Jonah

Stone, Louis, 1871-1935Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.7

Word count: 421K words
Chapters: 43

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.Jonah by Louis StoneAuthor: Stone, Louis, 1871-1935,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Jan 1, 2003

Editor's review

Jonah is one of the representative works of the Australian writer Louis Stone and belongs to English-language fiction about lower-class city life. The novel follows the growth and circumstances of its protagonist, Jonah; the writing stays close to the daily life of the streets, and the characters' speech has a strong local flavor, giving the reading a rough, authentic texture. Its value lies not in ingenious plotting but in its observation of an urban marginal group in a particular era: making a living, currying favor, struggle, and occasional kindness interweave into a picture of city life that is not tender but honest enough. As a public-domain ebook it serves as an introductory text to the early face of Australian literature and suits readers interested in narratives of the urban lower classes. The English original contains dialect and colloquial expression, which may take some getting used to. Overall it is an old work that requires patience to enter but offers a distinctive view of region and class.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in Australian literature and lower-class urban subjects
English learners who want to encounter early colloquial speech through an original novel
Readers who like realistic, character-driven narrative

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking strong plot and fast pacing
Beginners who struggle with English dialect and colloquial speech and need extensive notes
Readers expecting a warm, inspirational coming-of-age story

Reading tips

Read the opening pages first to get used to the colloquial language, then proceed gradually.
Note differences in the characters' word choices to sense class and regional markers.
Sort out the main characters' relationships and means of livelihood as you read.
After each chapter, briefly retell the plot to check that you are keeping up.

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

How difficult is the language in this book?

The text is the English original and contains a good deal of colloquial and regional expression, making it moderately to considerably difficult overall. Readers with experience of original novels can try it; those with weaker English should use a dictionary or choose an annotated edition.

What kind of story does Jonah tell?

The novel focuses on the daily life and circumstances of lower-class city people, presenting with realistic technique their situations in making a living, in personal relations, and in moving between classes. It is not a tale of romantic adventure but a cool observation of city life; for details, consult the text itself.

Does this electronic edition include a Chinese translation?

No. This edition is released by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain English ebook and comes with no Chinese translation or introductory notes. Readers who need Chinese should look for a separate translation.

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About the author

Stone, Louis, 1871-1935 Author · Australian · 1871–1935

Louis Stone (1871–1935) was an Australian writer. Public information about his life is limited; what can be confirmed is that he was born in 1871 and died in 1935, his life spanning the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Stone is known for his novel Jonah, which depicts working-class life in Sydney. The book focuses on the circumstances of people on the margins of urban society, with a style close to everyday reality, showing a sustained concern for ordinary workers and the lower classes. Besides novels, he also wrote plays, and his work covered different literary forms. Although few of his works survive and only one is held in this collection, the picture of Sydney's lower-class life presented in Jonah gives him a place in Australian literature and offers later readers a literary window into another side of urban society at the time.