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A Modern MephistophelesLouisa May AlcottLOUISA MAY ALCOTT WAS A 19TH CENTURY AMERICAN NOVELIST. HER NOVELS LITTLE WOMEN AND JO'S BOYS ARE HER BEST-KNOWN WORKS. ALCOTT BECAME A STRONG FEMINIST AND ABOLITIONIST. IN 1862-63 SHE WORKED AS A NURSE IN THE UNION HOSPITAL IN GEORGETOWN D C. A MODERN MEPHISTOPHELES IS A STORY FULL OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TENSION AND DRAMA. IT EXPLORES A POOR FAILING WRITER'S PRICE FOR GIVING HIS DEVOTION TO ANOTHER. THE NOVEL TOUCHES ON THE SUBJECTS OF SEXUALITY AND DRUG ABUSE. ALCOTT GIVES HER READER A STUDY IN HUMAN EVIL AND THE HORRIBLE CONSEQUENCES."A MODERN…mehr

Produktbeschreibung
A Modern MephistophelesLouisa May AlcottLOUISA MAY ALCOTT WAS A 19TH CENTURY AMERICAN NOVELIST. HER NOVELS LITTLE WOMEN AND JO'S BOYS ARE HER BEST-KNOWN WORKS. ALCOTT BECAME A STRONG FEMINIST AND ABOLITIONIST. IN 1862-63 SHE WORKED AS A NURSE IN THE UNION HOSPITAL IN GEORGETOWN D C. A MODERN MEPHISTOPHELES IS A STORY FULL OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TENSION AND DRAMA. IT EXPLORES A POOR FAILING WRITER'S PRICE FOR GIVING HIS DEVOTION TO ANOTHER. THE NOVEL TOUCHES ON THE SUBJECTS OF SEXUALITY AND DRUG ABUSE. ALCOTT GIVES HER READER A STUDY IN HUMAN EVIL AND THE HORRIBLE CONSEQUENCES."A MODERN MEPHISTOPHELES" WAS WRITTEN AMONG THE EARLIER VOLUMES OF THE NO NAME SERIES, WHEN THE CHIEF IDEA OF THE AUTHORS WAS TO PUZZLE THEIR READERS BY DISGUISING THEIR STYLE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, THAT THEY MIGHT ENJOY THE GUESSING AND CRITICISM AS EACH NOVEL APPEARED. THIS BOOK WAS VERY SUCCESSFUL IN PRESERVING ITS INCOGNITO AND MANY PERSONS STILL INSIST THAT IT COULD NOT HAVE BEEN WRITTEN BY THE AUTHOR OF "LITTLE WOMEN." AS I MUCH ENJOYED TRYING TO EMBODY A SHADOW OF MY FAVORITE POEM IN A STORY, AS WELL AS THE AMUSEMENT IT HAS AFFORDED THOSE IN THE SECRET FOR SOME YEARS, IT IS CONSIDERED WELL TO ADD THIS VOLUME TO THE FEW ROMANCES WHICH ARE OFFERED, NOT AS FINISHED WORK BY ANY MEANS, BUT MERELY ATTEMPTS AT SOMETHING GRAVER THAN MAGAZINE STORIES OR JUVENILE LITERATURE.WITHOUT, A MIDWINTER TWILIGHT, WHERE WANDERING SNOWFLAKES EDDIED IN THE BITTER WIND BETWEEN A LEADEN SKY AND FROST-BOUND EARTH. WITHIN, A GARRET GLOOMY, BARE, AND COLD AS THE BLEAK NIGHT COMING DOWN. A HAGGARD YOUTH KNELT BEFORE A LITTLE FURNACE, KINDLING A FIRE, WITH AN EXPRESSION OF QUIET DESPERATION ON HIS FACE, WHICH MADE THE SIMPLE OPERATION STRANGE AND SOLEMN. A PILE OF MANUSCRIPT LAY BESIDE HIM, AND IN THE HOLLOW EYES THAT WATCHED THE WHITE LEAVES BURN WAS A TRAGIC SHADOW, TERRIBLE TO SEE,-FOR HE WAS OFFERING THE FIRST-BORN OF HEART AND BRAIN AS SACRIFICE TO A HARD FATE. SLOWLY THE CHARCOAL CAUGHT AND KINDLED, WHILE A LIGHT SMOKE FILLED THE ROOM. SLOWLY THE YOUTH STAGGERED UP, AND, GATHERING THE TORN SHEETS, THRUST THEM INTO HIS BOSOM, MUTTERING BITTERLY, "OF ALL MY HOPES AND DREAMS, MY WEARY WORK AND PATIENT WAITING, NOTHING IS LEFT BUT THIS. POOR LITTLE BOOK, WE'LL GO TOGETHER, AND LEAVE NO TRACE BEHIND." THROWING HIMSELF INTO A CHAIR, HE LAID HIS HEAD DOWN UPON THE TABLE, WHERE NO FOOD HAD BEEN FOR DAYS, AND, CLOSING HIS EYES, WAITED IN STERN SILENCE FOR DEATH TO COME AND TAKE HIM.
Autorenporträt
A Whisper in the Darkby Louisa May Alcott As we rolled along, I scanned my companion covertly, and saw much to interest a girl of seventeen. My uncle was a handsome man, with all the polish of foreign life fresh upon him yet it was neither comeliness nor graceful ease which most attracted me for even my inexperienced eye caught glimpses of something stern and sombre below these external charms, and my long scrutiny showed me the keenest eye, the hardest mouth, the subtlest smile I ever saw,-a face which in repose wore the look which comes to those who have led lives of pleasure and learned their emptiness. He seemed intent on some thought that absorbed him, and for a time rendered him forgetful of my presence, as he sat with folded arms, fixed eyes, and restless lips. While I looked, my own mind was full of deeper thought than it had ever been before for I was recalling, word for word, a paragraph in that half-read letter:"At eighteen Sybil is to marry her cousin, the compact having been made between my brother and myself in their childhood. My son is with me now, and I wish them to be together during the next few months, therefore my niece must leave you sooner than I at first intended. Oblige me by preparing her for an immediate and final separation, but leave all disclosures to me, as I prefer the girl to remain ignorant of the matter for the present."That displeased me. Why was I to remain ignorant of so important an affair? Then I smiled to myself, remembering that I did know, thanks to the wilful curiosity that prompted me to steal a peep into the letter that Madame Bernard had pored over with such an anxious face. I saw only a single paragraph, for my own name arrested my eye and, though wild to read all, I had scarcely time to whisk the paper back into the reticule the forgetful old soul had left hanging on the arm of her chair. It was enough, however, to set my girlish brain in a ferment, and keep me gazing wistfully at my uncle, conscious that my future now lay in his hands for I was an orphan and he my guardian, though I had seen him but seldom since I was confided to madame a six years' child. Presently my uncle became cognizant of my steady stare, and returned it with one as steady for a moment, then said, in a low, smooth tone, that ill accorded with the satirical smile that touched his lips,"I am a dull companion for my little niece. How shall I provide her with pleasanter amusement than counting my wrinkles or guessing my thoughts?"