Icebound: A Play

Davis, Owen, 1874-1956Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.8

Word count: 108K words
Chapters: 11

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.Icebound: A Play by Owen DavisAuthor: Davis, Owen, 1874-1956,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Jun 18, 2019

Editor's review

Icebound is a one-act or short play by the American playwright Owen Davis, reissued as a free e-book by Project Gutenberg. As a piece of early twentieth-century American drama, its value lies not in a convoluted plot but in offering a window onto the playwriting style of that era. Readers can observe how early commercial theater handled dialogue, scene setting and the escalation of conflict, which is of some reference value to those studying American theater history or writing plays. The Project Gutenberg edition is easy to search and quote on electronic devices and is suitable as supplementary reading for drama or literature courses. Because it is a public-domain e-book, the text itself has no modern notes or introduction, so readers need some background knowledge. Overall, it is a work suited to light reading by theater enthusiasts and literary researchers; one should not expect a strong modern reading thrill.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in American theater history or early twentieth-century plays
Drama and film students using it as supplementary course reading
Writers and researchers who need public-domain English play texts
Readers who enjoy short stage plays and want to understand early commercial theater style

Not a good fit for

General readers expecting strong plots and fast-paced modern stories
Beginners in English who need detailed notes and introductions
Readers uninterested in dramatic form who want only novels

Reading tips

First learn a little about the American commercial theater background of Owen Davis, then enter the text.
Read the lines aloud to appreciate the rhythm of the play as a text for stage performance.
Pay attention to stage directions and character action cues while reading; they often reveal the author’s stage intentions.
If using it for research, take comparative notes alongside materials on American theater history.

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 a novel or a play?

It is a play, a work of dramatic literature, not a novel. It consists of dialogue and stage directions, so it is read differently from a novel and is better suited to imagining a stage performance or reading aloud.

What are the features of the Project Gutenberg edition?

Project Gutenberg provides free public-domain e-books, mainly in the original English, usually without modern introductions or notes. The advantage is easy access and searchability; the disadvantage is the lack of supporting reading material.

Can I understand it without a background in drama?

Yes, but you need to get used to the format of a play: character names followed by dialogue, with stage directions in parentheses. Readers with good English can read it directly; if it feels difficult, read a Chinese play first to become familiar with the form.

Comments

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About the author

Davis, Owen, 1874-1956 Author

Owen Davis (1874–1956) was an American playwright, with two of his works held in this collection. Public information about him is limited, and biographical details are difficult to verify, yet the surviving titles reveal the character of his writing. Icebound: A Play is a dramatic work set in an icy environment, centering on family and interpersonal relations and displaying the tension and dialogue characteristic of stage drama; Lola is likewise a play, with its own focus in subject matter and character relationships. Both works show that Davis wrote primarily in dramatic form, attending to scene setting and human conflict, with language suited to stage performance and useful for both reading and production reference. His works are representative of twentieth-century American theatre and offer insight into the structure and appeal of popular drama of his time.