Homeward Bound; or, The Chase: A Tale of the Sea

Cooper, James Fenimore, 1789-1851Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.3
Word count
992K words
Chapters
100

Tags

English Originals Foreign Literature Suspense ThrillerSea AdventureSeafaring LifeFamily BondsVengeance and GratitudeThrilling PlotJianghu FeudHeroismFlight and PursuitAmerican Literature

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.Homeward Bound; Or, the Chase: A Tale of the Sea by James Fenimore CooperAuthor: Cooper, James Fenimore, 1789-1851,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Feb 1, 2006

Editor's review

Homeward Bound; Or, the Chase: A Tale of the Sea is one of Cooper's more representative sea novels. An important early figure in American literature, Cooper here fuses nautical detail, suspenseful pursuit, and a cast of characters, extending his gift for adventure narrative while using the sea voyage to reflect social relations and tests of human nature. Written in English and moderate in length, the book drives its plot through maritime events and characters' choices, making it a suitable introduction to nineteenth-century American sea literature and to Cooper's craft. This Project Gutenberg edition is a public-domain ebook, easy to search and carry for reading on the go. Readers may note the author's descriptions of sea conditions, shipboard operations, and crew life; these details give the work its distinctive instructional interest and offer a reference point for understanding Cooper's other celebrated sea novels. The book suits readers with a foundation in English reading and an interest in nautical subjects, to be read in segments during commutes or holidays while experiencing the rhythm of classic adventure narrative.

Who it's for

A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. Read the opening chapters first to become familiar with the characters and the ship's setup, then proceed in segments by maritime event
  2. Look up nautical terms as needed rather than dwelling on every word, keeping the reading rhythm
  3. Read alongside the broader context of Cooper's sea novels, comparing similarities and differences in narrative technique
  4. Set a fixed goal of one or two chapters a day, pausing at plot turns to review 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.

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
  70. 70
  71. 71
  72. 72
  73. 73
  74. 74
  75. 75
  76. 76
  77. 77
  78. 78
  79. 79
  80. 80
  81. 81
  82. 82
  83. 83
  84. 84
  85. 85
  86. 86
  87. 87
  88. 88
  89. 89
  90. 90
  91. 91
  92. 92
  93. 93
  94. 94
  95. 95
  96. 96
  97. 97
  98. 98
  99. 99
  100. 100

FAQ

Is this book in Chinese or English? This is an English public-domain ebook released by Project Gutenberg, with the main text in English. Readers with some English proficiency can read it directly; beginners may use a dictionary or bilingual aids.
Can I understand it without nautical knowledge? Yes. Although the book contains many nautical terms and shipboard descriptions, the core plot advances through character relationships and suspenseful pursuit; general readers can follow the main thread without mastering navigation.
Is this book suitable as an introduction to Cooper? It is one suitable entry point for understanding Cooper's maritime subjects. Its length and plot are relatively concentrated, and it reflects the author's interest in life at sea and adventure narrative; for a fuller picture of Cooper, read his better-known works for comparison.

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

Cooper, James Fenimore, 1789-1851 Author

James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851) was an American novelist, with 47 works held in this collection. He is best known for the Leatherstocking Tales, among which The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757 is the most widely read; the series also includes The Pioneers, The Pathfinder, and The Deerslayer, all centered on frontier and wilderness life. Cooper's fiction often draws on the North American frontier, the sea, and historical events, with intricate plots and vivid characters, and it has had a lasting influence on later American adventure and frontier novels. Some of his works are classified here under inspirational growth. Because public information is limited, biographical details are omitted, and this introduction focuses on his subjects, style, and influence.