect upon race at all. Melville's most recent biographer, Andrew Delbanco, emphasizes the topicality of "Benito Cereno" in a post-September 11th world: "In our own time of terror and torture, Benito Cereno has emerged as the most salient of Melville's works: a tale of desperate men in the grip of a vengeful fury that those whom they hate cannot begin to understand".(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benito_Cereno)
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A Princess of Mars di Edgar Rice BurroughsA Princess of Mars is an Edgar Rice Burroughs science fiction novel, the first of his famous Barsoom series. It is also Burroughs' first novel, predating his Tarzan stories. Full of swordplay and daring feats, the story is considered a classic example of 20th century pulp fiction.It is a seminal example of the genre of Planetary Romance, which became highly popular in the decades to follow, and also has some elements of Westerns. It is set on a dying Mars, informed by ideas popularized by astronomer Percival Lowell in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It inspired a number of well known 20th century science fiction writers, including Ray Bradbury and Arthur C. Clarke, and was also inspirational for many scientists in the fields of space exploration and the search of extra-terrestrial life, including scientist Carl Sagan, who read the novel as a child. (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Princess_of_Mars)
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The Cask of Amontillado di Edgar Allan Poe"The Cask of Amontillado" (sometimes spelled "The Casque of Amontillado") is a short story, written by Edgar Allan Poe and first published in the November 1846 issue of Godey's Lady's Book. The story is set in a nameless Italian city in an unspecified year (possibly sometime during the 18th century) and concerns the deadly revenge taken by the narrator on a friend who he claims has insulted him. Like several of Poe's stories, and in keeping with the 19th-century fascination with the subject, the narrative revolves around a person being buried alive – in this case, by immolation through immurement. As in "The Black Cat" and "The Tell-Tale Heart", Poe conveys the story through the murderer's perspective.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cask_of_Amontillado).
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The Gift of the Magi di O. Henry"The Gift of the Magi" is one of O. Henry's most famous stories. Included in The Four Million, his first collection of short stories, in 1906, it has been anthologized many times since then. The story contains many of the elements for which O. Henry is widely known, including poor, working-class characters, a humorous tone, realistic detail, and a surprise ending. A major reason given for its enduring appeal is its affirmation of unselfish love. Such love, the story and its title suggest, is like the gifts given by the wise men, called magi, who brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the newborn Jesus.(
www.enotes.com/gift-magi).
Non perdetevi la lettura del racconto, in italiano, presente sul forum (
https://podcasthall.forumcommunity.net/?t=10386935)
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A Horseman in the Sky di Ambrose BierceAmbrose Bierce was an american newspaperman, wit, satirist, and author of sardonic short stories based on themes of death and horror. His life ended in an unsolved mystery.It is set during the American Civil War. The central character is a young Virginian, named Carter Druse, who decides to fight for the north. He finds himself unavoidably having to shoot his father's horse - killing his father, who is fighting for the south.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Horseman_in_the_Sky).
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An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge di Ambrose Bierce"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" (sometimes called "An Incident at Owl Creek Bridge") is a short story by Ambrose Bierce. It was originally published in 1890, and first collected in Bierce's 1891 book, Tales of Soldiers and Civilians. The story is famous for its irregular time sequence and twist ending. (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Occurrence...wl_Creek_Bridge)
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The Legend of Sleepy Hollow di Washington Irving"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is a short story by Washington Irving contained in his collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., written while he was living in Birmingham, England, and first published in 1820. With Irving's companion piece "Rip Van Winkle", "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is among the earliest examples of American fiction still read today.
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The Line of Least Resistence di Edith WhartonEdith Wharton was an American author best known for her stories and novels about the upper-class society into which she was born. Many of Wharton's novels are characterized by a subtle use of dramatic irony. Having grown up in upper-class pre-World War I society, Wharton became one of its most astute critics.
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The White Heron di Sarah Orne JewettSarah Orne Jewett (September 3, 1849 – June 24, 1909) was an American novelist and short story writer, best known for her local color works set in or near South Berwick, Maine, on the border of New Hampshire, which in her day was a declining New England seaport.(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Orne_Jewett)
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The Devil and Tom Walker di Washington Irving"The Devil and Tom Walker" is a short story by Washington Irving that first appeared in his 1824 collection of stories titled Tales of a Traveller. It was part of the "Money-Diggers" portion. The story is very similar to that of the ancient German legend of Faust.
Stephen Vincent Benet drew much of his inspiration for "The Devil and Daniel Webster" from this tale. (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil_and_Tom_Walker)
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To Build a Fire di Jack London"To Build a Fire" is a short story by American author Jack London. The famous version of this story was published in 1908. Jack London published an earlier and radically different version in 1902 in which the protaganist survives his ordeal, and a comparison of the two provides a dramatic illustration of the growth of his literary ability. It is widely considered as a prime example of the naturalist movement and of a Man vs. Nature conflict. (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Build_a_Fire)
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Keesh di Jack London I would rather be ashes than dust!
I would rather that my spark should burn out
in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.
I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom
of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.
The function of man is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time.
Preferirei essere cenere che polvere.
Preferirei che la mia scintilla bruciasse in una vivida fiammata
piuttosto che fosse soffocata da arida putredine.
Preferirei essere una superba meteora,
ogni mio atomo esploso in un magnifico bagliore,
piuttosto che un sonnolento e perseverante pianeta.
La giusta funzione di un uomo è di vivere, non di esistere.
Io non sprecherò i miei giorni tentando di prolungarli.
Io userò il mio tempo
Jack London (1876 - 1916)
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The Diamonds Lens di Fitz-James O'BrienIrish-born American journalist, playwright, and author whose psychologically penetrating tales of pseudoscience and the uncanny made him one of the forerunners of modern science fictionO’Brien was the son of a lawyer. He ran through his inheritance in two years in London, where he began to work in journalism. In 1852 he moved to New York City to earn his living by writing and soon became an important figure in that city’s bohemia. But his work, though published in the leading periodicals of the day, won him neither the reputation he thought he merited nor the financial security he desired. At the outbreak of the American Civil War, he volunteered with the Union forces and died from wounds received during the first year of the fighting. His best-known stories include “The Diamond Lens,” about a man who falls in love with a being he sees through a microscope in a drop of water; “What Was It?” in which a man is attacked by a thing he apprehends with every sense but sight; and “The Wondersmith,” in which robots are fashioned only to turn upon their creators. These three stories appeared in periodicals in 1858 and 1859.
(
www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/...tz-James-OBrien)
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Doctor Heidegger's Experiment di Nathaniel Hawthorne "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" is a short story by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne, about a scientist who claims to have been sent water from the Fountain of Youth. It was eventually published in Hawthorne's collection Twice-Told Tales in 1837.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Heidegger%27s_Experiment)
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Bartleby di Herman Melville"Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street" is a novelette by American author Herman Melville (1819-1891). The story first appeared, anonymously, in Putnam's Magazine in two parts. The first part appeared in November 1853, with the conclusion published in December 1853. It was reprinted in Melville's The Piazza Tales in 1856 with minor textual alterations. Although the story was not very popular at the time it was published, "Bartleby the Scrivener" has become among the most famous American short stories. It has been considered a precursor to absurdist literature, touching on many of the themes extant in the work of Franz Kafka, particularly in The Trial and "A Hunger Artist." However, there exists nothing to indicate that the German-language writer was at all familiar with Melville, who was largely forgotten until after Kafka's death.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartleby,_the_Scrivener)
Trascrizione AudioDa non perdere la versione in italiano, sempre sul forum, presso:
https://podcasthall.forumcommunity.net/?t=10769394
The Return of a Private di Hamlin GarlandOne of the most popular pieces in the author's Main Travelled Roads collection was "The Return of a Private", a story that certainly rings true today. A soldier returns home only to find that his experiences have changed things forever.
(
http://kids.audible.com/adkd/site/k/produc...=BK_JIMC_000204)
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The Lady, or the Tiger? di Frank R. Stockton.Frank Richard Stockton (April 5, 1834 – April 20, 1902) was an American writer and humorist, best known today for a series of innovative children's fairy tales that were widely popular during the last decades of the 19th century. His most famous fable is "The Lady, or the Tiger?" (1882), about a man sentenced to an unusual punishment for having a romance with a king's beloved daughter.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_R._Stockton)
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Rappaccini's Daughter di Nathaniel Hawthorne"Rappaccini's Daughter" is a short story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1844 concerning a medical researcher in medieval Padua. It was published in the collection Mosses from an Old Manse.Typical of Hawthorne's stories, Rappaccini's Daughter contains references to Dante's Divine Comedy and the Garden of Eden. The story juxtaposes the scientific aspects of research (Professor Rappaccini and Professor Baglioni) with spirituality (Giovanni and Beatrice). This story provides an interesting approach to the voyeurism presented by the scientists and how far two people can love each other despite physical barriers.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rappaccini's_Daughter)
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The God of His Fathers di Jack LondonIl racconto The God of His Fathers (Il Dio dei suoi padri) mette in scena il confronto tra due uomini: Baptiste the Red, figlio di un gentleman inglese e della figlia di un capo indiano, e Hay Stockard, uno yankee in cerca d'oro e di fortuna.
Antonio Spadaro, in un articolo pubblicato il 18 aprile 2009 sull'Osservatore Romano, afferma:" London sfida il lettore con l'imprevisto, lo interroga su come abitare il mondo e su come affrontare la vita, cogliendone l'aspetto selvaggio, primordiale. È questa, forse, la più rilevante e impegnativa eredità che London ha lasciato alle generazioni successive".
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The Ambitious Guest di Nathaniel Hawthorne"The Ambitious Guest" is a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne. First published in New-England Magazine in June of 1835, it is better known for its publication in the second volume of Twice-Told Tales in 1835. A man visits a family on a mountain side that is a famous stop for people who travel on the route.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ambitious_Guest)
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The Californian's Tale di Mark TwainMark Twain's touching story of devotion, "The Californian's Tale" recounts the story of a lonely pioneer telling a passing gold miner of his beautiful wife who will soon be returning home.
(
http://kids.audible.com/adkd/site/k/produc...=BK_PCTR_000173)
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The Story of an Eyewitness di Jack LondonNovelist and journalist Jack London offers a first-person account of the fiery aftermath of the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco.
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The Tell-Tale Heart di Edgar Allan PoeOne of Edgar Allan Poe’s most famous short stories, ‘‘The Tell-Tale Heart,’’ was first published in the January, 1843 edition of James Russell Lowell’s The Pioneer and was reprinted in the August 23, 1845 issue of The Broadway Journal. The story is a psychological portrait of a mad narrator who kills a man and afterward hears his victim’s relentless heartbeat. ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’’ is simultaneously a horror story and psychological thriller told from a first-person perspective. It is admired as an excellent example of how a short story can produce an effect on the reader. Poe believed that all good literature must create a unity of effect on the reader and this effect must reveal truth or evoke emotions. ‘‘The Tell-Tale Heart’’ exemplifies Poe’s ability to expose the dark side of humankind and is a harbinger of novels and films dealing with psychological realism. Poe’s work has influenced genres as diverse as French symbolist poetry and Hollywood horror films, and writers as diverse as Ambrose Bierce and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
(
www.enotes.com/tell-tale-heart)
Sul forum è possibile ascoltare anche la versione in italiano "Il cuore rivelatore" presso:https://podcasthall.forumcommunity.net/?t=10358153TrascrizioneAudio
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County di Mark TwainMark Twain first earned his reputation as a fiction writer with the publication of "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," originally entitled "Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog." Trained as a journalist, Twain lived in the West for most of the Civil War. In 1864 and 1865, he spent several months mining around Angel's Camp, California, where he supposedly heard a version of the story from a camp bartender. Like a true journalist, Twain noted the anecdote. He developed it into a fictional piece less than a year later, gaining nationwide recognition as a premier humorist and short-story writer from its publication.
(
www.bookrags.com/research/the-notor...-of-calav-lait/)
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The Luck of Roaring Camp di Bret Harte"The Luck of Roaring Camp" is a short story by American author Bret Harte. Francis Bret Harte was an American author and poet, best remembered for his accounts of pioneering life in California. It was first published in the August 1868 issue of the Overland Monthly and helped push Harte to international prominence. The story is about the birth of a baby boy in a 19th century gold prospecting camp. The boy's mother, Cherokee Sal, dies in childbirth, so the men of Roaring Camp must raise it themselves. Believing the child to be a good luck charm, the miners christen the boy Thomas Luck.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Luck_of_Roaring_Camp)
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The Ransom of Red Chief di O.Henry"The Ransom of Red Chief" is a 1910 short story by O. Henry. Like some other O. Henry works, "The Ransom of Red Chief" has become a familiar cultural trope. Television series, especially for children, often include an episode based on its idea.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ransom_of_Red_Chief)
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Athenaise di Kate ChopinKate Chopin (born Katherine O'Flaherty on February 8, 1851 – August 22, 1904) was an American author of short stories and novels, mostly of a Louisiana Creole background. She is now considered by some to have been a forerunner of feminist authors of the 20th century. From 1869 to 1902, she wrote short stories for both children and adults which were published in such magazines as Atlantic Monthly, Vogue, the Century, and Harper's Youth's Companion. Her major works were two short story collections, Bayou Folk (1894) and A Night in Acadie (1897). Her important short stories included "Desiree's Baby," a tale of miscegenation in antebellum Louisiana (published in 1893); "The Story of an Hour" (1894), and "The Storm "(1898). "The Storm" is a sequel to "The 'Cadian Ball," which appeared in her first collection of short stories, Bayou Folk. Chopin also wrote two novels: At Fault (1890) and The Awakening (1899), which is set in New Orleans and Grand Isle, respectively. The people in her stories are usually inhabitants of Louisiana. Many of her works are set about Natchitoches in north central Louisiana.
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The Last Leaf di O. HenryJohnsy and Sue are artists who move into Greenwich Village in New York City. As Winter approaches and the weather gets colder, Johnsy becomes ill with pneumonia. She gets so sick that she believes that when the last leaf falls from the vine outside her window, she will die.
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A Pair of Silk Stockings di Kate ChopinIn the short story, A Pair of Silk Stockings, Kate Chopin introduces us to Mrs. Sommers, a thrifty and unselfish mother who knows the value of bargains. However, by the end of the story, having been subdued by the intensity of materialism due to the possession of an unexpected fortune, she is transformed into an egocentric woman who spends lavishly on extravagant objects.
(
www.bookrags.com/essay-2005/11/24/15141/565)
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'The Birthmark' by Nathaniel Hawthorne "The Birth-Mark" is a romantic short story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne that examines obsession with human perfection. It was first published in the March, 1843 edition of The Pioneer. It later appeared in Mosses from an Old Manse, a collection of short stories by Hawthorne published in 1846. Like many of the tales Hawthorne wrote during his time living in The Old Manse, "The Birth-Mark" discusses the psychological impact in sexual relations. The birthmark does not become an issue to Aylmer until after the marriage, which he suddenly sees as sexual: "now vaguely portrayed, now lost, now stealing forth again, and glimmering to-and-fro with every pulse of emotion". Written shortly after Hawthorne married Sophia Peabody, the story emphasizes the husband's sexual guilt disguised as superficial cosmetology. Some critics contend that the theme of the story is that human perfection can only be achieved in death and therefore not reachable at all, in that the trademark foreshadowing occurred during Aylmer's dream, in which he can not cut deep enough to remove the birthmark.Hawthorne may have been critiquing the epoch of reform in which he was living and specifically calling attempts at reform ineffective and the reformers as dangerous. Other critics read the story as a critique of 19th century positivistic science (positivism) situating the woman as nature and representing science as attempting to penetrate her/its secrets while ultimately destroying the object of its research. Still others see it as a defence of vitalism as against materialism -- that one cannot find the essence or soul in mute bodily matter. The story is often compared to Edgar Allan Poe's "The Oval Portrait".
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birth-Mark)
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'The Boarded Window' by Ambrose Bierce ‘‘The Boarded Window’’ is not a popular story; that is, reviewers rarely discuss it and reference to it among Bierce scholars is almost nonexistent. Critics who have paid it attention have generally commented on its surprise and sudden ending. The story deals with a turning point in a man’s life, one which has the ability to completely change his future. Murlock believes that his seemingly dead wife has returned as a ghost and as fear immobilizes him, she actually does die a most horrific death. While Bierce artfully reverses the supernatural element of the plot, the story still contains the essence of its enigmatic author. Though masquerading as a ghost story, ‘‘The Boarded Window’’ conceals within its words an even greater mystery of the relationship among its characters. This mystery is one to which Bierce proposes no easy answers.
(
www.enotes.com/boarded-window/)
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"The Blanket" by Floyd Dell Floyd Dell (born June 28, 1887, Barry, Ill., U.S. died July 23, 1969, Bethesda, Md.) was a novelist and radical journalist whose fiction examined the changing mores in sex and politics among American bohemians before and after World War I. A precocious poet, Dell grew up in an impoverished family and left high school at age 16 to work in a factory. Moving to Chicago in 1908, he worked as a newspaperman and soon was a leader of the city’s advanced literary movement. He became assistant editor of the Friday Literary Review of the Evening Post in 1909 and editor in 1911, making it one of the most noted American literary supplements. As a critic, he furthered the careers of Sherwood Anderson and Theodore Dreiser. A socialist since his youth, he moved to New York in 1914 and was associate editor of the left-wing The Masses until 1917. Dell was on the staff of The Liberator, which succeeded The Masses, from 1918 to 1924. His first and best novel, the largely autobiographical Moon-Calf, appeared in 1920, and its sequel, The Briary-Bush, in 1921. Homecoming, an autobiography taking him to his 35th year, was published in 1933. His other novels on life among the unconventional include Janet March (1923), Runaway (1925), and Love in Greenwich Village (1926). His nonfiction includes Were You Ever a Child? (1919), on child-rearing; the biography Upton Sinclair: A Study in Social Protest (1927); and Love in the Machine Age (1930), which presented his views on sex. Little Accident, a play written with Thomas Mitchell and based on Dell’s novel An Unmarried Father (1927), was successfully produced in 1928. Dell joined the Federal Writers Project and moved to Washington, D.C., in the late 1930s as an official for the project. He continued in government work after the project ended, until his retirement in 1947.
(
www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/156643/Floyd-Dell)
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"The Whirligig of Life" by O. Henry A man and his wife have second thoughts about ending their marriage. Whirligig is a word that dates from the fifteenth century. It means a child's toy having a whirling or spinning motion; something that continuously whirls, moves or changes, or a whirling or circling course of events.
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'Pecos Bill' a tall taleThroughout history people have told and written stories about their heroes. A tall tale is a special kind of hero story because the heroes of tall tales are 'larger than life'. They are bigger or stronger than real people, even when the tall tale is based on a real person. Tall tale heroes solve problems in funny ways that are hard to believe.
Pecos Bill is an American cowboy, apocryphally immortalized in numerous tall tales of the Old West during American westward expansion into the Southwest of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Their stories were probably invented by Edward O'Reilly in the early 20th Century and are considered to be an example of fakelore. Pecos Bill was a late addition to the "big man" idea of characters such as Paul Bunyan or John Henry.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pecos_Bill)
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'The Purloined Letter' by Edgar Allan Poe"The Purloined Letter" is a short story by American author Edgar Allan Poe. It is the third of his three detective stories featuring the fictional C. Auguste Dupin, the other two being "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" and "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt". These stories are considered to be important early forerunners of the modern detective story. It first appeared in The Gift for 1845 (1844) and was soon reprinted in numerous journals and newspapers.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Purloined_Letter)
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"The Open Boat" by Stephen Crane"The Open Boat" is a short story by American author Stephen Crane (1871–1900). First published in 1897, it was based on Crane's experience of having survived a shipwreck off the coast of Florida earlier that year while traveling to Cuba to work as a newspaper correspondent. Crane was stranded at sea for thirty hours when his ship, the SS Commodore, sank after hitting a sandbar. He and three other men were forced to navigate their way to shore in a small boat; one of the men, an oiler named Billie Higgins, drowned. Crane's personal account of the shipwreck and the men's survival, titled "Stephen Crane's Own Story", was first published a few days after his rescue.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Open_Boat)
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"Singing Woman" by Ada Jack Carver"Singing Woman" was written by Ada Jack Carver. She won an O. Henry Award for the story. "Singing Woman" is about an old professional mourner in the southern state of Louisiana. She lives on Isle Brevelle, a community of French-speaking people of mixed race. They are part black, part white.
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"The Exact Science of Matrimony" by O. HenryTrascrizioneAudio
‘The Lady in Black’ by Eleanor H. PorterTrascrizioneAudio
"A Piece of Red Calico" by Frank StocktonTrascrizioneAudio
"Pigs Is Pigs" by Ellis Parker ButlerTrascrizioneAudio
A Story for Halloween: "The Boy on Graves-End Road" by Caty WeaverTen-year-old Ben finds the imaginary games he plays with another boy too intense for his own good.
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Edited by Ruitor2 - 10/4/2011, 07:38
a nome di tutti noi - come dire - "poco informati".
