Buzzings

Karr, Alphonse, 1808-1890Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 363K words
Chapters: 37

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.Bourdonnements by Alphonse KarrAuthor: Karr, Alphonse, 1808-1890,Language: French, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Jan 22, 2012

Editor's review

Bourdonnements is a French-language work by the French author Alphonse Karr, part of the Project Gutenberg free ebook series and classified under French literature. Karr was active in the nineteenth century and known for essays, satirical short pieces, and novels; the title means "Buzzings," and judging by its stylistic features the book is closer to a collection of short sketches and miscellaneous essays, suited to savoring the tone and rhythm of nineteenth-century French prose in the original. For readers studying French literature or interested in nineteenth-century French prose, it is a freely available original text convenient for close reading and language study. Note that the book is the French original with no accompanying Chinese translation, so readers should have some French reading ability; as a public-domain ebook it also has no modern annotations or introduction, and background knowledge must be supplied by the reader. Overall it is suitable as language-learning material or as a supplementary text for French literary studies rather than as an introductory book.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers with intermediate or higher French reading ability who wish to engage with nineteenth-century French essays
Literature students studying Alphonse Karr or nineteenth-century French prose
Learners looking for free public-domain French originals for close language practice
Literary enthusiasts interested in classical French essay style who are willing to tackle the original

Not a good fit for

General readers with no French who expect a Chinese translation
Readers hoping for a tightly plotted novel or a systematic treatise
Beginners who need modern annotations, introductions, and background analysis

Reading tips

First read one short piece straight through to gauge the language difficulty, then decide whether to read closely piece by piece.
Consult a French dictionary and materials on nineteenth-century French historical background alongside the text.
You may excerpt typical sentence patterns for language notes and accumulate ways of expression in French essays.
If reading for research, it is advisable first to learn about Karr's life and writing style.

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?

According to available information, the book is a French-language original ebook released by Project Gutenberg, with no Chinese translation mentioned. Readers need French ability or must find other translations for reference.

What kind of work is Bourdonnements?

Sources show it belongs to French literature and was written by the nineteenth-century author Alphonse Karr. Judging by the title and the author's characteristic work, it is closer to a collection of short essayistic sketches than a full-length novel; the exact structure of the pieces requires the reader to open the original to confirm.

Is this book suitable for learning French?

It can serve as close-reading material in French, but it is a nineteenth-century text whose style is distant from contemporary French and which has no annotations or glossary. It is better used by those at intermediate level or above, together with a dictionary and background materials.

Comments

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About the author

Karr, Alphonse, 1808-1890 Author

Alphonse Karr (1808–1890) was a French writer; his dates and works are recorded in our database, which holds eight of his titles. They span essays and fiction, including Voyage autour de mon jardin, Midi à quatorze heures, Les guêpes — séries 1 & 2, Les guêpes — séries 3 & 4, Clotilde, La Maison de l'Ogre, Bourdonnements and Geneviève. These works range widely: some are observational essays built around wandering in a garden, others are satirical sketches modeled on a swarm of wasps, and still others touch on family and personal growth. His style is brisk and witty. The common subject heading in our catalog is inspirational growth. Public information on his nationality and life is limited, so no conjecture is offered here; readers may approach these works for their observant, gently critical essayistic charm.