Fanny Campbell, The Female Pirate Captain: A Tale of The Revolution

Ballou, Maturin Murray, 1820-1895Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.9

Word count: 268K words
Chapters: 27

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.Fanny Campbell, The Female Pirate Captain: A Tale of The Revolution by BallouAuthor: Ballou, Maturin Murray, 1820-1895,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Nov 22, 2014

Editor's review

Fanny Campbell, The Female Pirate Captain is an adventure romance set during the American Revolution by the American writer Maturin Murray Ballou. The title points to its central appeal: a woman caught up in the turmoil of the revolutionary era as a pirate captain. Such narrative was representative of nineteenth-century American popular literature, combining sea adventure, gender transgression, and patriotic themes, with direct plotting and strongly active characters. As a public-domain eBook from Project Gutenberg, it is easy to obtain and serves as a sample of early American popular fiction. While reading, notice how the author handles the then-challenging premise of a woman in command, and how the revolutionary setting serves the adventure narrative. This is the original English text, and the language bears the marks of its period; follow the main plot rather than dwelling on individual archaic expressions.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English-speaking readers interested in adventure stories set in the American Revolution
Readers studying nineteenth-century American popular literature and gender narrative
General readers who enjoy tales of pirates, seafaring, and cross-dressing adventure
Self-learners in need of public-domain English texts for extensive reading

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking a Chinese translation or bilingual edition
Readers impatient with archaic English and preferring modern narrative
History readers who require strict factual accuracy rather than romanticized adaptation

Reading tips

Familiarize yourself with the basic timeline of the American Revolution before starting; the story will flow more smoothly.
Focus on the heroine's choices and note how gender and power are handled.
Skim unfamiliar nautical terms and prioritize plot progression and character relationships.

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 the story based on a real historical figure?

This is a romantic novel by Ballou; although the title points to the revolutionary era, the source material indicates it should be treated as literature rather than history. Read it as an adventure narrative set against a period background, not as a factual record of the Revolution to be cited directly.

How difficult is the English? Is it suitable for beginners?

This is a nineteenth-century English original whose sentence patterns and vocabulary bear period features, and it also involves nautical and military terms, posing a challenge for beginners. It suits readers with intermediate or higher reading ability who are willing to use a dictionary; beginners may start with a plot summary before attempting the original.

How is this different from ordinary pirate novels?

Its distinction lies in placing a female captain in the setting of the American Revolution and combining sea adventure with patriotic narrative. It reflects the bold imagination of gender roles in nineteenth-century American popular literature rather than being a pirate adventure genre novel in the modern sense.

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About the author

Ballou, Maturin Murray, 1820-1895 Author

Maturin Murray Ballou (1820-1895) was a nineteenth-century American author, with nineteen of his works held in this library. Public information about him is limited, and the details of his life are difficult to ascertain, yet his subjects reveal a writer of wide interests in travel and biography. He wrote travel accounts such as Aztec Land, Due West: Or, Round the World in Ten Months, and Due North: Or, Glimpses of Scandinavia and Russia, recording foreign landscapes and journeys. He also produced A History of Cuba and The Pearl of India, showing attention to tropical regions and colonial history. His output includes popular fiction such as Fanny Campbell, the Female Pirate Captain, set in the Revolutionary era, and a biography of Rev. Hosea Ballou. His plain, readable prose combines observation with narrative appeal, and his works are also classified under inspirational growth.