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Daniel And The Devil
"Daniel and the Devil" is an 1888 short story by the American journalist and poet Eugene Field. Similar in subject matter and setting to other American "pact with the Devil" or Faust stories, such as "Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Washington Irving's "The Devil and Tom Walker," Field's story varies significantly in allowing the Faust character (Daniel) to escape from the bargain. Summary In the story, Daniel, an unprosperous businessman and father of nine, resolves to sell his soul to the Devil in order to escape his miserable existence. When confronted with Beelzebub, a major demon, Daniel notes that his business experience has taught him only to deal with the owner. The Devil then appears and requires that Daniel sign a contract stipulating that the Devil will exchange twenty-four years of service for Daniel's soul. Contrary to the traditional Faust stories, Daniel insists that the devil sign a bond indicating that should he ever fail to do what Daniel requir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eugene Field
Eugene Field Sr. (September 2, 1850 – November 4, 1895) was an American writer, best known for his children's poetry and humorous essays. He was known as the "poet of childhood". Early life and education Field was born in St. Louis, Missouri at 634 S. Broadway where today his boyhood home is open to the public as The Eugene Field House and St. Louis Toy Museum. After the death of his mother in 1856, he was raised by an aunt, Mary Field French, in Amherst, Massachusetts. Field's father, attorney Roswell Martin Field, was famous for his representation of Dred Scott, the slave who sued for his freedom. Field filed the complaint in the ''Dred Scott v. Sandford'' case (sometimes referred to as "the lawsuit that started the Civil War") on behalf of Scott in the federal court in St. Louis, Missouri, whence it progressed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Field attended Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. His father died when Eugene turned 19, and he subsequently dropped out ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Faust
Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroads, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. The Faust legend has been the basis for many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical works that have reinterpreted it through the ages. "Faust" and the adjective "Faustian" imply sacrificing spiritual values for power, knowledge, or material gain. The Faust of early books—as well as the ballads, dramas, movies, and puppet-plays which grew out of them—is irrevocably damned because he prefers human knowledge over divine knowledge: "he laid the Holy Scriptures behind the door and under the bench, refused to be called doctor of theology, but preferred to be styled doctor of medicine". Plays and comic puppet theatre loosely based on this legend were popular throughout ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Young Goodman Brown
"Young Goodman Brown" is a short story published in 1835 by American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. The story takes place in 17th-century Puritan New England, a common setting for Hawthorne's works, and addresses the Calvinist/Puritan belief that all of humanity exists in a state of depravity, but that God has destined some to unconditional election through unmerited grace. Hawthorne frequently focuses on the tensions within Puritan culture, yet steeps his stories in the Puritan sense of sin. In a symbolic fashion, the story follows Young Goodman Brown's journey into self-scrutiny, which results in his loss of virtue and belief. Plot The story begins at dusk in Salem Village, Massachusetts as young Goodman Brown leaves Faith, his wife of three months, for some unknown errand in the forest. Faith pleads with her husband to stay with her, but he insists that the journey must be completed that night. In the forest he meets an older man, dressed in a similar manner and bearing a physica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that town. Hawthorne entered Bowdoin College in 1821, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in 1824, and graduated in 1825. He published his first work in 1828, the novel '' Fanshawe''; he later tried to suppress it, feeling that it was not equal to the standard of his later work. He published several short stories in periodicals, which he collected in 1837 as ''Twice-Told Tales''. The following year, he became engaged to Sophia Peabody. He worked at the Boston Custom House and joined Brook Farm, a transcendentalist community, before marrying Peabody in 1842. The couple moved to The Old Manse in Concord, Massachusetts, later moving to Salem, the Berkshires, then to The Wayside in Concord. ''The Scarlet Letter'' was published in 1850, followed by a suc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Washington Irving
Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He is best known for his short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and " The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (1820), both of which appear in his collection ''The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.'' His historical works include biographies of Oliver Goldsmith, Muhammad and George Washington, as well as several histories of 15th-century Spain that deal with subjects such as Alhambra, Christopher Columbus and the Moors. Irving served as American ambassador to Spain in the 1840s. Born and raised in Manhattan to a merchant family, Irving made his literary debut in 1802 with a series of observational letters to the ''Morning Chronicle'', written under the pseudonym Jonathan Oldstyle. He temporarily moved to England for the family business in 1815 where he achieved fame with the publication of ''The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Cr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Devil And Tom Walker
"The Devil and Tom Walker" is a short story by Washington Irving that first appeared in his 1824 collection ''Tales of a Traveller'', in "The Money-Diggers" part of volume II. The story is very similar to the German legend of Faust. Stephen Vincent Benét drew much of his inspiration for "The Devil and Daniel Webster" from this tale. Summary The story first recounts the legend of the pirate William Kidd, who is rumored to have buried a large treasure in a forest in colonial Massachusetts. Kidd made a deal with the devil to protect his money. The devil's conditions are unknown. Kidd died never able to reclaim his money, but the devil has protected it ever since. The story continues around 1727. Tom Walker, a greedy, selfish miser of a man, cherishes money along with his shrewish and equally greedy wife. They lived in a tarnished-looking house that had stood alone and had an air of starvation. This is until he takes a walk in the swamp at an abandoned Wampanoag fortress (a relic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beelzebub
Beelzebub ( ; he, ''Baʿal-zəḇūḇ'') or Beelzebul is a name derived from a Philistine god, formerly worshipped in Ekron, and later adopted by some Abrahamic religions as a major demon. The name ''Beelzebub'' is associated with the Canaanite god Baal. In theological sources, predominantly Christian, Beelzebub is another name for Satan. He is known in demonology as one of the seven deadly demons or seven princes of Hell, Beelzebub representing gluttony. The ''Dictionnaire Infernal'' describes Beelzebub as a being capable of flying, known as the "Lord of the Flyers", or the "Lord of the Flies". Hebrew Scriptures The source for the name ''Beelzebub'' is in the Books of Kings (), written ''Ba'al-zəbûb'', referring to a deity worshipped by the Philistines. The title ''Baal'', meaning "Lord" in Ugaritic, was used in conjunction with a descriptive name of a specific god. Opinions differ on what the name means. In one understanding, ''Ba'al-zəbûb'' is translated literall ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Devil And Daniel Webster
"The Devil and Daniel Webster" (1936) is a short story by American writer Stephen Vincent Benét. He tells of a New Hampshire farmer who sells his soul to the devil and is later defended by Daniel Webster, a fictional version of the noted 19th-century American statesman, lawyer and orator. The narrative refers to factual events in the lives of Webster and his family. The story appeared in ''The Saturday Evening Post'' (October 24, 1936) and was published in book form by Farrar & Rinehart the following year. The story won the O. Henry Award. The author also adapted it in 1938 as a folk opera, with music by Douglas Stuart Moore, a fellow Yale University alumnus. Plot summary Farmer Jabez Stone, from the small town of Cross Corners, New Hampshire, is plagued with unending bad luck. He finally says, "it's enough to make a man want to sell his soul to the devil!" The next day he is visited by a stranger, identified as " Mr. Scratch", who offers to give him seven years of prosperi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Vincent Benét
Stephen Vincent Benét (; July 22, 1898 – March 13, 1943) was an American poet, short story writer, and novelist. He is best known for his book-length narrative poem of the American Civil War, ''John Brown's Body'' (1928), for which he received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, and for the short stories "The Devil and Daniel Webster" (1936) and " By the Waters of Babylon" (1937). In 2009, Library of America selected his story "The King of the Cats" (1929) for inclusion in its two-century retrospective of ''American Fantastic Tales'', edited by Peter Straub. Life and career Early life Benét was born on July 22, 1898 in Fountain Hill, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania to James Walker Benét, a colonel in the United States Army. His grandfather and namesake led the Army Ordnance Corps from 1874 to 1891 as a brigadier general and served in the Civil War. His paternal uncle Laurence Vincent Benét was an ensign in the United States Navy during the Spani ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Short Stories
American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, people who self-identify their ancestry as "American" ** American English, the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States ** Native Americans in the United States, indigenous peoples of the United States * American, something of, from, or related to the Americas, also known as "America" ** Indigenous peoples of the Americas * American (word), for analysis and history of the meanings in various contexts Organizations * American Airlines, U.S.-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas * American Athletic Conference, an American college athletic conference * American Recordings (record label), a record label previously known as Def American * American University, in Washington, D.C. Sports teams Soccer * B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1888 Short Stories
In Germany, 1888 is known as the Year of the Three Emperors. Currently, it is the year that, when written in Roman numerals, has the most digits (13). The next year that also has 13 digits is the year 2388. The record will be surpassed as late as 2888, which has 14 digits. Events January–March * January 3 – The 91-centimeter telescope at Lick Observatory in California is first used. * January 12 – The Schoolhouse Blizzard hits Dakota Territory, the states of Montana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Texas, leaving 235 dead, many of them children on their way home from school. * January 13 – The National Geographic Society is founded in Washington, D.C. * January 21 – The Amateur Athletic Union is founded by William Buckingham Curtis in the United States. * January 26 – The Lawn Tennis Association is founded in England. * February 6 – Gillis Bildt becomes Prime Minister of Sweden (1888–1889). * February 27 – In West Orange ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Works Based On The Faust Legend
Faust has inspired artistic and cultural works for over four centuries. The following lists cover various media to include items of historic interest, enduring works of high art, and recent representations in popular culture. The entries represent works that a reader has a reasonable chance of encountering rather than a complete catalog. Ballets * ''Faust'' by Jules Perrot (1848) * Faust ballets Classical music * Ludwig van Beethoven's Opus 75 no 3 (1809) Song – Aus Goethes Faust: "Es war einmal ein König" * Franz Schubert's ''Gretchen am Spinnrade'' (1814) * Giuseppe Verdi's '' Perduta ho la pace '' (1838) * Richard Wagner's ''Faust Overture'' (1840) * Felix Mendelssohn's ''Die erste Walpurgisnacht'' (1843) * Hector Berlioz's ''The Damnation of Faust'' (1845–46) (sometimes performed in staged opera versions) * Charles-Valentin Alkan's Grande sonate 'Les quatre âges', Op. 33: 2nd Movement "Quasi-Faust" (1847) * Robert Schumann's '' Scenes from Goethe's Faust'' (completed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
