Showing results for "John Daly" in Literature & Fiction

Immerse yourself in the thrilling world of Carroll John Daly, a once-popular author who pioneered the hard-boiled crime genre in the 1920s. In The Snarl of the Beast, we meet Race Williams, Dalys iconic detective in his first full-length adventure. Williams is a quick-witted, no-nonsense character who never shies away from danger. The plot unfolds as Williams finds himself pursued and assaulted by a fearsome brute, then wrongfully accused of murdering a sergeant he didnt particularly like. Can Williams outsmart his adversaries, track down the real killer and prevent further bloodshed? Dive ...

Queen Marguerite de Navarre was one of the most powerful women of her age. Her masterpiece, The Heptameron, is a collection of some 72 stories told by five gentlemen and five ladies who find themselves stranded in an abbey. Proposed as an edifying way of passing the time while a bridge is being repaired, the tale-telling - as well as the conversations that follow each story - quickly becomes a battle of wits between the sexes, with tales concerning illicit lovers, romantic conquests, lecherous monks, manly honor, and women's virtue.

Rosmersholm is a play surrounding the deep and intense political and cultural change in Norway in the middle of the 1880s, a period during which the traditional ruling class were forced to relinquish their right to impose their ideals on the rest of society. We follow Johannes Rosmer, a pastor who has resigned from his position; Rebecca West, a woman who sees Rosmer's potential and believes she can help him to realize his dream of creating a world of "happy, noble people"; and Headmaster Kroll, Rosmer's former best friend.

Christopher Smart (1722-1771) was an English poet and scholar. This extraordinary poem, which is a florid display of Smart's opinions on a variety of theological, historical, and scientific subjects, was written between 1759 and 1763, while the author was confined in a lunatic asylum. His condition was diagnosed as religious mania, as evidenced by his compulsion to break into spontaneous prayer in public.

While the issues of the day that consumed the attention of scholar, accomplished linguist, politician and severe Puritan, John Milton (1608-1674) are now largely of historical interest, the verse which they inspired remains a staple of English literature.

In As You Like It, a wicked Duke expels his virtuous brother, the lawful ruler, from his domains. The banished Duke takes refuge with his followers in the Forest of Arden, where they live as free a life as did Robin Hood and his merry men.

The Swedish playwright August Strindberg was one of the founding fathers of naturalistic theater. A feature of many of his plays is the minute dissection of attitude and motivation by individuals within tightly bound groups. As in the present drama, such relentless inspection of behavior often has drastic consequences. Thekla, married to the needy Adolf, has a surprise encounter with her former husband, the lordly Gustav. Or is it really a surprise?

John Donne (1573-1631) is considered by many to be the finest poet of the Elizabeth Age after Shakespeare. Ironically, poetry was not Donne's dominant preoccupation. In his own day, he was better known as a scholar, and, in later life, a clergyman. His verse was composed sporadically and in an offhand fashion and appears not to have been subjected to revision. In spite of occasional solecisms, his poetic verbiage is vigorous and compelling and marked by a striking use of imagery.

After many years living abroad with her longtime lover, Lady Catherine Champion-Cheney visits her former marital home, now occupied by her son, Arnold, and his wife, Elizabeth. Also present is her estranged husband, Clive, who lives in a cottage on the estate. Elizabeth has become dissatisfied with the life she leads with her wealthy husband, who is very occupied with his political career, and she encourages the advances of a dashing but impecunious suitor, Teddy Luton.

Keats commenced writing his epic poem, Hyperion, in 1818 and ceased working on it in the spring of 1819. He said that he gave the project up for having "too many Miltonic inversions." The unfinished poem, which ceases in the middle of the third canto, was published in 1820. The narrative is based on the Titanomachia, or War of the Titans, and describes the aftermath of their fall to the Olympian Gods.

This play forms part of a tetralogy which focuses on one of Wedekind's obsessive themes: the destructive interplay between primal sexual urges and social convention. Each play revolves around a powerful young female character, who has the power to control and captivate men, but who in turn is destroyed by the exercise of that power. In this play, the dominant female is Fräulein Elfriede von Malchus, an idealistic crusader who visits a brothel operated by the cynical impresario Casti-Piani in order to rescue a young woman who has fallen into his clutches.

Despite its patina of humor, the work is a merciless exposé of the commercial middle class dishonesty, and the convenient immorality hiding behind social conventions, which are characteristic of a developing urban society. The most noble character, Serafima, is a compelling mixture of naïveté, whimsicality, sentimentality, and obstinate practicality - one of the finest character portraits in Russian drama.

Grieving for a loved one can be a dangerous business, especially when the Devil offers to help soothe the pain. In this quirky radio drama, the Prince of Darkness gives his hapless victim rather more than he wants.

The Eve of St. Agnes was first published in 1820 in a collection containing many of Keat's best-known poems. Several of these were retellings of stories that were popular in the Middle Ages and earlier times.

Lamia is a narrative poem that reflects Keat's intensive exploration of Greek mythology. It first appeared in 1820 in a collection entitled Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St Agnes and Other Poems. The poem describes the search of the god Hermes for a beautiful nymph, during which he encounters Lamia, who is trapped in the form of a serpent. At her fervent request, Hermes transforms Lamia into a human form and she departs to pursue a liaison with her lover, the glamorous Corinthian youth, Lycias.

Although his output was small, John of the Cross (1542 - 1591) is considered one of the most important figures in Spanish poetry. All his verses explore the same theme: the search of the soul for union with its creator and the glory of the resulting "mystical marriage". This selection of 20 poems opens with his most famous poem, "The Obscure Night of the Soul" and concludes with a free translation of "Psalm 137 (By the Waters of Babylon)".

John Pollen (1855-1923) was an official in the Indian Civil Service. A keen linguist, he learned Russian, Esperanto, and Persian and in 1915 published an English translation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. His collection contains 158 quatrains and includes a set of seven prefatory quatrains by Andrew Lang and a foreword by the Aga Khan.