The People of Marriage

Mackay, John Henry, 1864-1933Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 91K words
Chapters: 10

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 Menschen der Ehe by John Henry MackayAuthor: Mackay, John Henry, 1864-1933,Language: German, Class: PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures, Release Date: Jan 15, 2005

Editor's review

Die Menschen der Ehe is a work written in German by John Henry Mackay and made available on a public-domain e-book platform as a German-language literary text. Judging by the title and the author's intellectual background, it centers on people and relationships in marriage and carries the individualist and socially critical spirit of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Its value lies in offering a literary window onto the era's views of marriage, the situation of the sexes, and the tension with personal freedom, its language and themes bearing a distinct mark of the time. For readers studying German literature, the history of social thought, or changes in the institution of marriage, it is a primary text worth close reading. Readers should not expect light narrative entertainment but should understand it within the intellectual context of the author's era, noting the value positions behind its argument and narrative. Readers of the original German will better appreciate the nuances of its tone and wording.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers studying German literature and late nineteenth-century social thought
Readers interested in the historical evolution of marriage and ideas about the sexes
Readers with German reading ability who enjoy intellectually substantive texts
Researchers collecting public-domain German texts for courses or papers

Not a good fit for

Casual readers seeking light plot-driven fiction
Readers with no German who are unwilling to use a translation
Practical readers seeking a contemporary marriage guide or psychological advice

Reading tips

Begin by learning about the intellectual background of the author's era before turning to the main text.
Note the book's core arguments about marriage and the individual as you read, for easier review.
Readers who struggle with German can follow a reliable translation, then return to the original to savor the wording.
Read it alongside other German social-critical works of the same period for comparison.

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 discursive work?

The available information only identifies it as a German-language literary text and does not specify the genre. Given the title and the author's intellectual leanings, the work centers on people in marriage and may combine narrative and argument. Readers should rely on the actual content of the original and not assume it belongs to a single genre.

Can I read this book without any German?

Reading the original directly would present considerable obstacles. It is advisable to first find a reliable translation to understand the content, then consult the German original as needed. A translation suffices if you only want the main ideas; language or textual research requires the relevant German proficiency.

Is this book suitable for academic research?

It can serve as a primary source for research on German literature, the history of ideas about marriage, or the history of social thought, and is especially useful for examining the relationship between late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century individualism and marriage. When using it, note the edition information and contextualize your reading with secondary research.

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About the author

Mackay, John Henry, 1864-1933 Author

John Henry Mackay (1864–1933) was a German-language writer active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Public information about his life and nationality is limited, and only two of his works are currently held in the collection. His representative works, Die Menschen der Ehe and Der Schwimmer, show his attention to the human condition within marriage and to the situation and actions of the individual in water; his themes often revolve around the tension between social norms and personal freedom. His style tends to carry abstract reflection through concrete scenes of everyday life, with restrained language and little embellishment. Given the limited material, a full account of his development as a writer is difficult, yet his works occupy a place in German-language literary discussion of marriage and the individual, and merit close reading of the texts themselves.