Damaged Goods

Sinclair, Upton, 1878-1968Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 186K words
Chapters: 19

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.Damaged Goods by Eugène Brieux and Upton SinclairAuthor: Sinclair, Upton, 1878-1968,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Jan 1, 1998

Editor's review

Damaged Goods is an English text related to works by Upton Sinclair and Eugène Brieux, built around social morality, disease, and public health, with a clear cast of problem play and social criticism. Its value lies in examining private ethical dilemmas within social institutions and class differences; the language is chiefly dialogue and argument, and the dramatic tension comes from clashes of ideas rather than action. Reading it reveals the influence of early twentieth-century progressive thought on literature and Sinclair's enduring social concern. As a public-domain electronic text, it lacks modern annotations, so readers need some background on public health and moral attitudes of the time to understand the characters' situations and the author's intent accurately. It suits use as supplementary reading in drama and social intellectual history.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in social problem plays and socially critical literature
Readers studying Sinclair's writing and progressive thought
Readers concerned with the historical development of public health and moral issues
Upper-level students who need English dramatic texts for reading practice

Not a good fit for

Readers who only want light entertainment stories
Readers unaccustomed to dramatic dialogue who prefer narrative
Young readers lacking background knowledge and unwilling to look things up

Reading tips

First learn the background of the public health and moral debates the work involves, then enter the dialogue.
Read act by act or scene by scene, and after each part sort out the positions of each side and the focus of conflict.
Compare with Sinclair's other socially critical works to observe shifts in his thematic concerns.
For English drama reading, first read through for plot, then return to close-read key argumentative passages.

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 play?

The available information indicates it is an English text related to drama, with features of a social problem play, driven by dialogue and clashes of ideas. Read it as a dramatic text, following scenes and characters' positions rather than expecting the continuous narrative of a traditional novel. For specifics of genre, consult the actual electronic text.

Can I understand it without knowing the historical background?

You can follow the general plot, but you will miss much of the pointed social criticism. The work involves period issues such as public health, moral attitudes, and class differences. Spend a little time learning about the relevant early twentieth-century debates before reading; it will go much more smoothly and make the characters' choices easier to understand.

Is it suitable for learning English?

It suits learners with some foundation. The text is mainly dialogue and argument, offering exposure to formal, period-flavored expression, but the vocabulary and sentence patterns are literary and there are no modern annotations. Read with a dictionary and background materials, focusing on common expressions for discussing social issues rather than treating it as a spoken-English textbook.

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About the author

Sinclair, Upton, 1878-1968 Author

Upton Sinclair (Sinclair, Upton, 1878-1968) was an American writer known for his socially critical novels and political writing. His best-known work, The Jungle, exposed the grim realities of the meatpacking industry and drew widespread attention upon publication, establishing the direction of his career: using literature to engage with social reform. The library holds 33 of his works, including, besides The Jungle, King Coal, A Captain of Industry, The Profits of Religion, Jimmie Higgins, and Love's Pilgrimage, as well as a Finnish translation, Chikago: Nykyajan romaani. These works largely center on labor conditions, the power of capital, and the economic relations between religion and society. His style is direct and documentary, with a clear tone of exposure and criticism; public information on the details of his life is limited.