The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Writings (Penguin Classics) [Paperback]

Bret Harte (Author), Gary Scharnhorst (Editor, Contributor)

Book Description

Series: Penguin Classics | Publication Date: July 31, 2001

Bret Harte was at the forefront of western American literature, paving the way for other writers, including Mark Twain. For the first time in one volume, The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Writings brings together not only Harte's best-known pieces including "The Luck of Roaring Camp" and "The Outcasts of Poker Flat," but also the original transcription of the famous 1882 essay "The Argonauts of '49" as well as a selection of his poetry, lesser-known essays, and three of his Condensed Novels-parodies of James Fenimore Cooper, Charles Dickens, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Mr. Harte can do the best things. -- Charles Dickens

About the Author

Bret Harte (1836-1902) was born in Albany, New York, and moved to California at the age of nineteen. He helped to found and edited The Overland Monthly, the major literary publication of the American West. He wrote numerous stories, poetry and essays over the course of a thirty-five-year literary career.

Gary Scharnhorst is professor of English at the University of New Mexico. He has published several books on American literature.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (July 31, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 014043917X
• ISBN-13: 978-0140439175
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #258,811 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Representative sampling of Harte's career, June 14, 2009

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19th Century Reader - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Writings (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

Edited by the leading Bret Harte scholar and biographer, the Penguin edition of Harte's writings includes the famous Overland Monthly stories ("The Luck of Roaring Camp" etc) as well as a briefly representative selection of Harte's poems, essays, later fiction, and his delightful "Condensed Novels." Scharnhorst's authoritative introduction includes biographical information gleaned from the editor's extensive primary research and offers informed readings of the stories. Any fan of 19th century fiction who has not read Harte's "Condensed Novels" is in for a treat. It's too bad this edition only had room for 3 of these parodies in which Harte mimicked the style of other popular authors. (I wish "Miss Mix," the Jane Eyre parody, were included.) The Scharnhorst-Penguin edition includes Harte's parodies of Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales, Dickens' A Christmas Carol, and Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes mysteries. The notes, while brief and unobtrusive, include curiosities that only Scharnhorst could tell us, like the fact that Conan Doyle contributed to a fund to support Harte's family after the author's death. Harte's Overland stories are widely available. This edition of his work also provides a rare glimpse into genres of the author's work that are less well known and equally delightful, selected by the scholar who knows Harte better than anyone else.