Mark Twain on First Getting Published (1906) My experiences as an author began early in 1867. I came to New York from San Francisco in the first month of that year and presently Charles H. Webb, whom I had known in San Francisco as a reporter on The Bulletin, and afterward editor of The Californian, […]
Historic Articles by Authors
Introduction from Short Story Writing
The following is taken from the book Short Story Writing: A Practical Treatise on the Art of the Story Story by Charles Raymond Barrett, Ph. B. (1898) Some of the advice still works, but it is a look at how different writing was in the late 1800s. Some say that the Short Story is the […]
THE STORY-TELLER AND HIS ART by Sir Richard Steele
THE STORY-TELLER AND HIS ART by Sir Richard Steele I have often thought that a story-teller is born, as well as a poet. It is, I think, certain, that some men have such a peculiar cast of mind, that they see things in another light than men of grave dispositions. Men of a lively imagination […]
Robert Louis Stevenson on Walt Whitman’s Style
A note from the editor Note from editor: I am going through and updating some of these classic articles/essays on writing. Some of these, are just so amazing. They are pieces of literary history. This particular piece is Robert Louis Stevenson’s review of Walt Whitman’s writing style. It’s a unique look from one famous mind […]
Of Truth by Francis Bacon
What is truth? said jesting Pilate, and would not stay for an answer. Certainly there be, that delight in giddiness, and count it a bondage to fix a belief; affecting free-will in thinking, as well as in acting. And though the sects of philosophers of that kind be gone, yet there remain certain discoursing wits, […]
Central Park Walks and Talks by Walt Whitman
I visit Central Park now almost every day, sitting, or slowly rambling, or riding around. The whole place presents its very best appearance this current month
Walt Whitman on Thanksgiving
A large family supper party, a night or two ago, with voices and laughter of the young, mellow faces of the old, and a by-and-by pause in the general joviality.
How to Become a Werewolf by Elliott O’Donnell
How to Become a Werewolf AS I have already stated, in some people lycanthropy is hereditary; and when it is not hereditary it may be acquired through the performance of certain of the rites ordained by Black Magic. For the present I can only deal with the more general features of these rites (which vary […]
I Love You, I Love You, I love You
This is a Love Letter to Elibezabeth Barret from Robert Browning that was sent January 10 1845. They would be married in 1846. It is interesting to see how “forward” Robert is being. He is very much pushing for his soon to be bride to take him seriously. She did not believe he could love […]
Mark Twain is a Slob by Willa Cather
If there is anything which should make an American sick and disgusted at the literary taste of his country, and almost swerve his allegiance to his flag it is that controversy between Mark Twain
Shakespeare Sucks! by Leo Tolstoy
I remember the astonishment I felt when I first read Shakespeare. I expected to receive a powerful esthetic pleasure, but having
The Art of Fiction by Henry James
The Art of Fiction by Henry James: I should not have affixed so comprehensive a title to these few remarks, necessarily wanting in any completeness, upon a subject the full consideration of which would carry us far, did I not seem to discover a pretext
When I Met Oscar Oscar Wilde by W. B. Yeats
This is Yeats meeting Wilde is probably one of the biggest literary meetings in history, but we forget. Writers today don’t know what it means to read the greats sometimes.
MY PASSION FOR FERRIES by Walt Whitman
This is a wonderfully short piece written by Walt Whitman. Honestly the more you know about Whitman the more interesting this subject becomes. The essay was written in 1892. Living in Brooklyn or New York city from this time forward, my life, then, and still more the following years, was curiously identified with Fulton ferry, […]
Twain’s Letter About Edgar Allan Poe
To W. D. Howells, in New York: STORMFIELD, REDDING, CONN., Jan. 18, ’09. Dear Howells, I have to write a line, lazy as I am, to say how your Poe article delighted me; and to say that I am in agreement with substantially all you say about his literature. To me his prose is unreadable—like […]