A House-Boat on the Styx by John Kendrick Bangs
Complete digitally restored reprint (facsimile) of the original edition of 1895 with excellent resolution and outstanding readability. Illustrated with 8 pictures. A House-Boat on the Styx is a book written by John Kendrick Bangs and published in 1895. The premise of the book is that everyone who has ever died (up to the time in which the book is set, which seems to be about the time of its publication) has gone to Styx, the river that circles the underworld. The book begins with Charon, ferryman of the Styx being startled-and annoyed-by the arrival of a houseboat on the Styx. At first afraid that the boat will put him out of business, he later finds out that he is actually to be appointed the boat's janitor. What follows are eleven more stories (for a total of twelve) which are set on the house boat. There is no central theme, and the purpose of the book appears to be as a literary thought experiment to see what would happen if various famous dead people were put in the same room with each other. Each chapter is a short story featuring various souls from history and mythology. In the twelfth chapter the house boat disappears, leading into the sequel, Pursuit of the House-Boat. The book was among the best selling books in the United States in 1896. Chapter: (1) Charon makes a discovery, (2) A disputed Authorship, (3) Washington gives a dinner, (4) Hamlet makes a suggestion, (5) The House committee discuss the Poets, (6) Some theories, Darwinian and otherwise, (7) A discussion as to Ladies' Day, (8) A discontented shade, (9) As to cookery and sculpture, (10) Story-Tellers' Night, (11) As to Saurians and other, (12) The House-Boat disappears
Bangs, John Kendrick: - He was born in Yonkers, New York. His father Francis N. Bangs was a lawyer in New York City, as was his brother, Francis S. Bangs. He went to Columbia College from 1880 to 1883 where he became editor of Columbia's literary magazine, Acta Columbia, and contributed short anonymous pieces to humor magazines. After graduation in 1883 with a Bachelor of Philosophy degree in Political Science, Bangs entered Columbia Law School but left in 1884 to become Associate Editor of Life under Edward S. Martin. Bangs contributed many articles and poems to the magazine between 1884 and 1888. During this period, Bangs published his first books. In 1888 Bangs left Life to work at Harper's Magazine, Harper's Bazaar and Harper's Young People, though he continued to contribute to Life. From 1889 to 1900 he held the title of Editor of the Departments of Humor for all three Harper's magazines and from 1899 to 1901 served as active editor of Harper's Weekly. Bangs also served for a short time (January-June 1889) as the first editor of Munsey's Magazine and became editor of the American edition of the Harper-owned Literature from January to November 1899.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781016464802 |
| ISBN 10 | 1016464800 |
| Title | A House-Boat on the Styx |
| Author | John Kendrick Bangs |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Publisher | Legare Street Press |
| Year published | 2022-10-27 |
| Number of pages | 226 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |