About the book: year / One of the most famous humorists in world literature, O. Henry created a unique panorama of American life at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries, conveyed in grotesque situations contrasts and paradoxes of their era, which opened up space for people with business acumen, whom the game of chance either lifts to the pinnacle of success, or casts down to the very bottom of life. “All sources of inspiration were attacked by critics, except one. We turn to this single source in search of a highly instructive topic. When we turned to the classics, the Zoiles happily accused us of plagiarism. When we tried to portray reality, they reproached us for imitating Henry George, George Washington, Washington Irving and Irving Bacheller. We wrote about East and West, and they accused us of being fascinated by banditry and Henry James. We wrote with the blood of our hearts, and they muttered something about a diseased liver. We took the text from Matthew or - ahem! - from Deuteronomy, but the preachers were against our being inspired by the Holy Scriptures. So, with our backs pressed against the wall, we turn to the tried, tested, instructive, irrefutable source for the topic - the Complete Explanatory Dictionary…»