April 6, 2009
The Jungle
Written by Upton Sinclair
“Relentless, remorseless, it was; all his protests, his screams, were nothing to it—it did its cruel will with him, as if his wishes, his feelings, had simply no existence at all; it cut his throat and watched him gasp out his life."
—Chapter 3, page 37
Fun Facts
- When writing The Jungle, Sinclair had intended to bring attention to the exploitation of workers in the meat packing industry, instead readers fixated on the abhorrent food safety regulations.
- Public outrage inspired by the novel sparked the creation of two acts of legislation which ultimately established the Food and Drug Administration.
- The Jungle was a criticism of laissez-faire economics that Sinclair felt encouraged greed in our society.
April 21, 2009
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Written by Robert Louis Stevenson
"With every day, and from both sides of my intelligence, the moral and the intellectual, I thus drew steadily nearer to the truth, by whose partial discovery I have been doomed to such a dreadful shipwreck: that man is not truly one, but truly two."
—Chapter 10, page 65
Fun Facts
- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was an immediate success when published. Within the first year of publication, it was adapted for the stage in both London and Boston.
- The idea for the novel came from a nightmare that Stevenson had. He was unable to finish the dream because he was awoken by his wife.
- After reading the first version to his wife, she suggested he could make it better so he burned the manuscript and rewrote it.
April 27, 2009
Candide
Written by Voltaire
" ‘Do you believe,’ said Candide, ‘that men have always slaughtered each other as they do today, that they’ve always been liars, cheats, traitors, ingrates and thieves, weak, fickle, cowardly, envious, greedy, drunken, miserly, ambitious, bloodthirsty, slanderous, lecherous, fanatical, hypocritical, and foolish?’
‘Do you believe,’ said Martin, ‘that hawks have always eaten pigeons when they find them’."
—Chapter XXI, page 76
Fun Facts
- Candide is taught more than any other book in French literature.
- When the book was first published, Voltaire did not openly admit to having published it. Instead he signed it “Monsieur le docteur Ralph” or “Doctor Ralph.”
- In the first forty years after publication, there were a least 10 imitations of Candide written by people other than Voltaire.
