Late 19th/ Early 20th Century American Literature

A retitled edition of "Spoon River Anthology," to aptly describe the format—epitaphs written as if from the persons recently dead (over two hundred of them) from this small town. Each short paragraph encapsulates a life, of regret, or accomplishment, or misunderstanding, or joy, or relief. And yet they are "all, all sleeping, sleeping on the hill," the portrait of small town America.  Edited by Sasha Newborn

On 23 July 1908, Talich (1883-1961) conducted his first concert in Ljubljana with the military band Ljubljanska Dru@vstvena Godba. His personal enthusiasm and skill encouraged the establishment of an orchestra, and on 8 November, he conducted for the first time the new Slovenska Filharmonija, more than half of whom were Czech musicians. They instantly won admiration and the highest praise from the Slovenian and the German press in Ljubljana. In 1909 Talich introduced chamber concerts and founded a string quartet. His activities in Ljubljana were interrupted in 1910 and 1911, when he briefly studied in Leipzig and Milan. He returned in 1911 to conduct another highly productive season. In addition to promoting Slavonic music in general, he encouraged local composers to write symphonic music that he then performed. A victim of disagreements and rivalries within the circle of Slovene musicians, he decided to leave Ljubljana and gave his farewell concert on 31 March 1912. A selected list of performances conducted by Talich is appended.

Could an exotic place and culture inspire two writers to craft strikingly similar stories? Do great literary minds think alike? This detailed analysis examines unusual parallels between Graham Greene's famous 1955 novel "The Quiet American," and the obscure 1927 work "Congai," by gay American author Harry Hervey who related his story of another murder, another Asian mistress and another American in Saigon decades earlier.