Hermann: A Novel

E. Werner (Elisabeth Bürstenbinder)Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 181K words
Chapters: 19

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.Hermann: A Novel by E. WernerAuthor: Werner, E., 1838-1918,Language: English, Class: PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures, Release Date: Feb 2, 2011

Editor's review

Hermann is an English novel classified under Germanic and Scandinavian literatures, by E. Werner, an author active in the late nineteenth century. Its value lies in offering a sample of how German popular fiction of the period was translated and introduced to the English-speaking world: character relationships and plot development carry a distinctly period flavor, with moral conflict and family ethics as common driving forces. For general readers, it is better suited as a window onto nineteenth-century European popular narrative than as a work to be read for modern reading pleasure. The Project Gutenberg edition allows full-text searching and is useful for researchers comparing translated names, sentence patterns, and narrative conventions. When reading, pay attention to how the narrator evaluates characters' choices and to the translator's decisions in handling German cultural background; these details reveal the text's documentary value more than the plot itself.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers studying the English translation and reception of nineteenth-century German novels
Readers interested in the history of European popular literature and family-ethics themes
English-language readers who can accept an old-fashioned translated style and read from a documentary perspective
Researchers who need public-domain English novels for edition or translation comparison

Not a good fit for

General readers seeking modern suspense or fast-paced plots
Readers who need an authoritative Chinese translation or a heavily annotated edition
Readers entirely unfamiliar with nineteenth-century European social background who are unwilling to fill in the context

Reading tips

Read the opening chapters first to grasp the character relationships and narrative pace, then decide whether to read closely or skim.
Note German forms of address and cultural terms retained in the translation, and record how the translator handles them, for translation research.
Read it alongside other English translations of German novels from the same period, comparing plot patterns and differences in moral didacticism.
If reading only for the story, skim the main line; if doing research, take chapter-by-chapter notes on the narrator's comments.

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

What is the background of the novel's author?

The materials show only that the author is E. Werner, with dates 1838–1918, and that the work is classified under Germanic and Scandinavian literatures. Further biographical detail is not in the given materials and should not be guessed. Readers may regard the author as a writer of late nineteenth-century German popular fiction; specific experiences require other sources.

Is the English translation difficult to read?

The text has the style of a nineteenth-century translation: sentences tend to be long and cultural background terms are numerous, but the plot threads are usually clear. College-level English is enough to read it through; when encountering German forms of address, skip them first and return after finishing the chapter.

Is it suitable as material for translation research?

It works well as a case study. The public-domain electronic text is easy to search and can be used to observe the handling of names, forms of address, and cultural terms, but note that this edition has no translator's note or annotations, so conclusions should be limited to internal textual evidence.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

E. Werner (Elisabeth Bürstenbinder) Author · German · 1838–1918

E. Werner, the pen name of Elisabeth Bürstenbinder (1838–1918), was a German novelist. She was born in Berlin in 1838 and died in Merano in 1918. In 1870 she attracted attention with her novel Hermann, and went on to write works such as Vineta, The Sacred Vow, and The Unconquerable. The library holds 19 of her works, including The Northern Light, The Sign of Flame, Vineta, the Phantom City, A Hero of the Pen, Danira, and the two volumes of Riven Bonds. Her works are often classified as inspirational coming-of-age fiction, and many have been translated into English. Public information about her life and writing career is limited, but it is clear that she excelled at long-form narrative, often centering on faith, personal growth, and fate, and that she gained some attention among German readers and through English translations.