Forgotten Book: The Spider by Hanns Heinz Ewers

Hanns Heinz Ewers (1871-1943 ) was a German actor, poet, philosopher, and writer of short stories and novels. His 1915 story, The Spider, begins explosively:When the student of medicine, Richard Bracquemont, decided to move into room #7 of the small Hotel Stevens, Rue Alfred Stevens (Paris 6), three persons had already hanged themselves from the …

As the War-Clouds Gather: E.P. Oppenheim’s The Double Traitor

The Right Honourable John William Hebblethwaite took the hat from his footman, stepped into his car, and was driven rapidly away. He leaned back among the cushions, more thoughtful than usual. There was a yellow moon in the sky, pale as yet. The streets were a tangled vortex of motorcars and taxies, all filled with …

J is for J. Alfred Prufrock

In 1915, appeared a poem that was to change the course of literature and leave its imprint forever.T.S. Eliot's J. Alfred Prufrock is a hero in a very unheroic sense. He is unsure, timid, and insecure:...an attendant lord, one that will doTo swell a progress, start a scene or two, Advise the prince; no doubt, an …