Die Tänzerin Barberina: Roman aus der Zeit Friedrich des Grossen

Paul, Adolf, 1863-1943Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.8
Word count
684K words
Chapters
69

Tags

Foreign Language Books Historical Fiction Fate of FiguresLegendary LivesPalace IntriguePower GameLove TriangleDancer's LifeTurbulent EraGerman LiteratureFrederick the Great Era

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 Tänzerin Barberina: Roman aus der Zeit Friedrich des Grossen by Adolf PaulAuthor: Paul, Adolf, 1863-1943,Language: German, Class: PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures, Release Date: Jan 27, 2016

Editor's review

Adolf Paul's German historical novel is set in the age of Frederick the Great and centers on the dancer Barberina, intertwining authentic historical atmosphere with the fate of a fictional character in popular historical narrative. Its readability comes from the evocation of period settings and the tension of the protagonist's situation: court taste, artistic life, and the order of power entangle with one another, and the dancer's position lets her approach the center while remaining watched and arranged. As a public-domain Project Gutenberg e-book, it suits German readers as an entry point into how German historical fiction was written from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century, and readers interested in Prussian court themes. Read it with attention to how the author uses individual fate to reflect the spirit of the age, rather than treating the plot as strict historical fact. The German text carries a period feel; advance chapter by chapter and keep track of character relationships.

Who it's for

A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. Map the main characters and court relationships before entering the plot; this noticeably lowers reading resistance.
  2. Read chapter by chapter and summarize events in one or two sentences in German or Chinese at the end of each to prevent confusion over character threads.
  3. Treat historical background as atmosphere rather than test material; look up uncertain facts separately.
  4. If German reading is difficult, read background introductions to the era in Chinese first, then return to the original.

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.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67
  68. 68
  69. 69

FAQ

Is this book suitable for German beginners? Not very suitable for beginners. The text is a German historical novel with a period feel and considerable narrative description; attempt it after reaching intermediate German reading ability.
Is Barberina a real historical figure? The novel is set in the age of Frederick the Great, and Barberina is the dancer around whom the work centers; the specific plot is literary narrative and should not be cited directly as historical fact.
Do I need to know Prussian history before reading? Systematic knowledge is not necessary, but a basic background in the age of Frederick the Great helps; at least knowing the general relationship between court and artistic life will make the protagonist's situation easier to understand.

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About the author

Paul, Adolf, 1863-1943 Author · Finnish · 1863–1943

Adolf Paul (1863–1943) was a Finland-Swedish writer and playwright. Public information about his early life and education is limited, but it is confirmed that he wrote both fiction and drama and moved in cultural circles that included the composer Sibelius. Two of his works are held in the collection: Das heilige Donnerwetter, a historical novel about the Prussian general Blücher, and Die Tänzerin Barberina, a novel set in the age of Frederick the Great centering on the dancer Barberina. These works suggest a preference for European historical figures and courtly life, with attention to individual fate and period atmosphere and a narrative style marked by dramatic color. His writing built a bridge between Finland-Swedish literature and German-language readers.