Burlesques cover

Burlesques

Rating 3.4
Word count
884K words
Chapters
89

Tags

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.Burlesques by William Makepeace ThackerayAuthor: Thackeray, William Makepeace, 1811-1863,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: May 22, 2006

Editor's review

Burlesques is a collection of parodic pieces by Thackeray, revealing a side of the Victorian novelist beyond Vanity Fair: literary allusions and popular narratives rewritten with exaggeration and mockery, showing his humor and skill at wordplay. This is the original English edition, a free Project Gutenberg eBook, easy and inexpensive to obtain. Its value lies not in complete plots but in stylistic experiment and satirical wit, making it a useful supplementary read for understanding nineteenth-century English parody and a lesser-known side of Thackeray. Reading requires solid English and familiarity with the literary background of the time, or much of the mockery will be missed. Read it in short pieces, with notes or background material, as a literary diversion rather than an entry point for systematic study.

Who it's for

A good fit for

  • English readers who admire Thackeray and want to see his lesser-known work
  • University students studying nineteenth-century English parody and satire
  • Readers with strong English skills who prefer light, witty texts
  • Teachers needing free public-domain English materials as teaching supplements

Not a good fit for

  • General readers with weak English who need a Chinese translation
  • Those expecting a complete long narrative or a plot-driven reading experience
  • Readers unfamiliar with Victorian literary background who may find it dull

Reading tips

  1. Start with a shorter piece to get used to the parodic style, then expand
  2. Mark allusions and look them up later rather than stopping at every line
  3. Read alongside a chronology of Thackeray's other works for comparison
  4. Read one or two pieces a week rather than straight through

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.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67
  68. 68
  69. 69
  70. 70
  71. 71
  72. 72
  73. 73
  74. 74
  75. 75
  76. 76
  77. 77
  78. 78
  79. 79
  80. 80
  81. 81
  82. 82
  83. 83
  84. 84
  85. 85
  86. 86
  87. 87
  88. 88
  89. 89

FAQ

Is this book in Chinese or English?
According to the information provided, this is the original English edition, with the language marked as English. It is a free eBook released by Project Gutenberg, not a Chinese translation, so readers need adequate English reading ability.
Can I read it without having read other works by Thackeray?
Yes, but parody often depends on familiarity with the original works or popular genres of the time, and the humor will land less effectively without that background. It is best to learn something about the source texts involved first, then return to the book for a richer reading.
Is this book suitable as research material?
It can serve as supplementary material on Thackeray's work and nineteenth-century English parody, but it is not a systematic study and lacks scholarly notes and an introduction. For research, use it alongside authoritative editions and secondary literature.

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About the author

William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863) was a nineteenth-century British novelist. Publicly available details of his life are limited, so this entry relies mainly on the 42 works held in the collection and their representative titles. Among them, Vanity Fair is the best known, offering a satirical portrait of society; Barry Lyndon, The History of Pendennis and Henry Esmond are also representative works. Thackeray is known for depicting human weaknesses and social manners in a humorous yet coolly observant tone, with unhurried narration and understated irony. The collection includes novels as well as essays and lectures, giving readers a sense of his writing and of the style of Victorian fiction.

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