Monday, June 23, 2008

Washington Irving


Washington Irving



Washington Irving (April 3, 1783November 28, 1859) was an American author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century. He was best known for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.. His historical works include biographies of George Washington, Oliver Goldsmith and Muhammad, and several histories of 15th-century Spain dealing with subjects such as Christopher Columbus, the Moors, and the Alhambra. Irving also served as the U.S. minister to Spain from 1842 to 1846.
He made his literary debut in 1802 with a series of observational letters to the Morning Chronicle, written under the
pseudonym Jonathan Oldstyle. After moving to England for the family business in 1815, he achieved international fame with the publication of The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. in 1819. He continued to publish regularly — and almost always successfully — throughout his life, and completed a five-volume biography of George Washington just eight months before his death, at age 76, in Tarrytown, New York.
Irving, along with
James Fenimore Cooper, was the first American writer to earn acclaim in Europe, and Irving encouraged American authors such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Edgar Allan Poe. Irving was also admired by some European writers, including Sir Walter Scott, Lord Byron, Thomas Campbell, Francis Jeffrey, and Charles Dickens. As America's first genuine internationally best-selling author, Irving advocated for writing as a legitimate profession, and argued for stronger laws to protect American writers from copyright infringement.

Francis Parkman


Francis Parkman



Born: 16-Sep-1823

Birthplace: Boston, MA

Died: 8-Nov-1893

Location of death: Jamaica PlainMA

Cause of death: unspecified
Gender: Male

Race or Ethnicity: White

Sexual orientation: Straight

Occupation: Historian
Nationality: United States

Executive summary: France and England in North America

Father: Francis Parkman Sr.

Mother: Caroline Hall Parkman

Wife: Catherine Scollay

Bigelow (m. May-1850, d. 1858)

Daughter: Grace (b. 1851)

Son: Francis (b. 1854, d. 1857 scarlet fever)

Daughter: Katharine (b. 1858)

Sister: Lizzie
High School: Chauncey Hall


Law School: Harvard University (1846)
Boston Saturday Club
Is the subject of books:

A Life of Francis Parkman, 1900, BY: Charles Haight Farnham Francis Parkman, Heroic Historian, 1972, BY: Mason Wade
Author of books:

The California and Oregon Trail (1849, nonfiction)

The Conspiracy of Pontiac (1851, nonfiction)

Vassall Morton (1856, novel)

Pioneers of France in the New World (1865, nonfiction)

Book of Roses (1866, nonfiction)

The Jesuits in North America (1867, nonfiction)

La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West (1869, nonfiction)

The Old Regime in Canada (1874, nonfiction)

Count Frontenac and New France under Louis XIV (1877, nonfiction)

Montcalm and Wolfe (1884)

Historic Handbook of the Northern Tour (1885, nonfiction)

A Half-Century of Conflict (1892, nonfiction)

THOMAS JEFFERSON


Thomas Jefferson

3rd President of the United States
In officeMarch 4, 1801March 4, 1809
Vice President
Aaron Burr (1801–1805),George Clinton (1805–1809)
Preceded by
John Adams
Succeeded by
James Madison
2nd Vice President of the United States
In officeMarch 4, 1797March 4, 1801
President
John Adams
Preceded by
John Adams
Succeeded by
Aaron Burr
1st United States Secretary of State
In officeSeptember 26, 1789December 31, 1793
President
George Washington
Preceded by
New Office
Succeeded by

Edmund Randolph
United States Ambassador to France
In office1785 – 1789
Appointed by
Congress of the Confederation
Preceded by
Benjamin Franklin
Succeeded by
William Short
Delegate from Virginia to The Congress of the Confederation
In office1783 – 1784
2nd
Governor of Virginia
In officeJune 1, 1779June 3, 1781
Preceded by
Patrick Henry
Succeeded by
William Fleming
Delegate from Virginia to The Second Continental Congress
In office1775 – 1776
Born
April 13 [O.S. April 2] 1743Shadwell, Virginia
Died
July 4, 1826 (aged 83)Charlottesville, Virginia
Political party
Democratic-Republican
Spouse
Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson
Children
Martha Washington Jefferson, Jane Randolph Jefferson, Stillborn son, Mary Wayles Jefferson, Lucy Elizabeth Jefferson I, Lucy Elizabeth Jefferson II.
Alma mater
The College of William & Mary
Occupation
Lawyer, Farmer (Planter)
Religion
Unitarian/Deist/Christian



Comparing three texts about the Indians

THE INDIAN OSAGES

To compare the ideas in these three texts about Indians in three different points of view, I need to see how they described the characteristics of Indians individually.
As we see in the text by Francis Parkman, the author gives a transparent description of Indians which implies that their ruling passions are revenge, jealousy and ambition and these are overpowering instincts with the Indians. He expresses that Indians are proud and inflexible men who are suspicious of treachery in others, they hide their emotion with an iron self control in their social and family lives. In another part, the writer says that Indians are cut out of a rock. This is the most destroying description that one person can give about some one else that he or she is empty of any sense or emotion ;it seems as if Parkman wants to consider the Indians apart from humankind and they are wild creatures that deserve no respect.. In all parts of this text we see the persistence of opposing against Indians ;although, Parkman tried to admire some behaviors in Indians but he himself ruins all of them by the way he describes them.
The second text by Washington Irving is completely different description about the Indians from what Parkman indicated. In Irving's idea the Indians are not as bad as they seem to be and he believes that if we encounter some violence in them it has a logical reason and that is the manner of whites toward them. He preferred to demonstrate his positive perspectives toward the Indians by telling a story that he himself experienced it and this is a suitable medium to compare the whites with the Indians. He states that the Osage Indians are civilized people and thrived in consequence. They are intelligent men who know how to protect themselves against their enemies. As the story is advancing he introduces a young Indian as a model of Indians who is a frank open-air youth. He is considered as a trustworthy man to take a safe trip with; however, the frontiersman insisted on the Indians' dishonesty and claimed that they stole his steed. However, Irving made all his attempt to persuade the readers that Indians are totally different from what the whites think and claim. The Indians are independent people who are free from the chains that bind them like slaves.
"Among the Osage Indians" is another text by Irving that proves the positive characteristics of Indians. In spite of the whites' supposition, he describes the Indians as civilized groups who are talented to make improvising songs. They are social men and they are not taciturn, unbending and emotionless people. On the contrary, they gather in groups and entertain themselves with the most animated and lively conversations. Moreover, they lament at their graves and respect their dead friends and relatives. They possess keen and watchful eyes and they are described as curious observers. All these things about Indians show that they are nice people and losing them brings a lot of regrets to any one even the whites.

A portrait of my grand mother

My grand mother...
I always think I know my grandmother very well because I spent some part of my child hood with her. She is a deep religious lady and her insight is strong. She is slow in operation but decides very reasonably about any case. She never behaves badly any one who wants insult or hurt her; she is as calm as a silent sea but ready to face the obstacles in her way in life. She is firm in decisions and hard in her attempts to omit the difficulties in life. She is a reliable wife for he husband and children. She is always a valuable source of new ideas and solutions but lack of word and speech. She loves nature and respects it a lot that she thinks that nature gives life and motivation to living to any dead creature.
Her character is perfect in its totalities, bad in nothing, strange and different in a few points.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Stephan Crane & O' Henry



STEPHAN CRANE

Biography of Stephen Crane (1871-1900)Stephen Crane was the youngest of fourteen children. His father was a strict Methodist minister, who died in 1880, leaving his devout, strong mother to raise the rest of the family. Crane lasted through preparatory school, but spent less than two years in college, excelling at Syracuse in baseball and partying far more than academics. After leaving school, he went to live in New York, doing freelance writing and working on his first book Maggie, A Girl of the Streets. His times in New York City were split between his apartment in the Bowery slum in Manhattan and well-off family in the nearby town of Port Jervis. Crane published Maggie, a study of an innocent slum girl and her downfall in a world of prostitution and abuse, in 1893 at his own expense. It was especially scandalous for the times, and sold few copies. It did attract the attention of other critics and writers, most notably William Dean Howells, who helped Crane receive backing for his next project, The Red Badge of Courage.Published in 1895, The Red Badge was quite different from Maggie in style and approach, and brought Crane international fame and quite a bit of money. Rather than plod through moral tropes, the book is subtle and imagistic, while still being firmly entrenched in the realism of the late 1890's in America. Crane's rich portrayal of Henry Fleming's growth through the trials and terrors of a Civil War battle betray the fact that he himself had not yet seen any fighting or battles when he wrote the book. Many veterans of the Civil War (only thirty years had gone by since its end) praised the book for capturing the feelings and pictures of actual combat.Bolstered by the success of The Red Badge and his book of poetry The Black Riders, Crane became subsumed with ideas of war. He was hired to go to Cuba as a journalist to report on the rebellion there against the Spanish. On the way to the island, Crane was in a shipwreck, from which he was originally reported dead. He rowed to shore in a dinghy, along with three other men, having to swim to shore and drop his money in the sea to prevent from drowning. This experience directly led to his most famous short story "The Open Boat" (1897).For various reasons, Crane stopped writing novels during this time and moved primarily to short stories?probably because they could sell in magazines better but also because he was constantly moving. When staying in Jacksonville, Florida, he met the owner of a brothel, Cora Taylor. She accompanied him to Greece as he reported on the Greco-Turkish War for New York newspapers; and stayed with him until the end of his life. At this point, rumors abounded about Crane, few of them good. There was talk of drug addiction, rampant promiscuity, and even Satanism, none of them true. Crane was disgusted with them and eventually relocated to England.After reporting on the Spanish-American War and Theodore Roosevelt's famed Rough Riders, Crane returned home to England. He then drove himself deeply into debt by throwing huge, expensive parties, reportedly at Cora Taylor's insistence. While he could now count Joseph Conrad, H. G. Wells, and other authors in his circle, most people sponged off of Crane and his lavishness. He worked on a novel about the Greek War and continued writing short stories and poetry, at this point to pay off his large debts. The stress of this life, compounded by an almost blatant disregard for his own health, led to his contracting tuberculosis. He died while in Baden, Germany, trying to recover from this illness. He was not yet 29 years old.
Posted by Sarah Rahimi at 12:08 AM 0 comments
Monday, April 21, 2008

O.HENRY
O. Henry is one of the most famous American short story writers. O. Henry’s real name was William Sydney Porter and he was born in Greensboro, North Carolina on September 11, 1862. At age of 20 (1882) he moved to Texas, where he had various jobs.He married Athol Estes in 1887; they had a son and a daughter.His wife died from tuberculosis in 1897.In 1894 while working for First National Bank in Austin, Porter was accused of stealing $4000. He went to prison in Columbus, Ohio for 3 years eventually.While in prison Porter first started to write short stories and it’s believed that he has found his writer’s pseudonym there.After Porter was released from the prison in 1901, he changed his name to O. Henry and moved to New York in 1902.From December 1903 to January 1906 o. Henry wrote a story a week for the New York World magazine, and published several short stories in other magazines.O. Henry’s short stories are famous for their surprise endings and humor.O. Henry's wrote such classic short stories as “The Ransom of Red Chief”, “The Gift of the Magi” and “The Furnished Room”.In his last years O. Henry had financial and health problems. An alcoholic, O. Henry died on June 5, 1910 in New York City, virtually broke.

In office18 October 17851 December 1788
Preceded by
John Dickinson
Succeeded by
Thomas Mifflin
23rd Speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly
In office1765 – 1765
Preceded by
Isaac Norris
Succeeded by
Isaac Norris
United States Ambassador to France
In office1778 – 1785
Appointed by
Congress of the Confederation
Preceded by
New office
Succeeded by
Thomas Jefferson
United States Ambassador to Sweden
In office1782 – 1783
Appointed by
Congress of the Confederation
Preceded by
New office
Succeeded by
Jonathan Russell
Born
January 17, 1706(1706-01-17)Boston, Massachusetts
Died
April 17, 1790 (aged 84)Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Nationality
British (at birth)American (at death)
Political party
None
Spouse
Deborah Read
Profession
ScientistWriterPolitician