The Gift of the Magi and Other Stories B1/B2

Resumen del libro

These five famous O'Henry stories deal with the lives of ordinary people in a constantly changing New York City. Romance and humour abound in the lives of ordinary folk.

O. Henry has created characters that reveal in one way or another a true sense of dignity as they face their personal dramas. Love, forgiveness and tolerance flow through the heart of these stories and in the end there is always to be found poetic justice in the world. What has come to be known by readers worldwide as the feel good factor.

O. Henry's original style and irresistible humour together with his sympathetic portraits of the lost and the loved make him a joy to read. Although written at the beginning of the twentieth century, these stories still have something that touches our hearts and fills us with wonder at the generosity and surprising selflessness that can be found in the human spirit. As soon as you start reading them you will be captured and captivated right up to the unexpected conclusion. And with O. Henry there is always an unexpected twist, now known as an O. Henryesque ending .

This volume is accompanied by notes and a wide range of learning activities to enable readers to enrich their vocabulary and practice language structures.

Biografía del autor

O. Henry (Greensboro, 1862 - Nueva York, 1910). Seudónimo de William Sidney Porter. Narrador estadounidense, muy popular por sus relatos humorísticos y de finales sorprendentes, al que junto a E. A. Poe, B. Harte y M. Twain se considera fundador de la proverbial short story norteamericana. Como si se tratase de una de sus historias, en 1896 recibió una citación para presentarse ante un tribunal por el hurto de una pequeña suma de un banco de Austin en el que había estado empleado. Huyó y a su vuelta estuvo tres años en prisión. En 1902 se traslada a Nueva York, donde escribirá algunos de sus mejores libros de relatos, como The Four Million, cuyos cuentos están recogidos en el libro que ahora publicamos. Describe a la gente común y corriente de Nueva York a través de la ironía, la burla y el realismo que lo hizo famoso, además del afortunado uso del lenguaje popular. ...