Charles Neider

First published in 1949, Kafka: His Mind and Art begins with an extended analysis of the Kafka literature, with emphasis on its shortcomings and their effect on Kafka’s vogue. Chapter two presents in broad terms a new aspect of Kafka which after the biographical chapter, chapter three, is studied in detail for the next two chapters. Up to this point the treatment does not presuppose a special key, but in chapters six and seven the secret key is discussed. To avoid confusion and unnecessary complications, the discussion of the key and its implications is delayed until more traditional ground has been covered. The author argues that it is appropriate to indicate only that the expressionist movement was not solely religious, that it arose from a dissatisfaction with a stagnant, spiritless society as well as with current modes in art and literature, and that Kafka avoided identifying himself- at least in his work- with any of the three or four factions of the movement. This is an important historical document for students of literature.

The 1950s classic that rewrote the myth of the American West and inspired its subsequent chroniclers from Sam Peckinpah to Marlon Brando to Cormac McCarthy. Hendry Jones isn’t quite Billy the Kid, but he’s “the Kid” all the same, and like Billy’s his story doesn’t take long to tell. He’ll do a fair amount of killing, be done in by an old friend, then get turned into a myth before his body is cold. Years later, one of the Kid’s last living partners in crime, “Doc” Baker—old and less than sober—tries to set the record straight: who killed who and why, and how none of that old craziness is worth swooning over or rehashing. Except that Doc is a bit of a poet despite himself, and in drawing together what he knows and remembers about the Kid’s last days, he winds up saying just about everything that needs to be said about the American West, about kids playing with guns, about boys playing at being men out on the frontier, where they thought no one was watching. As Will Oldham—whose moniker as a musician, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, was partly inspired by Billy the Kid—notes in his introduction, Hendry Jones served as fodder for a field of artists grappling with masculinity and violence in the West: Marlon Brando’s One-Eyed Jacks, Sam Peckinpah’s Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, and Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian are all impossible to imagine without Neider’s Kid having first blazed the trail. A concise and brutal modern masterpiece, The Authentic Death of Hendry Jones is one of the few Western novels worthy of the name.

First published in 1949, Kafka: His Mind and Art begins with an extended analysis of the Kafka literature, with emphasis on its shortcomings and their effect on Kafka’s vogue. Chapter two presents in broad terms a new aspect of Kafka which after the biographical chapter, chapter three, is studied in detail for the next two chapters. Up to this point the treatment does not presuppose a special key, but in chapters six and seven the secret key is discussed. To avoid confusion and unnecessary complications, the discussion of the key and its implications is delayed until more traditional ground has been covered. The author argues that it is appropriate to indicate only that the expressionist movement was not solely religious, that it arose from a dissatisfaction with a stagnant, spiritless society as well as with current modes in art and literature, and that Kafka avoided identifying himself- at least in his work- with any of the three or four factions of the movement. This is an important historical document for students of literature.

Nowadays, I understand, the tourists come for miles to see Hendry Jones' grave out on the Punta del Diablo and to debate whether his bones are there or not... A stark and violent depiction of one of America's most alluring folk heroes, the mythical doomed gunslinger. Set on the majestic coast of Southern California, Doc Baker narrates his tale of the Kid's capture, trial, escape and eventual murder. Written in spare and subtle prose, this is one of the great literary treatments of America's obsession with the rule of the gun.

Writer and Antarctic explorer Neider tells of his third trip to the frozen continent, describing the international stations there and the goals they are working toward. Neider also tours the Antarctic landscape, observing the geography and wildlife and evoking it in detail. Devoting scrutiny to the international treaties that protect the continent politically and environmentally, Neider reveals how important those treaties are. Also included in this work are interviews with Antarctic pioneers Sir Charles Wright, Sir Vivian Fuchs, and Laurence Gould.

Mark Twain is best known as one of this country's finest humourists and novelists. As this collection confirms, he was one of our finest essayists as well. Gathered here in a single volume, these pieces reveal the complete range of this esteemed American writer and contain some of his best, funniest, and most caustic work. "English as She Is Taught," "What Is Man?," and "Letters to Satan" are among the seventy-seven essays, each featuring Twain's witty, vital, colourful style,and reminding us why, nearly one hundred years after his death, he continues to be one of the most widely read and beloved of all American authors.

Scottish novelist, poet, and essayist Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) was a writer of power and originality, who penned such classics as Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and The Weir of Hermiston . The editor has collected in convenient form Stevenson's short fiction, including the complete New Arabian Nights and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde , as well as ghost stories, medieval romances, farces, horror stories, and the South Sea Tales. This volume amply illustrates Stephenson's wide range and enduring appeal.

Washington Irving (1783-1859) was the first American literary artist to earn his living solely through his writings and the first to enjoy international acclaim. In addition to his long public service as a diplomat, Irving was amazingly prolific: His collected works fill forty volumes that encompass essays, history, travel writings, and multi-volume biographies of Columbus and Washington. But it is Irving's mastery of suspense, characterization, tempo, and irony that transforms his fiction into virtuoso performances, earning him his reputation as the father of the American short story. Charles Neider has gathered all sixty-one of Irving's tales, originally scattered throughout his many collections of nonfiction essays and sketches, into one magnificent volume. Together, they reveal his wide range: besides the expected classics like "Rip Van Winkle," "The Spectre Bridegroom," "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," and "The Devil and Tom Walker," his fiction embraces realistic tales, ghost stories, parodies, legends, fables, and satires. For those familiar only with secondhand retellings of Irving's most famous tales, this collection offers the opportunity to step inside Washington Irving's imagination and partake of its innumerable and timeless pleasures.