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Her Infinite Variety
''Her Infinite Variety'' is a novel by Louis Auchincloss first published in 2000 about a career woman of the first half of the 20th century. The title is a quotation from Shakespeare's ''Antony and Cleopatra'': "Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale / Her infinite variety" (Act II, scene 2). Plot summary Born in New York in 1917, attractive Clarabel (Longcope) Hoyt, the heroine of the book, is encouraged by her ambitious mother to marry "a great man," a man able and willing to make a success of his life. She succeeds in persuading her daughter to end her relationship with a young teacher with a promising career ahead of him and marry into one of the pre-eminent, old money families instead. Eventually succumbing to her mother's wishes, Clara, still a virgin, marries Trevor Hoyt, a banker, and in due course their daughter Sandra is born. Clara, however, is not content spending her husband's money and living a life of luxury and ease. When her old school friend Polly suggests that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Hergesheimer
Joseph Hergesheimer (February 15, 1880 – April 25, 1954) was an American writer of the early 20th century known for his naturalistic novels of decadent life amongst the very wealthy. Early life Hergesheimer was born on February 15, 1880 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was educated in a Quaker school, and he graduated from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Career Hergesheimer published his first novel, '' The Lay Anthony'', in 1914. '' Three Black Pennys'', which followed in 1917, chronicled the fictional lives of three generations of Pennsylvania ironmasters and cemented the author's style of dealing with upperclass characters through a floridly descriptive style he referred to as "aestheticism." ''Three Black Pennys'' was also the first original American novel published by the newly formed Alfred A. Knopf publishing house. Hergesheimer also received critical recognition for his novels ''Java Head'' (1919), ''Linda Condon'' (1919), and '' Balisand'' (1924). Hergeshe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Novels By Louis Auchincloss
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself from the la, novella, a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ''novellus'', diminutive of ''novus'', meaning "new". Some novelists, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Ann Radcliffe, John Cowper Powys, preferred the term "romance" to describe their novels. According to Margaret Doody, the novel has "a continuous and comprehensive history of about two thousand years", with its origins in the Ancient Greek and Roman novel, in Chivalric romance, and in the tradition of the Italian renaissance novella.Margaret Anne Doody''The True Story of the Novel'' New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1996, rept. 1997, p. 1. Retrieved 25 April 2014. The ancient romance form was revived by Romanticism, especially the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Love In A Cold Climate
''Love in a Cold Climate'' is a novel by Nancy Mitford, first published in 1949. The title is a phrase from George Orwell's novel ''Keep the Aspidistra Flying'' (1936). ''Love in a Cold Climate'' is a companion volume to ''The Pursuit of Love''. The time frame of ''Love in a Cold Climate'' is the same as ''The Pursuit of Love'', but the focus is on a different set of characters. Fanny remains the fictional narrator. In ''The Pursuit of Love'', Fanny narrates the story of her cousin Linda Radlett. In ''Love in a Cold Climate'', Fanny narrates the story of Polly, to whom Fanny is distantly related through her father's family. Synopsis Lady Leopoldina "Polly" Hampton is the only child of the supremely aristocratic and very rich Earl of Montdore and his wife, Sonia. Lady Montdore is a product of the minor ranks of the aristocracy and her marriage to an earl is regarded as a social coup on her part. She is depicted by Fanny as an avaricious, greedy snob, but not without charm. Her ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Pursuit Of Love
''The Pursuit of Love'' is a novel by Nancy Mitford, first published in 1945. It is the first in a trilogy about an upper-class English family in the interwar period focusing on the romantic life of Linda Radlett, as narrated by her cousin, Fanny Logan. Although a comedy, the story has tragic overtones. The book was an immediate best-seller and sold 200,000 copies within a year of publication. Mitford wrote two sequels to the novel, '' Love in a Cold Climate'' (1949) and '' Don't Tell Alfred'' (1960). Her penultimate novel, '' The Blessing'' (1951), also makes references to ''The Pursuit of Love'' and characters from ''The Blessing'' later appear in ''Don't Tell Alfred''. Plot summary The narrator is Fanny, whose mother (called the "Bolter" for her habit of serial monogamy) and father have left her to be brought up by her aunt Emily and the valetudinarian Davey, whom Emily marries early in the novel. Fanny also spends holidays with her uncle, Matthew Radlett, her aunt, Sadie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nancy Mitford
Nancy Freeman-Mitford (28 November 1904 – 30 June 1973), known as Nancy Mitford, was an English novelist, biographer, and journalist. The eldest of the Mitford family#Mitford sisters, Mitford sisters, she was regarded as one of the "bright young things" on the London social scene in the inter-war period. She wrote several novels about upper-class life in England and France, and is considered a sharp and often provocative wit. She also has a reputation as a writer of popular historical biographies. Mitford enjoyed a privileged childhood as the eldest daughter of the David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale, Hon. David Freeman-Mitford, later 2nd Baron Redesdale. Educated privately, she had no training as a writer before publishing her first novel in 1931. This early effort and the three that followed it created little stir. Her two semi-autobiographical post-war novels, ''The Pursuit of Love'' (1945) and ''Love in a Cold Climate'' (1949), established her reputation. Mitf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Novel Without A Moral
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient Greek letter alpha, from which it derives. The uppercase version consists of the two slanting sides of a triangle, crossed in the middle by a horizontal bar. The lowercase version is often written in one of two forms: the double-storey and single-storey . The latter is commonly used in handwriting and fonts based on it, especially fonts intended to be read by children, and is also found in italic type. In English, '' a'' is the indefinite article, with the alternative form ''an''. Name In English, the name of the letter is the ''long A'' sound, pronounced . Its name in most other languages matches the letter's pronunciation in open syllables. History The earliest known ancestor of A is ''aleph''—the first letter of the Phoenician ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jessie Redmon Fauset
Jessie Redmon Fauset (April 27, 1882 – April 30, 1961) was an African-American editor, poet, essayist, novelist, and educator. Her literary work helped sculpt African-American literature in the 1920s as she focused on portraying a true image of African-American life and history. Her black fictional characters were working professionals which was an inconceivable concept to American society during this time Her story lines related to themes of racial discrimination, "passing", and feminism. From 1919 to 1926, Fauset's position as literary editor of ''The Crisis'', a NAACP magazine, allowed her to contribute to the Harlem Renaissance by promoting literary work that related to the social movements of this era. Through her work as a literary editor and reviewer, she encouraged black writers to represent the African-American community realistically and positively. Before and after working on ''The Crisis,'' she worked for decades as a French teacher in public schools in Washingt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holiday (1938 Film)
''Holiday'' (released in the United Kingdom as ''Free to Live'') is a 1938 American romantic comedy film directed by George Cukor, a remake of the 1930 film of the same name. The film tells of a man who has risen from humble beginnings only to be torn between his free-thinking lifestyle and the tradition of his wealthy fiancée's family. The film, adapted by Donald Ogden Stewart and Sidney Buchman from the 1928 play of the same name by Philip Barry, stars Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant and features Doris Nolan, Lew Ayres, and Edward Everett Horton. Horton reprised his role as Professor Nick Potter from the 1930 version. Although Hepburn had been Hope Williams' understudy in the original production of the play on Broadway, she only played the part for one performance. Screenwriter Donald Ogden Stewart appeared in the original stage version as Nick Potter. Plot Jonathan "Johnny" Case (Cary Grant), a self-made man who has worked all his life, is about to marry Julia Seton ( D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philip Barry
Philip Jerome Quinn Barry (June 18, 1896 – December 3, 1949) was an American dramatist best known for his plays ''Holiday'' (1928) and '' The Philadelphia Story'' (1939), which were both made into films starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. Biography Early life Philip Barry was born on June 18, 1896, in Rochester, New York to James Corbett Barry and Mary Agnes Quinn Barry. James died from appendicitis a year after Philip's birth, and the family's marble-and-tile business faltered from then on. His oldest brother, Edmund, who was 16 at the time, left school to take over the business and became a father figure for Philip. Barry's play ''The Youngest'', written when he was 28, is an autobiographical account of his family history following his father's death. In 1910, at the age of 14, Barry discovered that a New York State interpretation of his father's will entitled him to a share of his father's estate that eventually left him the entire business. Family conflicts ensued; ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alice Adams (novel)
''Alice Adams'' is a 1921 novel by Booth Tarkington that received the 1922 Pulitzer Prize for the Novel. It was adapted as a film in 1923 by Rowland V. Lee and more famously in 1935 by George Stevens. The narrative centers on the character of a young woman (the eponymous Alice Adams) who aspires to climb the social ladder and win the affections of a wealthy young man named Arthur Russell. The story is set in a lower-middle-class household in an unnamed town in the Midwest shortly after World War I. Plot The novel begins with Virgil Adams confined to bed with an unnamed illness. There is tension between Virgil and his wife over how he should go about recovering, and she pressures him not to return to work for J.A. Lamb once he is well. Alice, their daughter, attempts to keep peace in the family, with mixed results, and she walks to her friend Mildred Palmer's house to see what Mildred will wear to a dance that evening. After Alice's return, she spends the day preparing for the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
