Aftermath

Allen, James Lane, 1849-1925Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 117K 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.Aftermath by James Lane AllenAuthor: Allen, James Lane, 1849-1925,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Sep 28, 2004

Editor's review

Aftermath is a novel by the American writer James Lane Allen, part of his body of work set in the Kentucky countryside. Allen excelled at delicately rendering the natural scenery and inner lives of characters in the rural South, and this book continues that lyrical, restrained narrative style; the plot moves slowly, with the emphasis on emotional aftermath and the elaboration of everyday detail. For today's readers its value is chiefly literary-historical: it offers insight into the methods and tastes of American local color writing in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and into how a writer used scenery to mirror characters' states of mind. This is a public-domain English ebook, suitable as supplementary reading for American literature courses or for readers who favor a slow pace and heavy atmosphere and enjoy close reading in quiet moments; those seeking strong plot and fast pacing may find it bland.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers and researchers of American literature, especially local color writing
Readers who enjoy lyrical, slow-paced fiction rich in atmosphere and psychological description
English readers who need a sample of late nineteenth-century American fiction

Not a good fit for

Genre-fiction readers seeking strong plot and fast pacing
Learners with little experience reading English who need simple texts
Readers hoping to obtain historical facts or social analysis from the book

Reading tips

Learn about the author's Kentucky regional writing background first; the text is easier to appreciate with that context
Read slowly chapter by chapter, noting how descriptions of scenery correspond to characters' emotions
After finishing, compare it with other American local color fiction of the same period to compare narrative techniques

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 book a novel or a short-story collection?

According to public-domain records, it is a work of fiction by James Lane Allen, classified under American literature. The records do not detail its structure, so it is advisable to download the ebook and check the table of contents and opening pages to confirm its format before planning how to read it.

Can I understand it without a background in American literature?

You can read it, but your understanding will suffer. The book relies heavily on scenery and mood, and without background it can easily seem loosely plotted. Consider reading a brief introduction to American local color writing before starting the main text.

What should I keep in mind when reading the electronic edition?

This is an English public-domain ebook released by Project Gutenberg, laid out mainly as plain text with few notes. Use reading software that lets you adjust font size and line spacing, and prepare your own tool for looking up unfamiliar words.

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About the author

Allen, James Lane, 1849-1925 Author

James Lane Allen (1849–1925) was an American writer, with thirteen of his works held in this collection. His writing is mainly set against the life of Kentucky, and his representative works include A Kentucky Cardinal: A Story, Flute and Violin, and Other Kentucky Tales and Romances, The Blue-Grass Region of Kentucky, and Other Kentucky Articles, The Choir Invisible, The Reign of Law, The Mettle of the Pasture, and The Kentucky Warbler. These works show that he was skilled at depicting the local customs, rural nature, and regional legends of Kentucky, in a lyrical style that often interweaves local scenery with the fate of his characters. His writing brought Kentucky local color into the view of American literature and is in some measure representative of American regional literature from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century. Public information is limited, and details of his life, education, and official positions are not inferred here.