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Trama e riassunto di Tales of Fantasy and Fact
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About 2 h 30 min to read.A chi è rivolto
Readers who like ghost stories told with a grin, puzzles with a clever answer, and playful games with famous books. It suits anyone who enjoys a good yarn spun by a quick-witted talker.
Che cos’è questo libro
Imagine a ship that sails past every coast you ever met in a book. Tales of Fantasy and Fact gathers six short pieces by Brander Matthews, an American critic and storyteller who died in 1929. They first ran in magazines and newspapers in the 1880s and 1890s. Each one plays on the border between what is made up and what really happens. You get wit, learning worn lightly, and a New York of horsecars and lobster in a chafing dish. The first stop is a voyage with a captain who knows many imaginary shores.
In questo riassunto
- 1A ship sails through the booksFree
- 2A midnight peep show with a price
- 3A dream woven from borrowed tales
- 4Rival ghosts on an ocean liner
- 5The Quartet reunites after ten years
- 6A clock that watches the office
Punto chiave 1 di 6
A ship sails through the books
A New Yorker wakes in a stateroom and cannot say how he came aboard. Voices from the deck say the ship comes from the City of Destruction and is bound for Ultima Thule. The man who greets him is Captain Vanderdecken, the Flying Dutchman.
The captain is a lively and lonely guide. The coast slides by, and every place is a name taken from a book and treated as solid fact. Bohemia is a desert country by the sea. The Forest of Arden has its lions and its songs. Rozinante grazes in Barataria.
The captain holds out a thin book called News from Nowhere. It slips from the narrator's fingers, and the cabin begins to dissolve. Stories, the tale hints, can feel as real as any harbor.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
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Go deeper: the whole of Tales of Fantasy and Fact
About 2 h 30 min to read.Questions about Tales of Fantasy and Fact
What is Tales of Fantasy and Fact about?
It gathers six short stories by Brander Matthews. They include a voyage past imaginary shores, a magical peep show, a dream woven from borrowed tales, two quarreling ghosts, a birthday puzzle and a detective story.
Who is Captain Vanderdecken in the first story?
He is the Flying Dutchman of sea legend, a captain who sails forever and keeps up with the news by reading a Dutch gazette. In the Primer he acts as the talkative guide to the coasts of famous books.
Are the stories in this book true?
The author's postscript comments on how real life sometimes matches what he made up.
What is the Gregorian calendar puzzle in Sixteen Years Without a Birthday?
The story hinges on leap days, the differing Russian and Western calendars in 1804 and the date line crossed in the Pacific. The friends work through each clue aloud, so you can follow it by ear.
Is Tales of Fantasy and Fact easy to read?
Yes, the stories are short, mostly told through lively talk among friends, and each stands alone. The humor and the clear puzzles carry you along, and you can listen to one tale at a sitting.