Books with title A house-boat on the Styx

John Kendrick Bangs (May 27, 1862 – January 21, 1922) was an American author, humorist, editor and satirist.He was born in Yonkers, New York. His father Francis Nehemiah 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.

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The book begins with Charon, ferryman of the Styx startled--and annoyed--by the arrival of a house boat on his mystical river. At first afraid that the boat will put him out of business, he later finds out that he is to be appointed the boat's janitor. What follows are eleven stories set on the house boat. There is no central theme; each chapter features various souls from history and mythology, and in the twelfth chapter the house boat disappears, seguing into the sequel, Pursuit of the House-Boat.

Charon, the Ferryman of renown, was cruising slowly along the Styx one pleasant Friday morning not long ago, and as he paddled idly on he chuckled mildly to himself as he thought of the monopoly in ferriage which in the course of years he had managed to build up. "It's a great thing," he said, with a smirk of satisfaction - "it's a great thing to be the go-between between two states of being; to have the exclusive franchise to export and import shades from one state to the other, and withal to have had as clean a record as mine has been. Valuable as is my franchise, I never corrupted a public official in my life, and -"

A House-Boat on the Styx is a book written by writer John Kendrick Bangs. This popular late nineteenth century work is based on the idea of everyone who has ever died, upon their death, goes to Styx. Styx, although not a conventional concept of Hell made famous in Dante's The Inferno, is much more like Hades description in Greek mythology; a univerisal collecting pot of the souls of the dead. A House-Boat on the Styx is highly recommended for those who enjoy the writings of author John Kendrick Bangs and also for those discovering his writings for the first time.

The book begins with Charon, ferryman of the Styx startled--and annoyed--by the arrival of a house boat on his mystical river. At first afraid that the boat will put him out of business, he later finds out that he is to be appointed the boat's janitor. What follows are eleven stories set on the house boat. There is no central theme; each chapter features various souls from history and mythology, and in the twelfth chapter the house boat disappears, seguing into the sequel, Pursuit of the House-Boat.

The House-Boat is a genteel club for gentlemen souls of all times and places. The book is composed of humorous and satirical (and often snarky) dialogues between unlikely sets of historical characters. It is brief, light-hearted, and quite entertaining. Fans of Alan Moore's graphic novel Promethea may recognize the title. In Promethea, John Kendrick Bangs is a distant relative of the main character, and she meets him in Yesod, the realm of imagination, on the very house-boat he created in his novel.