The Master

Surányi, Miklós, 1882-1936Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 173K words
Chapters: 18

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.A mester by Miklós SurányiAuthor: Surányi, Miklós, 1882-1936,Language: Hungarian, Class: PH: Language and Literatures: Finno-Ugrian and Basque languages and literatures, Release Date: Nov 9, 2006

Editor's review

A mester is a work by the Hungarian writer Miklós Surányi, written in Hungarian and recirculated as a public-domain ebook prepared by Project Gutenberg. For Chinese readers, its value lies first in filling a gap in linguistic and literary geography: it brings Hungarian-language narrative within reach and offers a practically readable sample for those studying East-Central European literature or Hungarian texts. The title means “the master,” but the specific plot and character relationships must be judged from the original; one should not infer them from the title alone. Reading this work requires some foundation in Hungarian, or the aid of translations and supplementary materials. It is better suited as material for language learning and literary-historical study than as a popular bestseller for a general audience. The public-domain electronic edition is easy to search and excerpt, making it suitable for reading with specific questions in mind.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Learners with a foundation in Hungarian who wish to extend their reading of original texts
Readers and researchers studying Hungarian literature or the literature of East-Central Europe
Readers who collect public-domain ebooks and care about the accessibility of texts in less widely taught languages
Literature enthusiasts interested in early twentieth-century Hungarian narrative works

Not a good fit for

General readers with no Hungarian at all and no available translation
Chinese readers expecting a Chinese introduction or a detailed annotated edition
Casual readers who prefer the pace and themes of contemporary bestsellers

Reading tips

First confirm whether a usable translation or bilingual materials exist, then decide between reading the whole original or selected passages.
Hungarian learners can excerpt new words and sentence patterns from each chapter and do intensive reading practice with a dictionary.
Researchers can first consult background entries on the author and work, then enter the text with specific questions.
When length permits, read the whole book and record its narrative structure for comparison with other Hungarian works.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is there a Chinese translation of this book? Can I read it without knowing Hungarian?

The materials only show that this is a public-domain electronic text in Hungarian and provide no information about a Chinese translation. Readers without Hungarian will need to find a translation or supplementary materials themselves; otherwise the original is hard to read directly. It is advisable to confirm the availability of a translation before deciding whether to take it up.

What does the title “A mester” mean?

In Hungarian, “A mester” usually means “the master” or “the craftsman.” But the meaning of the title is not the same as the content of the whole book; the person and plot it refers to must be judged from the original. Before reading, one should not over-infer the work’s themes from the title alone.

Is the Project Gutenberg version suitable for study and citation?

This version is a public-domain electronic text, convenient for searching, excerpting, and language learning. For academic citation, it is advisable to check a print edition or authoritative bibliographic information and to note the source and access date of the electronic text so that citations meet scholarly standards.

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About the author

Surányi, Miklós, 1882-1936 Author

Miklós Surányi (1882–1936) was a Hungarian writer active in the early twentieth century. His name is not yet widely known in the Chinese-speaking world, and publicly available information about him is limited: basic details such as his exact dates and nationality can only be confirmed from the records in our database. Only one work by him can be identified so far, A mester (The Master). From this slender evidence, his writing activity seems to have been concentrated in the early decades of the twentieth century, though the full range and number of his works cannot be outlined. As for A mester, readers can mainly grasp its character as a work of fiction or narrative, and the kind of character portrayal and thematic concerns that the title "master" may suggest; its specific plot, characters, and background should not be speculated upon without reliable sources. Overall, Surányi remains an Eastern European author awaiting further discovery, and the value and place of his work in literary history still require more translations and research to be properly assessed.