''A House-Boat on the Styx'' is a fantasy novel written by

John Kendrick Bangs John Kendrick Bangs (May 27, 1862 – January 21, 1922) was an American author, humorist, editor and satirist. Biography He was born in Yonkers, New York. His father Francis N. Bangs was a lawyer in New York City, as was his brother, Francis S ...

in 1895. The original full title was ''A House-Boat on the Styx: Being Some Account of the Divers Doings of the Associated Shades''. The novel was first published by Harper Brothers in 1896 with illustrations by

Peter Newell Peter Sheaf Hersey Newell (March 5, 1862 – January 15, 1924) was an American artist and writer. He created picture books and illustrated new editions of many children's books. A native of McDonough County, Illinois, Newell built a reputati ...

(24 plates).Catalog record (New York: Harper, 1896)
HathiTrust Digital Library. Retrieved 2016-08-04.
Contents and Illustrations, pp. v-viii, list 12 chapters and 24 plates. The illustrations are not credited but they are clearly signed by Peter Newell, the credited illustrator of the sequels.

Plot summary

The premise of the book is that everyone who has ever died (up to the time in which the book is set, which seems to be about the time of its publication) has gone to Styx, the river that circles the underworld. The book begins with Charon, ferryman of the Styx being startled—and annoyed—by the arrival of a houseboat on the Styx. At first afraid that the boat will put him out of business, he later finds out that he is actually to be appointed the boat's

janitor A janitor (American English, Scottish English), also known as a custodian, porter, cleanser, cleaner or caretaker, is a person who cleans and maintains buildings. In some cases, they will also carry out maintenance and security duties. A simil ...

. What follows are eleven more stories (for a total of twelve) which are set on the house boat. There is no central theme, and the purpose of the book appears to be as a literary

thought experiment A thought experiment is a hypothetical situation in which a hypothesis, theory, or principle is laid out for the purpose of thinking through its consequences. History The ancient Greek ''deiknymi'' (), or thought experiment, "was the most anc ...

to see what would happen if various famous dead people were put in the same room with each other. Each chapter is a short story featuring various souls from history and mythology. In the twelfth chapter the house boat disappears, leading into the

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

, '' The Pursuit of the House-Boat''.

Notes

''A House-Boat on the Styx'' appears to have no original fictional characters in it. All are borrowed—with varying degrees of licence—from either history or mythology. Throughout the book, there is a running joke that Shakespeare did not actually write any of his own plays, that they were actually ghostwritten by

Sir Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both n ...

, Sir Walter Raleigh, and other contemporaries. Will always tries to change the subject quickly when authorship comes into conversation. The book was on the ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' list of 10 best-selling novels in the US, 1896.

References

External links

*Read or download the text of the book at http://manybooks.net/titles/bangsjohetext01hstyx10.html * {{DEFAULTSORT:House-Boat On The Styx 1895 short story collections American fantasy novels Bangsian fantasy Absurdist fiction 1895 fantasy novels Harper & Brothers books 1895 American novels Thought experiments Novels about the afterlife