The Devil and Daniel Webster

Stephen Vincent Benet is a classic of American literature, flesh of the flesh of that brightest generation that gave us Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and Faulkner. As a master of paradoxically ironic novella, he undoubtedly inherits O. Henry, often using historical, folkloric,... and fantastical plots. Distant or recent past appears to him as a vivid realm of imagination. Here, the U.S. Secretary of State can compete in court with the devil himself for the soul of a neighboring farmer, a retired French artillery major can fantasize about world conquest while sailing the waters, a visiting European celebrity can conduct with his tail, and an Irish leprechaun can help build a railroad... The story "The Devil and Daniel Webster" has been adapted for the screen multiple times: in 1941, there was the Oscar-winning film by William Dieterle, and the 2004 version marked the directorial debut of Alec Baldwin.