Author: Rudolph Amsel

Publisher: Elsinore Books

Published: 2020-04-13

Total Pages: 767

ISBN-13:

The greatest fairy tales of all time. The 100 tales collected here throw open wide the gates to the realm of fairyland. Inside are princes and princesses, giants and dwarfs, heroes, heroines, simpletons, rogues, wizards, witches, ogres, trolls, elves, magical artefacts, and all manner of talking birds and beasts. As G. K. Chesterton has observed, fairyland is a place where happiness hangs upon a single thread: “Cinderella may have a dress woven on supernatural looms and blazing with unearthly brilliance; but she must be back when the clock strikes twelve. The king may invite fairies to the christening, but he must invite all the fairies or frightful results will follow. Bluebeard's wife may open all doors but one. A promise is broken to a cat, and the whole world goes wrong… A promise is broken to a yellow dwarf, and the whole world goes wrong.” This is also a world of contradiction and disproportion; where honesty may be a virtue, but so is the ability to tell the most outrageous lies conceivable. Here, the prize for treading on a cat’s tail, is a princess; and the penalty for expressing gratitude to a goblin, is a lifelong curse. In compiling this anthology, we have tried to include as many “tale types” as possible, and as much of the varied landscape of the fairy world—deserts, icefields, enchanted forests, underwater kingdoms—as we could fit in. Our principal sources are the great European collections of fairy tales and folk tales as compiled by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Peter Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe, Hans Christian Andersen, Charles Perrault, Joseph Jacobs, and Alexander Afanasyev. But there are tales from further afield as well; from Asia, Africa and the Middle East. We have classified the tales thematically, and spread them evenly across ten chapters: 1) The Classic Characters: Heroes, Heroines, and their Foes 2) Birds and Beasts 3) Little; Big 4) The Ship of Fools 5) Quick Minds and Sharp Wits 6) The Royal Court 7) Into the World: Journeys, Quests, and Adventures 8) Magic and Witchcraft 9) Extraordinary Tales of Extraordinary Things 10) Tales for Winter We hope this structure will aid readers somewhat in their explorations. At the same time, we concur with W. H. Auden, who writes, “the way to read a fairy tale is to throw yourself in.”

Author: Rudolph Amsel

Publisher: Elsinore Books

Published: 2020-04-13

Total Pages: 2030

ISBN-13:

This is an anthology for people who love story-telling. Our one hundred classic masterpieces were selected purely for their capacity to delight, instruct and charm. In this collection, readers will encounter some of the finest writing in world literature. We have chosen to arrange the stories thematically, dividing the anthology into ten parts as follows: 1) Characters 2) Animals 3) Epiphanies 4) Mystery and Adventure 5) Horror and Ghosts 6) Strange, Surreal and Fantastic 7) Humour, Satire and Tall Tales 8) Love 9) Summer Tales 10) Winter Tales Please view the preview of this book for a full listing of contents. We hope this arrangement will encourage readers to move between the different parts of the anthology as their interest takes them, discovering as they do so, the shared sensibilities of authors remote in time and place. Though these stories vary enormously in theme, tone and setting—from Russian snow storms, to spiritual epiphanies in Winesburg, Ohio—each of them has enthralled readers across generations; is exemplary in its attention to detail and evocation of mood; resists all simplistic and univocal interpretations, and remains as fresh and penetrating today as when it was first written. At Elsinore Books we pride ourselves on creating beautiful e-books, and devote great attention to formatting, and ease of navigation. This book contains a cleanly-styled contents page that permits easy movement between the stories. Contents: Part 1: Characters Gusev — Anton Chekhov Boule de Suif — Guy de Maupassant Alyosha the Pot — Leo Tolstoy Mateo Falcone — Prosper Mérimée Little Brother — Mary E. Mann Bartleby, The Scrivener — Herman Melville The Lightning-Rod Man — Herman Melville The Ambitious Guest — Nathaniel Hawthorne The Darling — Anton Chekhov A Simple Heart — Gustave Flaubert Part 2: Animals Sredni Vashta — Saki Kholstomer, The Story of a Horse — Leo Tolstoy A Dark-Brown Dog — Stephen Crane Kashtanka — Anton Chekhov The Cat That Walked By Himself — Rudyard Kipling The Black Cat — Edgar Allan Poe The Fly — Katherine Mansfield The Boar-Pig — Saki The Tiger Guest — Pu Songling Jackals and Arabs — Franz Kafka Part 3: Epiphanies Araby — James Joyce The Dead — James Joyce The Strength of God — Sherwood Anderson The Egg — Sherwood Anderson A Death in the Desert — Willa Cather Roman Fever — Edith Wharton The Story of an Hour — Kate Chopin Home Sickness — George Moore The Madonna of the Future — Henry James The Kiss — Anton Chekhov Part 4: Mystery and Adventure The Red-Headed League — Arthur Conan Doyle The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle — Arthur Conan Doyle The Arrow of Heaven — G. K. Chesterton The Sign of the Broken Sword — G. K. Chesterton The Purloined Letter — Edgar Allan Poe The Master of Mystery — Jack London The Problem of Cell 13 — Jacques Futrelle The Three Stranger — Thomas Hardy The Diamond as Big as the Ritz — F. Scott Fitzgerald A Jury of Her Peers — Susan Glaspell Part 5: Horror and Ghosts The Body Snatcher — Robert Louis Stevenson The Signal-Man — Charles Dickens August Heat — W. F. Harvey The Monkey’s Paw — W. W. Jacobs “Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You my Lad” — M. R. James The Phantom Coach — Amelia Edwards The Horla — Guy de Maupassant An Inhabitant of Carcosa — Ambrose Bierce Schalken the Painter — Sheridan Le Fanu The Cask of Amontillado — Edgar Allan Poe Please "Look inside" to see the complete listing.