Julia meets all kinds of people on the shores of the Black Sea to practice speaking Russian with.
Mikhail Bulgakov was born in Kiev, Ukraine in 1891 and died inMoscow, Russia in 1940. He died from a kidney disease inherited from his father. He was only 48 years old. He was a physician but decided to devote his time to writing. He wrote a lot about the horrors of the Russian civil war (November, 1917 to October 1922). He is famous for writing ‘A Dog’s Heart’ , 'The White Guard' and ‘The Master and Margarita’which was published after he died.
The Red Crown takes place during the Russian civil war. Approximately 10 million people were killed, most of them civilians. It is a dramatic story about a man who went in search of his younger brother at the behest of hismother. He found his brother who was on his way into battle. The man waited for his brother to return. When he did, the man’s life and his mind were devastated forever.
Mark Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri and died in Connecticut in 1910. In 1909 Mark Twain made this comment “I came in with Halley's Comet, It is coming again next year. The Almighty has said, no doubt, 'Now there are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together. '” He died on April 21, 1910—one day after the comet had once again reached its perihelion. He is best known for his novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885).
In 1883, Mark Twain, the American writer, humorist and essayist wrote an autobiography entitled Life on the Mississippi. This is an excerpt from that book called Two Ways of seeing a River. It is about the difference in our perspective from seeing something for the first time that captivates and enchants us to losing that charming view of it due to familiarity and a deeper understanding of its essence. He asks the question do you gain or lose by this insight?
Theodore Dreiser was an American writer born in Indiana in 1871 and died in Hollywood, California in 1945. He was best known for his novels “An American Tragedy” based on the murder of Grace Brown in Upstate New York in 1906, and “Sister Carrie”. Both novels were made into movies. He grew up extremely poor and was the 12th child of 13 children. His father was a German immigrant. His mother was Mennonite.
H L Menken scholar and critic wrote, “He was a man of large originality, of profound feeling, and of unshakable courage. All of us who write are better off because he lived, worked, and hoped."
Change is an essay about change and why we should love it or at least, not fear it.
In 1861, a Union officer named Sullivan Ballou, assigned to the Grand Army of The Potomac, wrote home to his wife in Smithfield, Rhode Island. He has a wife and two sons waiting for him at home. In the event of his death, he hopes that this letter will ease her pain. He does everything he can to give her comfort and encouragement. It is one of the most noble things I have ever read. What stands out is not only his love and commitment to his wife but also to his country. He states that he fights because of those who fought before him in the American Revolution, and he cannot let them down. You can imagine his wife reading these words and being heart broken but at the same time so proud of her husband.
Squeaker’s Mate is about Squeaker, a lazy, conniving, good for nothing husband, and his mate, a strong woman who is capable, conscientious and does all the work whenever they go out on a job. She suffers a severe work-related injury, and becomes incapacitated; unable to work. Squeaker, true to his nature, takes the easy way out, neglecting and abusing her in the process. However, the woman has another mate who has seen and heard everything, who has been with her from the very start. He thinks, that given half the chance, he might just settle the score.
The Soviet Union ceased to exist on New Year’s Eve, 1991. The new country, called the Russian Federation, was set to embrace democracy and a market economy. The problem was that no one had any idea how to transform the world’s largest country into a free market state. And, what’s more, there was no historical precedent for this. What ensued was severe economic chaos. Essential items for everyday life were unavailable in traditional retail stores. The entire system of distributing goods around the country had disintegrated. Russia’s GDP fell by 50% between 1992 and 1998. This was worse than what Americans went through during the Great Depression.
Julia steps into this world like a babe in the woods. She meets the family she’ll be staying with: Nina, Nina’s mother Anna, and Nina’s 4 children.
O. Henry was born William Sydney Porter in North Carolina in 1862 and died in New York City in 1910 at the age of 47. In 1895, he was charged with embezzlement and fled to the Honduras where he started to write a novel in which he coined the term, “banana republic”. He returned to the States when he found out that his wife was dying of tuberculosis. He started to serve his 5 year prison sentence in 1898 but was let out on good behavior. He married a second time but she left him after 2 years. He had 2 children.
The Skylight Room was written at a time when it was common for people to rent a room in a house instead of rent an apartment. Since there was no welfare, no unemployment insurance, no help at all from the government, and no credit cards, people had to make due with what they could afford. And for many, including doctors and dentists, this was a room. In this story, a young woman works hard and fails to get by suffering the consequences. Along the way she rents a room with a view of the stars. If she cannot reach for them, at least she can gaze at them.
Hans Christian Andersen was born in Odense, Denmark in 1805 and died in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1875. He wrote plays, novels, poems, autobiographies and travel stories but what he is most remembered for are his stories for children.
Andersen was born into poverty and had dreams of becoming an actor. The first story he wrote was self-published and was an immediate success.
His fairy tales are popular with adults and children because he writes about feelings that an adult can sympathize with while never forgetting the child’s perspective. Often his stories have a sad or even tragic ending. This may have been because he felt like an outsider due to his humble origins.
The Fir Tree is about a little tree who can’t wait to grow up and live his life wherever that may take him. Instead of living for the day, he is always dreaming about what lies ahead. He is finally chopped down in order to be used as a Christmas Tree. His time in the sun is brief and he comes to regret leaving his quiet corner of the forest where all his friends lived.
Stephen Leacock was born in England in 1869. When he was six his family moved to Ontario, Canada where they lived on a farm on Lake Simcoe. The farm failed but the family survived by money sent from Stephen’s wealthy grandfather. Leacock’s father was an alcoholic and left his mother. However, his grandfather helped him, and his brothers, enroll in an elite private school in Toronto where he was at the top of his class.
He started writing short pieces of humor and fiction to supplement his income. He became very popular world wide. In fact, it was said that in 1911 more people had heard of Stephen Leacock than of Canada. Between 1915 and 1925 he was the most popular humorist in the English-speaking world.
Comedian Jack Benny was introduced to Leacock’s work by Groucho Marx, and Benny never understood why Leacock’s work was no longer well known in the United States. Leacock married in 1900 and had one son. He died from throat cancer in 1944 in Toronto.
'Merry Christmas' was published on January 1st, 1914, just days after the world had witnessed the Christmas Truce between British and German soldiers along the Western Front on Christmas Eve. The Germans had started to sing Christmas Carols, and then some of the Brits joined in. Peace broke out between the two sides. Soldiers shook hands and shared whatever they could on that frigid Christmas Eve.
Leacock wrote this story about a writer who is trying to write a Christmas Story, but doesn’t feel the Christmas spirit especially during this time of war. The war, even though just begun, had already taken its toll especially on Santa Claus who makes an appearance along with Father Time. Santa is down but, towards the end of the story, it’s clear that the human spirit is resilient. We can and do come back from adversity and hardship.
Merry Christmas!
Julia lands in Adler, Russia on the border of Georgia and where the Sochi airport is located. She is now in the southernmost reaches of the Caucasus Mountains where this mountain range meets the Black Sea.
This region of the world has seen empires battle for dominance, and yet the Caucasus mountains themselves remain largely unexplored. This stretch of the Black Sea coast from Adler, Russia to Sukhumi, Georgia was, at one time, the epicenter of the slave trade for the entire world. Find out more about this strange, wild land, why white people are called Caucasian, and finally Julia’s sought after contact in the mine of slavery.
Lyman Frank Baum was an American author best known for writing “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”. He was born in Upstate New York in 1856 and died in Hollywood, California in 1919. He was 62 years old. He was named Lyman after his uncle but preferred Frank instead.
When Baum was 30 years old his first book was published. It was about the mating and rearing of Hamburg chickens. He went on to write 41 novels, 83 short stories, 200 poems and many screenplays. He tried very hard to get his work on screen and on stage. The Wizard of Oz was finally made into a movie in 1939, twenty years after he died It became a classic children’s story for all time.
A Kidnapped Santa Claus follows what happens when Envy, Malice, Hatred and Anger kidnap Santa Claus because he is causing too much happiness in the world. His legions set out to free him from the evil ones but he eventually finds his way back home to his valley.
Oscar Fingal O’Flaherty Wilde was an Irish poet and playwright born in Dublin Ireland in 1854 and died in Paris, France in 1900 at the age of 46.
He wrote The Happy Prince in 1888.
What is wrong with reading a children’s story if you are an adult? They are simple and refreshing while being entertaining and often have a message that we, as adults, may have forgotten. Some of them are classics and there is a reason why generations of children grow up having read them. They are a part of our culture; an important part. And children’s stories take us back to when we were children. It’s good for the soul to make that visit back in time once in a while.
The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde is one of those classics. It is about a swallow and a statue. It is about friendship and love.
I think that had Saki not had such cruel and unforgiving guardians as the 2 aunts who raised him, we would not have the gems that he wrote later on in life. Saki is the pen name of Hector Hugh Monroe born in Burma in 1871. While visiting England in 1872, his mother Mary was charged by a cow. She was so shocked that she miscarried and died days later. Because of this, his father shipped their 3 children back to England. He was only 2 years old when he was sent to live with his grandmother and two unmarried aunts on his father’s side.
He published The Rise of the Russian Empire in 1900; his only serious historical work. He is regarded as a master of the short story and was influenced by Oscar Wilde, Rudyard Kipling and Lewis Carroll. He was killed by a German sniper in November of 1916 during the Great War. Apparently, his last words were: “Put that bloody cigarette out!”
The Interlopers is a very dark story about retribution. Two men quarrel over land and accuse the other of interloping. In the end, who are the real interlopers? And who will pay?
Désirée's Baby is a tragedy written in 1893. It takes place in rural Louisiana before the abolition of slavery. It is about inter-racial marriage, but not in the way one might think of it today.
Ignorance is bliss, they say, until you find out the truth, but by then it’s too late.
Sherwood Anderson was an American writer born in Camden, Ohio in 1876 and died in Colon, Panama in 1941. He swallowed a toothpick while on a cruise. He was 64 years old. His influences were Walt Whitman, Mark Twain and the Russian writer, Ivan Turgenev. His writing is personal and almost autobiographical. He talks from the heart without much embellishment or sentimentality.
Some of us might feel as if we lead lives of quiet desperation. Maybe there are even times when a person feels trapped by circumstance. When they think they made a mistake and are not living the life they wanted to live, were meant to live. Somehow they feel cheated. 'The Untold Lie' looks at this predicament and asks, “Is that really true? Or is it a lie?”
Chapter two of "In the Wrinkle of the Old Cliff". Julia arrives in Moscow.
Edward Frederic Benson was born in Berkshire, England in 1867, and died from throat cancer on February 29, 1940 at the age of 72 in London, England. His father, Edward White Benson, was Archbishop of Canterbury. His parents had 6 children and no grandchildren.
Benson was homosexual and never married. He was a very prolific writer and known for his memoirs and biographies, including one of Charlotte Bronte.
The Face is about a young woman who has it all. She lives in a beautiful home with a loving husband and two adorable children. The only thing that has marred her otherwise fairy tale life is a nightmare she has had since childhood. And now the dream has changed. It has become more threatening. She seeks help from a doctor and he prescribes time away by herself, a rest at the beach. And so she goes. Whether you believe in providence or not, this story makes one think about fate and how it is impossible to escape it. There is also a note of sexual violence which makes the whole story very creepy and horrifying to think about.
Mark Twain was an American writer, publisher, humorist and entrepreneur. "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and its sequel “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” are his most famous stories as well as “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” William Faulkner called him “The Father of American literature”.
A Ghost Story is about a ghost who makes an embarrassing mistake. We all make mistakes and ghosts are human too, aren’t they? Well, at least they were human at one point. Only Mark Twain could conjure up such a mortified ghost and make us laugh.
Because we are now in the scary season of October, I have for you some horror and ghost stories that are absolute classics. The first one is written by William Wymark Jacobs born in London, England in 1863. Even though W.W. Jacobs is best known for this one horror story, The Monkey’s Paw, he was actually a prolific writer of humorous stories. He wrote mostly about sailors and their misadventures on land.
The Monkey’s Paw has been adapted for film, radio, and tv, in more than 25 shows and movies, and was even made into an American opera in 2017.
As for the theme of the story? I will only say this: Be careful what you wish for because you might just get it.
Artwork by Gabriel Taylor