A Question

Georg Moritz EbersProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.4

Word count: 114K words
Chapters: 12

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 Question by Georg EbersAuthor: Ebers, Georg, 1837-1898,Language: English, Class: PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures, Release Date: Apr 1, 2004

Editor's review

This is an English work by the German Egyptologist and novelist Georg Ebers, digitized free of charge by Project Gutenberg. Ebers was known for historical fiction; this short work revolves around a "question" and carries his characteristic speculative bent and classical taste, making it a useful sample of nineteenth-century German short narrative. The electronic edition preserves the original appearance of the public-domain book, is extremely easy to obtain, and suits quick on-screen reading or printing for annotation. For readers studying Project Gutenberg itself or observing early ebook layout, it also has documentary value. Do not expect strong plot conflict; it is better read quietly for its dialogue and psychological description, and for the feel of the old or original English. Since the language is English, it is recommended for readers with some English reading ability.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literature fans curious about the short works of the nineteenth-century German writer Ebers
Learners needing public-domain English texts for translation practice or textual analysis
Readers interested in Project Gutenberg and early ebook formats
Commuters used to reading short and medium-length public-domain books on electronic devices

Not a good fit for

General fiction readers who prefer strong plots and fast pacing
Beginners whose English is not yet proficient and who need Chinese annotations
Readers seeking detailed author biographies and scholarly material

Reading tips

Read through once to grasp the central point of the "question," then return to key dialogue passages for annotation.
Compare with Chinese translations of Ebers's other historical novels to sense similarities and differences in narrative style.
Use the electronic edition's search function to sort out character relationships and reduce page-flipping.
For language learning, choose two or three long sentences for translation practice and compare their structure with the originals.

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 this a complete full-length novel?

According to the Project Gutenberg catalog information, it is a shorter work by Ebers, not a lengthy novel; it can be read in one sitting or over several sessions, without planning around the pace of a full-length novel.

What level of English is needed to read it?

The text is nineteenth-century English, with long sentences and fairly formal diction. Readers with CET-4 or above reading ability and experience with public-domain English classics will find it smoother; beginners are advised to use a dictionary or a parallel text.

Are there any limitations to using the electronic edition?

The book is a free public-domain ebook that can be downloaded and read freely, but the layout is an early digitized version with plain formatting and may lack modern ebook features such as table-of-contents jumps and annotations; readers must use search to navigate.

Comments

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About the author

Georg Moritz Ebers Author · German · 1837–1898

Georg Ebers (1837–1898) was a German Egyptologist and novelist. Born in Berlin in 1837, he served as a professor at the University of Leipzig. His major contribution to Egyptology was the discovery, editing, and publication of the famous Ebers Papyrus, which provided valuable material for the study of ancient medical texts. At the same time, he devoted himself to spreading Egyptological knowledge through literature, writing historical novels such as An Egyptian Princess and Uarda. These works weave the social life and historical settings of ancient Egypt into their narratives, making specialized scholarship more accessible to general readers. His works number 172 in the library's collection, including the serialized volumes of An Egyptian Princess and Cleopatra, which shows how widely his historical novels circulated. Overall, Ebers combined scholarly rigor with a novelist's gift for popular expression, occupying a distinctive place in the popularization of Egyptology in the nineteenth century.