Wednesday, November 18, 2009

1894: ...Pudd'nhead Wilson to Arms and the Man.

Chronology of World, British and American Literature.


Mark Twain. American. 1894. Novel. The Tragedy of Puddnhead Wilson. Puddnhead is a combination of wisdom and eccentricity. White, mulatto children switched at birth. Mulatto is a scoundrel, finally convicted of murder by fingerprints. Epigrams.


George DuMaurier. French. 1894. Novel. Trilby. Under the influence of Svengali’s mesmeric powers, woman becomes a great singer. Loses her voice when he suddenly dies of heart failure. She dies soon after.


Theodor Fontane. German. 1894. Novel. Effi Briest. Effi is impetuous, spontaneous and open. She is married to a cold, calculating, rational Prussian husband. She is seduced by a mustachioed gambling ladies’ man. Husband duels and wins. Effie is sent home to her parents without her children. She enjoys the simple pleasures of everyday life in the days before her death. German realism. On a par with Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina.


William Dean Howells. American. 1894. Novel. Traveller from Altruria. Returned from a utopia, traveler contrasts it with the American system.


George Bernard Shaw. British. 1894. Play. Arms and the Man. Set in Bulgaria. Satirizes romantic attitudes about war. Libretto of The Chocolate Soldier is based on it.

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