Excuse Me!

Rupert Raleigh HughesProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 349K words
Chapters: 35

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.Excuse Me! by Rupert HughesAuthor: Hughes, Rupert, 1872-1956,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Aug 29, 2012

Editor's review

Excuse Me! is a novel by the American writer Rupert Hughes, belonging to the category of American and Canadian literature, and is now reissued as a free eBook by Project Gutenberg. Hughes's writing often carries a light, humorous tone, skillfully advancing the plot through misunderstandings and conversations in everyday social situations, and this work is no exception: the title itself reads like a social phrase repeatedly interrupted, hinting at the endless misalignments and maneuvering among the characters. For readers familiar with early twentieth-century American popular fiction, this book offers a window into the urban life, relations between the sexes, and linguistic play of the period; for readers new to Hughes, it also serves well as an introduction to his narrative style. The book is in the original English, and its length suits reading in installments during commutes, travel, or leisure, without any need to finish it in one sitting—it can be enjoyed as a period-flavored entertainment novel, savoring its conversational rhythm and the manners of its characters.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy early twentieth-century American popular fiction
Readers who want to read English-language public-domain books for free
Learners who wish to experience English dialogue and social humor through fiction

Not a good fit for

Readers who only want to read a Chinese translation
Readers expecting serious literature or profound social critique
Beginners who have significant difficulty reading English originals

Reading tips

Read the opening chapters first to get familiar with the characters and dialogue style, then proceed chapter by chapter.
Jot down colloquial expressions as you go to build a store of early English social phrases.
Use the eBook's search function to review character relationships and avoid confusion amid dense dialogue.
Read it in installments as light entertainment; there is no need to read it straight through.

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 in Chinese or English?

This is an English-language original novel published by Project Gutenberg. There is no Chinese translation in the book, so reading it requires some English proficiency.

What is Project Gutenberg?

Project Gutenberg is an early project providing free eBooks, founded by Michael Hart in 1971. This book is one of the free eBook resources offered by the project.

Is it suitable for learning English?

It can serve as extensive reading material; the book contains a lot of dialogue and exposes you to early English colloquial expressions. But it is, after all, a novel from a century ago, and some usages differ from contemporary English, so reading it with annotations or a dictionary is recommended.

Comments

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About the author

Rupert Raleigh Hughes Author · American · 1872–1956

Rupert Hughes (Hughes, Rupert, 1872–1956), born Rupert Raleigh Hughes, was an American novelist, playwright, screenwriter and music historian. Born in Lancaster, Missouri, he wrote more than fifty books over his lifetime, working across fiction, drama and music history. His novels range widely: In a Little Town and What Will People Say? A Novel portray small-town American life and manners, while The Cup of Fury: A Novel of Cities and Shipyards is a social novel set among cities and shipyards, and The Dozen from Lakerim was written for younger readers. In music history he wrote Contemporary American Composers and the two-volume The Love Affairs of Great Musicians, which recounts the lives and loves of musicians in an accessible style. Several of his novels were adapted into silent films, and his works also include a three-volume biography of George Washington.