Corysandre

Malot, Hector, 1830-1907Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.2

Word count: 440K words
Chapters: 44

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. Corysandre by Hector Malot. Author: Malot, Hector, 1830–1907. Language: French. Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese. Release Date: Sep 18, 2004

Editor's review

Corysandre is a nineteenth-century novel by the French writer Hector Malot, one of the works in his realist narrative tradition. Malot excelled at depicting ordinary people's struggles and emotional turmoil within their social circumstances; this novel likewise centers on its characters' fates, advancing the plot through details of daily life and networks of relationships while portraying the ethical atmosphere and class landscape of nineteenth-century France. For Chinese readers, the main barrier to reading this book is language: the original is in French, and the public-domain electronic edition comes with no Chinese translation, making it suitable for readers with some French reading ability who wish to encounter a nineteenth-century French novel in the original. It is not the best first choice as an introduction to Malot—if you have not yet read representative works such as Sans famille, it is best to first become familiar with the author's narrative style before taking up this book, which will make it easier to appreciate its characterization and plotting.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers with French reading ability who want to read nineteenth-century French novels
Readers who have already read Malot's representative works and wish to expand their reading of his oeuvre
Learners interested in French realist literature and everyday-life subjects
Advanced learners using the French original for close reading and language building

Not a good fit for

General readers with no French who need a Chinese translation
Readers who prefer fast-paced plots and strong dramatic conflict

Reading tips

First learn about Malot's representative works and narrative style, then read this book; it will be easier to enter into his way of portraying characters.
While reading, keep a character relationship chart and note how social class and family background influence the characters' choices.
When encountering long sentences and old-fashioned expressions, first read through the paragraph for its general meaning, then return to the vocabulary, avoiding stopping at every word.
Read alongside background material on nineteenth-century French social history to help understand the ethical and class context of the book.

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, this book is a French public-domain e-book, and no Chinese translation information is provided. Chinese readers without French will find it very difficult to read; readers with French ability can read the original directly.

Is it suitable as an introductory work to Malot?

Not very suitable. It is advisable to first read Malot's better-known representative works to become familiar with his narrative pace and way of portraying characters, then take up this book, which will allow a better understanding of its plotting and character relationships.

What level is needed to read the French original?

This book is a nineteenth-century French novel, and its sentence patterns and vocabulary bear the marks of its era. It is advisable to have intermediate or higher French reading ability, and to use a dictionary and character notes, in order to grasp the plot and character motivations relatively smoothly.

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About the author

Malot, Hector, 1830-1907 Author

Hector Malot (1830–1907) was a French writer known for novels about childhood and family circumstances. The library holds 23 of his works, including Alleen op de Wereld, Nobody’s Boy, Nobody’s Girl, En famille, and Ghislaine. Nobody’s Boy, better known as Sans famille, tells the wandering coming-of-age story of the foundling Rémi and is his most widely known work; several of his novels center on orphans searching for family, wandering, and belonging. His style is plain and delicate, focusing on shifts in his characters’ fortunes and on emotional portrayal, often showing the hardships of the lower classes through a child’s perspective while conveying warmth and hope. Because public information is limited, details of his life and the nationality and birth and death years not clearly recorded in the library are omitted; nevertheless, the works at hand show his lasting influence in children’s literature and family fiction, and his books have been translated into many languages.