A New Kind of Literary Pulse

The American poet and short story writer, Bret Harte, is best known for his short fictions featuring figures of the California Gold Rush such as miners, misfits, gamblers, … As a writter, he helped create the local-colour school in the American fiction. He was also praised by Andrew Carnegie in his book Round the World as "America […] most distinctively national poet."

Charles Dickens, regarded nowadays as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era, was an English writer and social critic. During his lifetime, he fought for children’s rights, education and other social reforms in England. He is mainly famous for his style, which is based on humour, satire, and on a precise observation of characters and society. He is also known for his massive production ... [+]

Charlotte Perkins Gilman was an influential American feminist, sociologist, novelist, short story writer, poet and lecturer for social reform. That utopian feminist acted as a leading theorist of women’s movement in the United States. Thanks to her unorthodox concepts and lifestyle, she became a role model for future generations of feminists. Nowadays, she is best remembered for her short story ... [+]

Christina Rossetti is currently known as one of the most important English women poets in both range and quality. She is recognised for her works on fantasy, romantic, religious and children’s poetry. Two main themes recur throughout her poetry: transcience of material things and the resigned but passionate sadness of unhappy love.

An early 20th century American author, Clara Pierson was praised for her children’s stories. Her works often include animal characters and a moral to the story. She was among the leading nature-story authors of her day.

Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, editor and literary critic. He was the central figure of Romanticism in the United States and one of the country’s earliest practitioners of the short story. He is very famous for his tales and poems of horror and mystery, his short stories and his use of the macabre. He was also the first well known American writer to try and make a living out of writing ... [+]

Born and raised in Charleston, Carolina, E. N. Harleston worked many jobs before self-publishing his first poems. After gaining some popularity in the Pittsburgh Courier, one of the first Black-run newspapers in the United States, he published his sole volume of poetry, The Toiler’s Life, in 1907.

Edwin Arlington Robinson was one of the most prolific major American poets of the 20th century. Ironically, despite his extensive literary output, very few of his poems have won renown. Nowadays, he is regarded as unique among the American poets of his time for his devotion to his art. During his lifetime, he won 3 Pulitzer Prizes and was nominated 4 times for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was one of the most famous English poets of the Victorian era. Her works had a major influence on some other important writers of the day, such as Edgar Allan Poe or Emily Dickinson. More than a poet, she was also greatly involved in social and political issues: she campaigned against slavery and her works helped improve the children’s labour legislation.

Teacher and poet, she published her first book of poems aged 17. In 1911, she married a civil rights activist and moved to Los Angeles where she wrote various articles and plays about African-Americans.