Madeleine cover

Madeleine

Rating 3.0
Word count
637K words
Chapters
64

Tags

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.Madeleine by Paul de KockAuthor: Kock, Paul de, 1793-1871,Language: French, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Apr 24, 2010

Editor's review

This is the novel Madeleine by the French author Paul de Kock, released free of charge in the original French by Project Gutenberg. Kock was a representative writer of nineteenth-century French popular fiction, known for his depictions of social manners and lively narration; this book likewise continues his close observation of urban life and human relationships. As a public-domain e-book, its value lies first in ease of access: readers can read the authentic French text at no cost, making it suitable for examining nineteenth-century French narrative language and the thematic tastes of popular literature. Readers should not expect profound social critique; it is better treated as a window onto the reading tastes of the French bourgeoisie of the time. Because this is a scanned and compiled electronic text, there are occasional typographical omissions, so checking against other editions is recommended. Overall, this is a work suited to French learners and fans of popular literature for casual reading, rather than a first-choice base text for scholarly research.

Who it's for

A good fit for

  • Learners with some French reading ability who want to practice a long text in the original
  • Readers interested in nineteenth-century French popular fiction and social-manners themes
  • Researchers who need a free public-domain French text for corpus work or edition comparison
  • Casual readers who enjoy lively narration and do not seek heavy themes

Not a good fit for

  • General readers who cannot read French and are used only to Chinese translations
  • Readers expecting profound social critique or the depth of classic literature
  • Academic writers who need a carefully edited authoritative edition for citation and textual verification

Reading tips

  1. Read the first three chapters first to grasp the character relationships and narrative pace, then decide whether to read the whole book.
  2. Keep a French dictionary at hand and note nineteenth-century colloquial expressions and archaic usage as you go.
  3. Compare with English or Chinese translations of other works by Kock to appreciate the language style of popular fiction.
  4. If you encounter typographical errors or omissions, mark their locations and check them against other public-domain editions.

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

FAQ

Is this book in Chinese or French?
This is the original French text, released by Project Gutenberg, with no Chinese translation included. Some French proficiency is needed before reading; otherwise comprehension will be difficult.
Can Project Gutenberg books be read for free?
Yes. Project Gutenberg is one of the earliest projects to offer free e-books, and this book is a public-domain work that readers can obtain and read free of charge; specific use must follow the project's general terms for public-domain texts.
What kind of writer was Paul de Kock?
He was a nineteenth-century French popular novelist whose works mostly depict urban social manners and bourgeois life, with lively narration. This book follows that vein and is useful for understanding the reading tastes of popular literature of the time.

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About the author

Paul de Kock (1793–1871) was a French writer whose biography and education are poorly documented in public sources; the library holds no confirmed details of his nationality or dates beyond his name. The Chinese book site currently lists twenty-one of his works, including The Milkmaid of Montfermeil, Monsieur Cherami, Jean, The Bath Keepers; or, Paris in Those Days, The White House, My Neighbor Raymond, Paul and His Dog, and Madeleine. His writing draws on everyday life in nineteenth-century French towns and countryside, with brisk plots, vivid characters, a humorous tone and a touch of social satire, often centering on the fortunes and feelings of ordinary people. The library classifies his works under inspirational growth, reflecting how Chinese readers tend to receive them through the lens of personal destiny and life experience.

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