Denry the Audacious

Project GutenbergProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.1

Word count: 430K 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.Denry the Audacious by Arnold BennettAuthor: ,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Jun 28, 2012

Editor's review

Denry the Audacious is a brisk, witty early novel by Arnold Bennett, telling how the protagonist Denry rises up the social ladder through nerve and resourcefulness. With restrained, ironic prose, Bennett makes a far-from-perfect yet highly driven young man vivid and believable, often prompting a knowing smile. The book's strengths lie in its detailed observation of the social ecology of an early twentieth-century English provincial city and in the author's neutral, neither praising nor condemning treatment of ambition, so readers can enjoy the story and see through human nature at once. As a public-domain e-book, the text is readily available and makes a good introduction to Bennett's style and to the English realist tradition. For reading situations, chapter-by-chapter reading on a commute or before bed works well; the English original is moderately difficult with brisk sentence rhythm, so there is no need to finish it in one sitting.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English-literature readers who want to know Arnold Bennett's fiction style
Readers who enjoy light irony and stories of ordinary urban characters
Learners who want to practice reading English originals through public-domain e-books
General readers interested in early twentieth-century English social life

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting strong suspense or fast-paced plotting
Readers who prefer contemporary subjects and lack patience for old-era social settings
Readers who need a Chinese translation and are unwilling to read the English original at all

Reading tips

Read the first few chapters to establish character relationships, then proceed chapter by chapter without rushing.
Mark local expressions as you go and look them up after finishing a chapter to keep reading smooth.
Treat each of the protagonist's decisions as a case and think about what you would choose.
After finishing, revisit the opening and compare the character's changed circumstances to appreciate the author's ironic touch.

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

How difficult is the English in this book?

It is a moderately easy English original, with mostly short and medium sentences and clear narration, plus occasional early twentieth-century local usages and period terms. With a dictionary you can finish it smoothly; it suits readers with some English foundation who want to try an original novel.

Can I read this without having read other works by Bennett?

Yes. This is a standalone story that does not depend on prior events from the author's other works; you can understand the characters and plot from the start, and if you like the style, you can seek out Bennett's other novels afterward.

What is the edition situation of this e-book?

The book comes from Project Gutenberg and is a free public-domain e-book; the text is the English original, with publication information listed as 2019. The electronic edition is easy to search and carry, but layout and notes vary by platform, so browse the table of contents first to confirm the chapter structure.

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