"Ulysses, one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century, has had a profound influence on modern fiction. In a series of episodes covering the course of a single day, 16 June 1904, the novel traces the movements of Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus through the streets of Dublin. Each episode has its own literary style, and the epic journey of Odysseus is only one of many correspondencies that add layers of meaning to the text. Today critical...

'I hate to be thought men's property in that way'. Independent and spirited Bathsheba Everdene has come to Weatherbury to take up her position as a farmer on the largest estate in the area. Her confident presence draws three very different suitors: the gentleman-farmer Boldwood, the soldier-seducer Sergeant Troy and the devoted shepherd Gabriel Oak. Each, in contrasting ways, unsettles her decisions and complicates her life, and when tragedy ensues,...

This is a true story about Clarence Earl Gideon, a semi-literate drifter, who is arrested for breaking into a pool room and for petty theft. When he asks the court to appoint a lawyer for his defense because he cannot afford one, his request is denied. Acting as his own lawyer, Gideon is convicted and sent to jail. While in prison, he begins a hand-written campaign directed to the U.S. Supreme Court, contending that every defendant is entitled to...

Essays concerned with literature and folklore, Negro musical expression and the complex relationship between the Negro American and North American culture as a whole.