Frank Carlson Library

A forerunner of psychological fiction, and considered a landmark work for its innovative use of narrative devices, Tristram Shandy was both celebrated and vilified when first published in 1759. While the narrative's endless digressions drew criticism, the novel's bawdy humor made it a cause for celebration in eighteenth-century London. Originally released in nine separate volumes, it is literature's famed "cock and bull" story, reveling in parody...

Newton Booth Tarkington (1869-1946) was an American dramatist and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist. Among only three other novelists to have won the Pulitzer Prize more than once, Tarkington was one of the greatest authors of the 1910s and 1920s who helped usher in Indiana's Golden Age of literature. First published in 1915, Tarkington's novel "The Turmoil" was the first in what would become known as the "Growth Series"-together with "The Magnificent...

When a bumbling holy man mistakenly baptizes a colony of penguins, God endows the animals with souls and their formerly peaceful community declines into a maelstrom of violence and sin. This witty allegory lampoons French history from ancient to modern times, taking satirical swipes at socialists, royalists, industrialists, militarists, and even the Dreyfus affair, and concluding with a remarkably prescient view of the future. Indeed, more than a...

A financial thriller based on the Panic of 1907 by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Jungle In 1907 the stock market crashed as a result of the manipulations of a group of powerful, wealthy, and unscrupulous men. The repercussions were felt across the nation, taking a devastating toll on thousands of small investors and hardworking Americans. The Moneychangers, written a century before the term "too big to fail" became part of the national...

A witty, entertaining anthology contains more than two hundred wickedly enjoyable little-known verse selections from such masters of satire as Dryden, Swift, Donne, Byron, Pope, Auden, and Cummings.

From the author responsible for the satirical work of genius, A Modest Proposal, Jonathan Swift's A Tale of a Tub is an allegorical work that follows three brothers after the event of their father's death. When their father, who meant to be God, dies, the three brothers, Peter, Martin and Jack, inherit his will and each receive a decorative coat. Their father also leaves them instruction not to alter these coats in any way because doing so would be...

Ivan Alexandrovich Goncharov (1812-1891) was a Russian novelist who achieved literary fame later in life, after a career in the civil-service which spanned more than thirty years. His first novel, "A Common Story", was a definitive success and his notoriety was cemented with the publication of his second novel, "Oblomov", in 1850. Based on a short story written a year prior, "Oblomov" is about a cultured, intelligent, upper middle class man experiencing...

"The Profits of Religion" by Upton Sinclair. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks...

In the classical tale "The Satyricon", Petronius Arbiter makes a strong, yet humorous, statement about the social life of ancient Rome. Rather than telling the story of Encolpius and his companions heroically, which was the typical approach of other writings of classical antiquity, Petronius chose to show the true life and vernacular of the Roman lower and middle class through satire and comedy. Narrator Encolpius, a former gladiator, goes on adventures...

Regarded by Charles Dickens as his best novel upon publication, "Martin Chuzzlewit" relates a tale of familial selfishness and eventual moral redemption. First published serially from 1842 to 1844, it is the story of young Martin Chuzzlewit, who has been raised by his grandfather. He has fallen in love with his grandfather's ward and caretaker, the young orphan Mary Graham. Martin's grandfather does not approve and young Martin alienates himself from...