The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Writings (Penguin Classics)
Bret Harte, Gary Scharnhorst
Language: English
Pages: 336
ISBN: 014043917X
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Bret Harte was at the forefront of western American literature, paving the way for other writers, including Mark Twain. For the first time in one volume, The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Writings brings together not only Harte's best-known pieces including "The Luck of Roaring Camp" and "The Outcasts of Poker Flat," but also the original transcription of the famous 1882 essay "The Argonauts of '49" as well as a selection of his poetry, lesser-known essays, and three of his Condensed Novels -parodies of James Fenimore Cooper, Charles Dickens, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Purissima. Yet I think the ferocious directness of these titles was preferable to the pinchbeck elegance of “Copperopolis,” “Argentinia,” the polyglot monstrosities of “Oroville,” of “Placerville,” or the remarkable sentiment of “Romeosburgh” and “Julietstown.” Sometimes the national tendency to abbreviation was singularly shown. “James-town,” near Sonora, was always known as “Jimtown,”27 and “Mo quelumne Hill,” after first suffering phonetic torture by being spelt with a “k,” was finally drawn
cañada or bosque cañada: A narrow, wooded canyon. 14 Angelus: Prayer bell. 15 hidalgo: Nobleman. 16 “the heathen”: This quotation attributed to St. Ignatius is so “discreet” Harte apparently invented it. 17 the likeness of a comely damsel: According to St. Athanasius’ life of St. Anthony the Abbot (250-355), Satan once masqueraded as a woman to tempt the founder of monasticism. 18 paternoster: The Lord’s Prayer. 19 cross of Santiago: A red cross in the form of a sword, an emblem on the coat
trail, dusty and tired and hungry and dead broke and looked down into my brother’s pan which contained a good pile of free gold. Well, Jim took him in and kept him for four days” (“Gillis on Bret Harte,” San Francisco Town Talk, 8 January 1915). “Bohemian Days in San Francisco” 1 “ponderous editorial”: After an earthquake rocked San Francisco on October 21, 1868, the local daily papers minimized the damage lest the news offend business leaders. Harte ridiculed such timidity in the next issue of
Milt, ‘Milt,’ sez I, ‘pay as you go, for you are a borned poet. Hevin no call to write, but doin’ it free and spontaneous like, in course you pays. Thet’s why Mr. Editor never printed your poetry.’ ” “What name shall I put to it?” asked the editor. “Milton.” It was the first word that the born poet had spoken during the interview, and his voice was so very sweet and musical that the editor looked at him curiously, and wondered if he had a sister. “Milton; is that all?” “Thet’s his furst
stood there a moment looking at the company, his bare feet peeping from the blanket, and nodded. “Hello, Johnny! You ain’t goin’ to turn in agin, are ye?” said Dick. “Yes, I are,” responded Johnny, decidedly. “Why, wot’s up, old fellow?” “I’m sick.” “How sick?” “I’ve got a fevier. And childblains.4 And roomatiz,” returned Johnny, and vanished within. After a moment’s pause, he added in the dark, apparently from under the bedclothes,—“And biles!” There was an embarrasing silence. The men