Cynthia

Merrick, Leonard, 1864-1939Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 401K words
Chapters: 41

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.Cynthia by Leonard MerrickAuthor: Merrick, Leonard, 1864-1939,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Dec 19, 2013

Editor's review

This novel comes from the English writer Leonard Merrick and belongs to the main line of English narrative literature of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Merrick was skilled at portraying his characters' circumstances and inner lives with delicate strokes, and his works often build emotional tension through a slow, steady advance. This e-book edition from Project Gutenberg preserves the language of the original, letting readers encounter the English literary work directly. For Chinese readers, it can serve both as an introduction to the character of English fiction of the period and as material for English reading practice. The book is moderate in length and traditional in pacing, suited to close chapter-by-chapter reading in a quiet setting, with attention to the social details revealed in dialogue and scene description. Reading it alongside background material on the English society of the author's time will help readers better appreciate what lies beneath the text. Note that this is the English original e-book, so Chinese readers need some English reading ability.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Self-learners who want to improve their English reading through original novels
Readers interested in English literature of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
Literature enthusiasts studying Merrick's works or English fiction of the period
Slow readers who like traditional pacing and attention to character

Not a good fit for

Readers with weak English who cannot read long English sentences continuously
Readers who prefer strong plots and fast-paced modern genre fiction
Students who need a Chinese translation or annotated edition for comprehension

Reading tips

Read a chapter through once without looking up words to grasp the plot, then go back and closely read the new words and long sentences.
Keep a notebook to record character relationships and clues to the period background for easy cross-reference.
Read introductions to the author's other works to build an overall impression of Merrick's writing.

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 in Chinese or the English original?

This is the English original e-book released by Project Gutenberg, with the text in English and no Chinese translation or notes, suited to readers with some English reading ability to read the original directly.

What is Project Gutenberg?

Project Gutenberg was the first project to offer free e-books, founded by Michael Hart in 1971, dedicated to digitizing public-domain books for free public reading; this book is one of its e-book releases.

What English level do I need to read this book?

The language is early twentieth-century written English, with rather long sentences and fairly elegant wording, so it is suggested for readers with reading ability at the level of CET-4 or above, or those able to keep reading with the help of a dictionary.

Comments

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About the author

Merrick, Leonard, 1864-1939 Author

Leonard Merrick (1864–1939) was an English-language writer active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Public information about his life and nationality is limited; all that is known here is that he wrote a number of novels. Five of his works are included in this collection: The Man Who Was Good, A Chair on the Boulevard, Conrad in Quest of His Youth: An Extravagance of Temperament, To Tell You the Truth, and Cynthia. These works are generally classified as inspirational coming-of-age fiction, often centering on characters' self-discovery and temperamental trials at turning points in life, with a gentle irony and an eye for human weakness. Merrick's prose attends to psychology and everyday detail in a plain, understated style, giving him a place in popular fiction and offering readers a window into the English novel of his time.