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Summary of Helen Keller’s Three Days to See
In the article, Three Days to See, Helen Keller talks about herself and about what all she would like to do if she was fortunate enough to get her sense of sight and be able to see the world even if it may be just for three days. Summary Helen Keller begins by saying that…
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Summary of John Calvin’s Predestination and Free Will
You would probably be familiar with the Adam-Eve episode in the book of Genesis in the Bible, where Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, and were banished from the Garden of Eden to a life on earth for disobeying God and committing a sin. This is known as the Original Sin. It is also…
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Of a Monstrous Child – Summary
Of a Monstrous Child is an essay by Michel de Montaigne. He adopts an exploratory, innovative style; including personal anecdotes, experiences, thoughts, and musings. In the true spirit of the Renaissance, his arguments are supported with quotations from ancient Greek, Latin, and Italian texts. Summary Montaigne recounts a recent encounter of his; where he saw…
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On the Dignity of Man – Summary
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola’s ‘Oration on the Dignity of Man‘ from where ‘On the Dignity of Man’ is drawn, suggests that man is free to shape himself using his free will, magic and intellect; an idea that went against the orthodox views of the dominant Roman Catholic Church. The dignity of man was a popular…
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When We Dead Awaken: Writing as Re-Vision – Summary
When We Dead Awaken: Writing as Re-Vision is an essay by American poet and essay writer Adrienne Rich (1929-2012). Summary Adrienne Rich in her remarkable essay begins by pointing out to Ibsen’s play, which is also where the title of the essay is taken from ‘When We Dead Awaken’. This play highlights the ‘use’ of…
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Summary of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Self Reliance
Self-Reliance is taken from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s lectures and was published in 1841 in the collection titled Essays: First Series. It has come to be one of the most widely read essays by Emerson and is behind the foundational ideas that construct transcendentalism and individualism (American). Summary The essay opens with a Latin epigraph Ne…
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On Teaching Science Fiction Critically – Summary
On Teaching Science Fiction Critically by Darko Suvin addresses some fundamental problems pertinent to teaching SF, and are intended to open discussion of those problems. Summary The first section of the essay “On Teaching Science Fiction Critically” is named as “A Right to Daydream: A Duty to Daydream Critically” which suggest that SF is basically a…
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Children’s Literature: Theory and Practice – Summary
Children Literature: Theory and Practice by Felicity Hughes deals with Children’s Literature as a genre within the realm of Popular fiction paper and is a must reading for getting a great understanding of the Children’s Literature. It challenges the critics by pointing out that children’s literature which is relegated to the realm of popular fiction,…
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The Typology of Detective Fiction – Summary
In The Typology of Detective Fiction, Tzvetan Todorov deals with the way the genre of detective fiction works within the parameters of certain rules. Knowing a genre is often one of the best means to understand a piece of work, but often great works of literature surpasses the genre and achieves greater heights. This essay…
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Popular Fiction Ideology or Utopia? – Summary
Popular Fiction Ideology or Utopia? by Christopher Pawling deals with divergent issues of popular fiction but the primary objective of the essay is to establish the premise of Popular fiction as a serious branch of study and not just a “significant other” on which the identity of English literature as an intellectual discipline is dependent.…