Little Pilgrimages Among the Men Who Have Written Famous Books

Harkins, E. F. (Edward Francis), 1872-Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.8

Word count: 256K words
Chapters: 26

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.Little Pilgrimages Among the Men Who Have Written Famous Books by E. F. HarkinsAuthor: Harkins, E. F. (Edward Francis), 1872-,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: May 7, 2014

Editor's review

This book comes from Project Gutenberg's public-domain ebook library and falls under the category of author commentary in American and Canadian literature. Taking "little pilgrimages" as its thread, the author visits or recalls the literary figures who wrote famous books, weaving biographical anecdotes together with appreciations of their works. The tone is warm and familiar, carrying the unhurried ease of literary essays from the late nineteenth to early twentieth century. Its value lies not in offering systematic conclusions about literary history, but in letting readers enter the living scenes of classic authors through a side door: their studies, friendships, writing habits, and the atmosphere of their times. For readers familiar with the Anglo-American literary lineage, it is like a browsable "guide to the back gardens of writers"; for those just beginning to encounter the classics, its storytelling touch lowers the sense of distance. Such a book need not be read for plot momentum; it suits slow reading in scattered moments, treating each author as an independent small visit, and afterward turning back to compare with their representative works to appreciate the resonance between commentary and text.

Who it's for

A good fit for

General readers interested in anecdotes about the lives of classic Anglo-American authors
Those who want an easy, essayistic entry into reading literary history
Readers who enjoy public-domain ebooks and habitual fragmented reading
Literature enthusiasts who need author background material for extended reading

Not a good fit for

Researchers who need a systematic framework of literary history and academic verification
Readers who prefer strongly plotted novels or fast-paced narratives
Beginners lacking patience for nineteenth-century essayistic prose

Reading tips

Start with entries on familiar authors in the table of contents, then gradually expand to unfamiliar names.
After finishing each author's chapter, leaf through passages from their representative works for comparison.
Treat the book as a collection of short essays for bedtime or commuting; no need to finish it in one sitting.

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 literary criticism?

It is closer to author commentary and literary essays, recalling literary figures who wrote famous books and interweaving biographical anecdotes with appreciation of their works. It is neither a fictional novel nor a rigorously systematic academic monograph.

Can I read it without a foundation in Anglo-American literature?

Yes. The author's tone is warm and focuses on storytelling and impressions of people, without relying on specialized terminology. If you encounter an unfamiliar author, you can skip ahead or look up their representative works afterward; the barrier to entry is not high.

What should I note when reading the electronic edition?

This is a Project Gutenberg public-domain ebook, and the original English formatting is rather plain. It is advisable to use reading software that supports font-size adjustment and word lookup. You can mark unfamiliar author names as you go and look up background information after finishing a chapter.

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

Harkins, E. F. (Edward Francis), 1872- Author · American · 1872

E. F. Harkins (Edward Francis Harkins, born 1872) was an American writer and editor. Public information about his life is limited; he is known chiefly for biographical sketches and essays on men of letters, and two of his works are held in the collection. In Little Pilgrimages Among the Men Who Have Written Famous Books, he makes small “pilgrimages” to the lives and writing surroundings of authors of famous books, combining biographical detail with the charm of the familiar essay. Famous Authors gathers profiles of well-known writers in plain prose, linking each figure’s experience to the background of his work. Writing for general readers, Harkins turns literary history into readable personal narrative and helps readers see classic works in relation to the authors who produced them.