The Golden Butterfly

The Golden Butterfly

The Golden Butterfly, which gives a name to this novel, was seen by an English traveller, two years ago, preserved as a curiosity in a mining city near Sacramento, where it probably still remains. This curious freak of Nature is not therefore an invention of our own. To the same travellerMr. Edgar Besantwe are indebted for the description on which is based our account of Empire City. The striking of oil in Canada in the manner described by Gilead P. Beck was accomplishedwith the waste of millions of gallons of the oil, for want of casks and buckets to receive it, and with the result of a promise of almost boundless wealthby a man named Shaw, some ten years ago. Shaw speculated, we believe; lost his money, and died in poverty. Names of great living poets and writers have been used in this book in connection with a supposed literary banquet. A critic has expressed surprise that we have allowed Gilead Beck's failure to appreciate Browning to stand as if it were our own. Is a writer of fiction to stop the action of his story in order to explain that it is his character's opinion and not his own, that he states? And it surely is not asking too much to demand of a critic that he should consider first of all the consistency of a character's actions or speeches. Gilead Beck, a man of no education and little reading, but of considerable shrewdness, finds Browning unintelligible and harsh. What other verdict could be expected if the whole of Empire City in its palmiest days had been canvassed? ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 43442
Author: Besant, Walter
Release Date: Aug 10, 2013
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Contributor (Author): Rice, James, 1843-1882