essential

The definite collection of Fitzgerald’s short stories; edited and with a preface by the foremost Fitzgerald scholar Matthew J. Bruccoli. The forty-three masterpieces range from early stories that capture the fashion of the times to later ones written after the author’s fabled crack-up, which are sober reflections on his own youthful excesses. This essential collection is ample testament to that statement,...

Inspired by Dostoevsky’s own gambling addiction and written under pressure in order to pay off his creditors and retain his rights to his literary legacy, „The Gambler” is set in the casino of the fictional German spa town of Roulettenburg and follows the misfortunes of the young tutor Alexei Ivanovich working in the household of an imperious Russian general. He begins gambling to win enough money...

Originally published in 1913, it was one of the earliest works of Western fiction by Charles Alden Seltzer and played a significant role in popularizing that genre. A story of the Old West in which an American girl from the East finds herself confronted with a strange type of man dwelling in the shadow of an ancient grudge. Dakota, the man, first convinces her that he is a brute beyond redemption and...

In „Forlorn River”, young Ben Ide is cast out by his rich dad, branded a wild horse hunter and possible rustler. Ide befriends a wounded man, whom he nicknames „Nevada.” Ide does the same for „Modoc,” an Indian he pulls out of a saloon. All three men form bonds of loyalty in their isolated state as they hunt wild horses in the California wilderness. Then the love of Ben’s youth returns after being...