The Burden

Georg EngelProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 322K words
Chapters: 33

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.Die Last by Georg EngelAuthor: Engel, Georg, 1866-1931,Language: German, Class: PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures, Release Date: Apr 22, 2006

Editor's review

Die Last is a German-language literary work by Georg Engel (1866–1931), prepared by Project Gutenberg as a free eBook. Engel was active in the German literary world from the late 19th to the early 20th century; his works often attend to social realities and individual circumstances, and this book belongs to that vein. For Chinese readers, its main value lies in providing reading material in the original German, useful for observing the linguistic style, structural arrangement, and thematic concerns of German narrative literature of the period. Given limited information, one should not over-infer about plot or artistic achievement; a more prudent reading is to treat it as a public-domain German document, using it as a supplementary text in language study, German literary history courses, or comparative literature research. Reading requires German proficiency, and attention should be paid to differences between German expression a century ago and modern usage; annotations or teacher guidance are advisable.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers with German reading ability who wish to engage with public-domain German literature
German language and literature students who need original texts as supplementary course reading
Researchers studying German narrative literature of the late 19th to early 20th century
Readers interested in Project Gutenberg's German-language resources

Not a good fit for

General readers with no German who need a Chinese translation
Readers expecting contemporary bestseller-style plotting and fast-paced narrative
Beginners who need detailed author biography and background annotations

Reading tips

First learn about Engel's era and the German literary context, then enter the text to reduce comprehension barriers.
Mark unfamiliar vocabulary and sentence patterns while reading, and work through passages section by section with a German dictionary.
Read in comparison with works by other German writers of the same period to observe similarities and differences in narrative style.
If used for a course, close-read selected chapters and discuss linguistic features and thematic presentation.

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 the original German text released by Project Gutenberg; no information about a Chinese translation is mentioned. Chinese readers who wish to read it need German proficiency to read the original directly, or must find a translation through other publishing channels. It is advisable not to assume a ready Chinese edition exists, to avoid disappointment.

What kind of writer is Georg Engel?

The information only shows that Engel lived from 1866 to 1931 and was a German-language writer, with this book as one of his works. Beyond that, no biographical details, literary school affiliation, or representative works are provided. Readers seeking deeper understanding should consult German literary histories or author studies, and should not over-infer from this book's description alone.

What language level is needed to read this German book?

The language is German from a century ago, with vocabulary and sentence patterns that differ from modern German. At least intermediate German reading ability is recommended, with the ability to use a dictionary to understand long sentences and literary expression. Beginners who force themselves through it may lose interest due to language barriers; they might start with short chapters or bilingual materials to gradually adapt to the style.

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About the author

Georg Engel Author · German · 1866–1931

Georg Engel (Georg Julius Leopold Engel, 1866–1931) was a German writer, playwright and literary critic, born in Greifswald and died in Berlin. A longtime figure in German literary and theatrical circles, he served as art and drama critic for the Berliner Tageblatt and as chairman of the Reichsverband deutscher Literatur. He wrote twenty-one novels and eleven plays, among them Die Herrin und ihr Knecht, Claus Störtebecker, Die Last and Hann Klüth: Roman; four of his works are held in this collection. Public information about him is limited, so the themes and style of his works cannot be described in detail; the titles above suggest that he worked in both the novel and the stage play, writing about human fate and social circumstances as well as historical and legendary subjects, and that he had a certain influence on the German literary world of his time.