"Mayer André Marcel Schwob was born in Chaville, Hauts-de-Seine, France on 23rd August 1867 into a cultivated Jewish family. As a child he devoured the works of Poe and Stevenson in French and then again in English. His attachment to the bizarre and dark was already forming.His education at the Lycée of Nantes earned him the 1st Prize for Excellence. In 1881, he was in Paris with his maternal uncle to study at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand. Schwob quickly developed his multilingual abilities and then studied philology and Sanscrit at the École pratique des hautes études before completing his military service in Vannes with the artillery.After completing a Bachelor of Arts in 1888 he became a professional journalist and worked for the Phare de la Loire, the Événement and L'Écho de Paris.The 1890’s marked his establishment as a brilliant writer with the publication of six short story collections. He fell ill in 1896 with a chronic, incurable intestinal disorder. He also suffered recurring bouts of influenza and pneumonia. Intestinal surgery was given several times, at first with success but, by 1900, after two more surgeries, he was told that nothing more could be done for him. Schwob now existed on kefir and fermented milk.By the turn of the century, despite failing health, and often too ill to write, he embarked on several long travels, including to Vailima in the South Pacific where his literary hero Stevenson had died. Schwob was regarded as a symbolist writer and a ‘precursor of Surrealism’. He wrote over a hundred short stories, journalistic articles, essays, biographies, literary reviews and analysis, translations and plays. Marcel Schwob died on 26th February 1905 of Pneumonia. He was 37."
"Mayer André Marcel Schwob was born in Chaville, Hauts-de-Seine, France on 23rd August 1867 into a cultivated Jewish family. As a child he devoured the works of Poe and Stevenson in French and then again in English. His attachment to the bizarre and dark was already forming.His education at the Lycée of Nantes earned him the 1st Prize for Excellence. In 1881, he was in Paris with his maternal uncle to study at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand. Schwob quickly developed his multilingual abilities and then studied philology and Sanscrit at the École pratique des hautes études before completing his military service in Vannes with the artillery.After completing a Bachelor of Arts in 1888 he became a professional journalist and worked for the Phare de la Loire, the Événement and L'Écho de Paris.The 1890’s marked his establishment as a brilliant writer with the publication of six short story collections. He fell ill in 1896 with a chronic, incurable intestinal disorder. He also suffered recurring bouts of influenza and pneumonia. Intestinal surgery was given several times, at first with success but, by 1900, after two more surgeries, he was told that nothing more could be done for him. Schwob now existed on kefir and fermented milk.By the turn of the century, despite failing health, and often too ill to write, he embarked on several long travels, including to Vailima in the South Pacific where his literary hero Stevenson had died. Schwob was regarded as a symbolist writer and a ‘precursor of Surrealism’. He wrote over a hundred short stories, journalistic articles, essays, biographies, literary reviews and analysis, translations and plays. Marcel Schwob died on 26th February 1905 of Pneumonia. He was 37."
"Mayer André Marcel Schwob was born in Chaville, Hauts-de-Seine, France on 23rd August 1867 into a cultivated Jewish family. As a child he devoured the works of Poe and Stevenson in French and then again in English. His attachment to the bizarre and dark was already forming.His education at the Lycée of Nantes earned him the 1st Prize for Excellence. In 1881, he was in Paris with his maternal uncle to study at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand. Schwob quickly developed his multilingual abilities and then studied philology and Sanscrit at the École pratique des hautes études before completing his military service in Vannes with the artillery.After completing a Bachelor of Arts in 1888 he became a professional journalist and worked for the Phare de la Loire, the Événement and L'Écho de Paris.The 1890’s marked his establishment as a brilliant writer with the publication of six short story collections. He fell ill in 1896 with a chronic, incurable intestinal disorder. He also suffered recurring bouts of influenza and pneumonia. Intestinal surgery was given several times, at first with success but, by 1900, after two more surgeries, he was told that nothing more could be done for him. Schwob now existed on kefir and fermented milk.By the turn of the century, despite failing health, and often too ill to write, he embarked on several long travels, including to Vailima in the South Pacific where his literary hero Stevenson had died. Schwob was regarded as a symbolist writer and a ‘precursor of Surrealism’. He wrote over a hundred short stories, journalistic articles, essays, biographies, literary reviews and analysis, translations and plays. Marcel Schwob died on 26th February 1905 of Pneumonia. He was 37."
"Mayer André Marcel Schwob was born in Chaville, Hauts-de-Seine, France on 23rd August 1867 into a cultivated Jewish family. As a child he devoured the works of Poe and Stevenson in French and then again in English. His attachment to the bizarre and dark was already forming.His education at the Lycée of Nantes earned him the 1st Prize for Excellence. In 1881, he was in Paris with his maternal uncle to study at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand. Schwob quickly developed his multilingual abilities and then studied philology and Sanscrit at the École pratique des hautes études before completing his military service in Vannes with the artillery.After completing a Bachelor of Arts in 1888 he became a professional journalist and worked for the Phare de la Loire, the Événement and L'Écho de Paris.The 1890’s marked his establishment as a brilliant writer with the publication of six short story collections. He fell ill in 1896 with a chronic, incurable intestinal disorder. He also suffered recurring bouts of influenza and pneumonia. Intestinal surgery was given several times, at first with success but, by 1900, after two more surgeries, he was told that nothing more could be done for him. Schwob now existed on kefir and fermented milk.By the turn of the century, despite failing health, and often too ill to write, he embarked on several long travels, including to Vailima in the South Pacific where his literary hero Stevenson had died. Schwob was regarded as a symbolist writer and a ‘precursor of Surrealism’. He wrote over a hundred short stories, journalistic articles, essays, biographies, literary reviews and analysis, translations and plays. Marcel Schwob died on 26th February 1905 of Pneumonia. He was 37."
"Mayer André Marcel Schwob was born in Chaville, Hauts-de-Seine, France on 23rd August 1867 into a cultivated Jewish family. As a child he devoured the works of Poe and Stevenson in French and then again in English. His attachment to the bizarre and dark was already forming.His education at the Lycée of Nantes earned him the 1st Prize for Excellence. In 1881, he was in Paris with his maternal uncle to study at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand. Schwob quickly developed his multilingual abilities and then studied philology and Sanscrit at the École pratique des hautes études before completing his military service in Vannes with the artillery.After completing a Bachelor of Arts in 1888 he became a professional journalist and worked for the Phare de la Loire, the Événement and L'Écho de Paris.The 1890’s marked his establishment as a brilliant writer with the publication of six short story collections. He fell ill in 1896 with a chronic, incurable intestinal disorder. He also suffered recurring bouts of influenza and pneumonia. Intestinal surgery was given several times, at first with success but, by 1900, after two more surgeries, he was told that nothing more could be done for him. Schwob now existed on kefir and fermented milk.By the turn of the century, despite failing health, and often too ill to write, he embarked on several long travels, including to Vailima in the South Pacific where his literary hero Stevenson had died. Schwob was regarded as a symbolist writer and a ‘precursor of Surrealism’. He wrote over a hundred short stories, journalistic articles, essays, biographies, literary reviews and analysis, translations and plays. Marcel Schwob died on 26th February 1905 of Pneumonia. He was 37."
"Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author's brain, their soul and heart. A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere.
In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted 'Top Tens' across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions - Why that story? Why that author?
The theme itself will form the boundaries for our stories which range from well-known classics, newly told, to stories that modern times have overlooked but perfectly exemplify the theme. Throughout the volume our authors whether of instant recognition or new to you are all leviathans of literature.
Some you may disagree with but they will get you thinking; about our choices and about those you would have made. If this volume takes you on a path to discover more of these miniature masterpieces then we have all gained something.
Across the globe many European nations are trading with and conquering new lands in a frantic burst of Empire building. At home, governments and societies eye one another with alarm, greed and even fear. What will tomorrow bring? For literature its sons and daughters, of whatever tongue, are bringing new stories with new ambitions to the eyes and ears of a hungry public.
1 - The Top 10 - The 1880's - The Europeans - An Introduction
2 - How Much Land Does A Man Need by Leo Tolstoy
3 - Lord Arthur Savile's Crime - Part 1 by Oscar Wilde
4 - Lord Arthur Savile's Crime - Part 2 by Oscar Wilde
5 - Markheim by Robert Louis Stevenson
6 - The Kiss by Anton Chekhov
7 - The Daughter of Lilith by Anatole France
8 - A Legend of Old Egypt by Boleslaw Prus
9 - Cohen of Trinity by Amy Levy
10 - Arachne by Marcel Schwob
11 - Cavalleria Rusticana by Giovanni Verga
12 - The Signal by Vsevolod Garshin"
"Mayer André Marcel Schwob was born in Chaville, Hauts-de-Seine, France on 23rd August 1867 into a cultivated Jewish family. As a child he devoured the works of Poe and Stevenson in French and then again in English. His attachment to the bizarre and dark was already forming.His education at the Lycée of Nantes earned him the 1st Prize for Excellence. In 1881, he was in Paris with his maternal uncle to study at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand. Schwob quickly developed his multilingual abilities and then studied philology and Sanscrit at the École pratique des hautes études before completing his military service in Vannes with the artillery.After completing a Bachelor of Arts in 1888 he became a professional journalist and worked for the Phare de la Loire, the Événement and L'Écho de Paris.The 1890’s marked his establishment as a brilliant writer with the publication of six short story collections. He fell ill in 1896 with a chronic, incurable intestinal disorder. He also suffered recurring bouts of influenza and pneumonia. Intestinal surgery was given several times, at first with success but, by 1900, after two more surgeries, he was told that nothing more could be done for him. Schwob now existed on kefir and fermented milk.By the turn of the century, despite failing health, and often too ill to write, he embarked on several long travels, including to Vailima in the South Pacific where his literary hero Stevenson had died. Schwob was regarded as a symbolist writer and a ‘precursor of Surrealism’. He wrote over a hundred short stories, journalistic articles, essays, biographies, literary reviews and analysis, translations and plays. Marcel Schwob died on 26th February 1905 of Pneumonia. He was 37.01 - Marcel Schwob - A Short Story Collection - An Introduction02 - Arachne by Marcel Schwob03 - Spiritualism by Marcel Schwob04 - The Mouthless by Marcel Schwob05 - The Opium Gates by Marcel Schwob06 - The Strong by Marcel Schwob"
