Mortality & Death

“The Pit and the Pendulum,” Edgar Allan Poe’s agonizing tale of terror and suspense, was first published in 1842. One of Poe’s many horror stories, “The Pit and the Pendulum” became famous for its depiction of pure dread. This guide refers to the 1992 Modern Library edition of Poe’s Collected Tales and Poems.The story begins with shocking suddenness: “I was sick—sick unto death with that long agony” (246). The narrator, we soon discover, is a... Read The Pit and the Pendulum Summary

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The Postmortal by Drew Magary is a science fiction thriller that follows a man named John Farrell in the decades following the “postmortal cure,” a type of genetic engineering that stops aging. The novel grapples with the human experience amid technological advantages, religious zeal, and increasingly human-driven crises. Magary, whose legal name is Andrew Schuyler Magary, is a journalist, humor writer, and novelist. He has written for magazines such as GQ and is the co-founder... Read The Postmortal Summary

“The Premature Burial” is a short horror story published in 1844 by American writer Edgar Allan Poe that explores the fear of being buried alive, otherwise known as taphephobia. This condition is considered rare in contemporary times but was a common fear during the 19th century because, due to a lack of sufficient medical techniques and technologies, people were sometimes mistakenly declared deceased and accidentally buried alive.Other short stories written by this author include The... Read The Premature Burial Summary

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The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? by Rick Warren, an American evangelical Christian pastor and author, is a work of Christian literature that offers guidance by means of a 40-day personal, spiritual journey. Warren brings his experience in spiritual leadership to this text, exploring what he identifies as God’s five purposes for human life on Earth. This framework seeks to serve as a blueprint for Christian living in the modern... Read The Purpose Driven Life Summary

The Quiet American is a 1955 novel by Graham Greene. Set during the era of French colonialism in Vietnam, it tells the story of an English journalist who is caught in a love triangle with an American intelligence agent and a Vietnamese woman. Greene had published over a dozen novels before The Quiet American and was considered one of the most influential American authors during his career. He drew on his own experiences as a... Read The Quiet American Summary

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Published in 1950, “There Will Come Soft Rains” is among Ray Bradbury’s most well-known short stories. Bradbury is one of the 20th century’s most recognizable American authors, and his work helped propel science fiction and speculative fiction into mainstream literature. “There Will Come Soft Rains” contains themes of scientific advancement, nuclear proliferation, and mid-20th-century American domestic life.Originally published in Collier’s Magazine in May 1950, “There Will Come Soft Rains” was published later that year as... Read There Will Come Soft Rains Summary

The Rez Sisters by Tomson Highway is a two-act play that was first performed in 1986 at the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto. After being translated into French by Jocelyne Beaulieu, “Les Reines de la réserve” premiered by Théâtre Populaire du Québec in 1993. A version of the play in the Cree language was performed in 2010, and Canadian performances with Indigenous actors have been staged in the 2020s. Highway’s play re-envisions the 1965 play... Read The Rez Sisters Summary

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The Road is a dystopian fiction novel published in 2006 by American author Cormac McCarthy. McCarthy penned 12 novels, three short stories, and several plays for screen and stage. His works, including Blood Meridian and No Country for Old Men, are known for violence; postapocalyptic, western settings, and a lack of punctuation characteristic of McCarthy's writing. Widely considered one of the greatest novels of the 21st century, The Road won the Pulitzer Prize and the... Read The Road Summary

In The Ruins of Gorlan, a Medieval adventure-fantasy novel for middle-grade readers, young Will learns the arts of the secretive Ranger tracker-warriors and defends his kingdom against an evil baron. Released in 2004 by author John Flanagan, The Ruins of Gorlan won multiple awards, spawned the bestselling Ranger Apprentice book series, and has been published in 18 countries. A television adaptation is in the works.Following a long career in advertising, author Flanagan shifted to book... Read The Ruins of Gorlan Summary

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First produced in 1960, Edward Albee’s play The Sandbox is one of the celebrated playwright’s early one-acts and serves as a front-runner of American absurdist theater, an avant-garde artistic movement that began in Europe in the 1950s. Absurdism likens humanity to the Greek mythological figure Sisyphus, whose punishment for angering the gods was to endlessly roll a boulder up a hill only for it to roll back down each time.The term Theatre of the Absurd... Read The Sandbox Summary

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First published in The Atlantic in 1960, James Hurst’s “The Scarlet Ibis” won the magazine’s “Atlantic First” award. Frequently included in literature anthologies, Hurst’s tragic short story explores themes of pride, shame, and death within the context of coming of age.This guide refers to the 1960 version that appeared in The Atlantic as well as the brief biographical information included in that original publication.Content Warning: The source text uses outdated, offensive terms to describe people... Read The Scarlet Ibis Summary

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