Literary Shrines: The Haunts of Some Famous American Authors

Theodore F. WolfeProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.9

Word count: 243K words
Chapters: 25

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.Literary Shrines: The Haunts of Some Famous American Authors by Theodore F. WolfeAuthor: Wolfe, Theodore F. (Theodore Frelinghuysen), 1847-1915,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Feb 17, 2012

Editor's review

This book is Theodore F. Wolfe's record of visits to the homes and writing places of several famous American authors, a classic example of literary geography. Its value lies not in offering complete biographies but in restoring works to specific spaces: houses, studies, streets, and natural surroundings, letting readers see how literature grows out of everyday dwellings. Written from the travel perspective of the late nineteenth to early twentieth century, the prose has the ease of a travelogue and a warmth of nostalgia. It can serve American literature scholars as supporting evidence for reception history and spatial studies, and general readers can follow it to understand the hidden connections between writers' lives and works. Read it as a slow-paced "literary map": after becoming familiar with a writer, turn to the corresponding chapter for a more concrete experience. Readers who enjoy textual scholarship or primary sources can also use it as a lead to public-domain documents.

Who it's for

A good fit for

American literature enthusiasts who want to understand the relationship between writers' living spaces and their works
General readers who enjoy literary geography and writers' home travelogues
Scholars studying the reception history of American literature and nineteenth-century travel writing
Readers with good English proficiency willing to read public-domain English originals

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking systematic author biographies or in-depth analysis of works
Professional researchers who prefer contemporary literary theory or critical methods
Beginning readers who struggle with English and need a Chinese translation

Reading tips

Start with chapters on American authors you already know, then gradually expand to others.
Read alongside a map or author chronology to connect places, dates, and works.
Use it as background reading before a trip and plan a literary tour route based on the locations in the book.
After reading, revisit the representative works of the authors covered to appreciate how spatial description echoes the text.

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 in Chinese or English?

This is an English public-domain book from Project Gutenberg. The main text is in English, with no Chinese translation included. It suits readers with some English reading ability or those who wish to engage directly with the original English text.

Can I understand it without having read the authors covered?

You can read it, but the experience will be diminished. The book revolves around authors' homes and living scenes; without familiarity with the authors and their works, you may see only descriptions of places and miss the literary connections. It is advisable to start with chapters on authors you know, or supplement with short biographies as you read.

Is this book suitable as a travel guide?

It can serve as background reading for literary visits, but it was written long ago, and current conditions, transportation, and opening information have changed. It cannot replace a modern travel guide. It is better used to understand the historical atmosphere of writers' living spaces, then plan itineraries with current information.

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

Theodore F. Wolfe Author · American · 1847

Theodore F. Wolfe (born 1847) was an American physician and writer. Public information about him is limited, and the details of his life are now difficult to trace, yet his contributions to literary writing can still be seen in the works that survive. Two of his books are held in the collection, both devoted to visiting the former homes of famous authors: Literary Shrines and A Literary Pilgrimage Among the Haunts of Famous British Authors. These travel narratives combine the observations of a traveler with anecdotes from the lives of writers, leading readers into the places where British and American authors lived and worked, and offering both a guide and a literary pleasure. Wolfe's merit lies in preserving the settings of writers' lives through firsthand visits, allowing readers to sense the atmosphere of literary tradition in old houses and streets. Such writing was popular among English-speaking readers in the late nineteenth century and offered a model for later literary geography and biographical writing about authors.