Springtime À La Carte by O. Henry — Review

There is a legend or anecdote related to this story. One day an American writer, Irwin Cobb, was sitting with O. Henry in a New York cafe and he asked O. Henry where he found the plots for his works. "Everywhere." answered O. Henry. "For example, here's a story for you."And, picking up the menu, improvising, he told Cobb the future story, "Springtime À La Carte."

The story starts with an unusual introduction. “It was a day in March. Never, never begin a story this way when you write one.” After that, the story turns to the bill of fare and it has a happy-ending as a classical love story.



This is the link to the text of the story:
https://americanliterature.com/author/o-henry/short-story/springtime-a-la-carte

The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe — Review

The story “The Fall of the House of Usher” was written by Edgar Allan Poe. It conveys to readers the atmosphere of events, creates a depressing feeling and maintains it throughout the entire work. The narration fills the story with mysticism and a sense of hopelessness.

The story includes rather complex verbal phrases, thanks to which this feeling of being in this gloomy place is created. Even the air in the room feels heavy while reading.

 

Here is the link to the text of the story: 

https://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/the_fall_of_the_house_of_usher.pdf

The Secret Life of by James Thurber —- Review

The short story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” was written in 1939 by American writer James Thurber. It became his most well-known story. 

A man named Walter Mitty was imagining himself as a hero of his stories, where he played the main role: a pilot, a surgeon, and other characters.

The story became so famous that a person who constantly imagines himself as a fantastic  hero can be named a Walter Mitty

Here is the link to the text of the story:

http://101books.ru/pdf/The_Secret_Life_of_Walter_Mitty-James_Thurber.pdf

The Vessel of Wrath by William Somerset Maugham -- Review

The short story "The Vessel of Wrath" by William Somerset Maugham starts with a description of the advantage of documentary geographic books which give a lot of information about described places. The life of the main characters of the story, Dutch citizens, in the Malaysian islands was also described by the author with many details such as documentary narration.

Readers can find in the story an intriguing plot and an unexpected ending. 

This is the link to the text of the story:

https://bookfrom.net/w-somerset-maugham/36269-collected_short_stories_volume_2.html

The Two Drovers by Walter Scott — Review

Walter Scott dedicated to the epoch of The Middle Ages most of his masterpieces. Each of his works is based on a certain concept of the historical process at a definite time.

 

The story “The Two Drovers” starts with an introduction, “It had been a brisk market; several dealers had attended from the northern and midland counties in England, and English money had flown so merrily about as to gladden the hearts of the Highland farmers.” The description gives an image of the everyday life of people including economic and cultural processes.

 

The narration tells about the friendship of two main characters; a Scotsman and an Englishman. The plot of the story is partly magical and at the same time very realistic.

 

This is the link to the text of the story:

https://edisciplinas.usp.br/pluginfile.php/87335/mod_resource/content/3/The%20Two%20Drovers.pdf