John Kendrick Bangs

A House-Boat on the Styx Annotated John Kendrick Bangs

The book begins with Charon, the ferryman of the Styx startled--and annoyed--by the arrival of a houseboat 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 houseboat. 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.