Marathon

Betz, Gerardus Henri, 1850-1900Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.5

Word count: 232K words
Chapters: 24

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.Marathon by Gerardus Henri BetzAuthor: Betz, Gerardus Henri, 1850-1900,Language: Dutch, Class: PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures, Release Date: Sep 5, 2010

Editor's review

This is a Dutch-language work on the marathon by Betz, an author who lived in the second half of the nineteenth century and whose writing bears a distinct mark of its era. Released by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain ebook, its main barrier to entry is language rather than length. For readers studying early writing on the marathon, nineteenth-century European sporting culture, or sports themes in Dutch literature, it offers a raw textual sample. Its value lies not in modern training methods but in conveying the feel and concerns of premodern sports narrative. Read it as an intersection of historical source and literature, noting how the author describes long-distance running, endurance, and the competitive spirit. As an electronic edition, it is text-centered and suits slow reading on a screen or e-reader, ideally with annotation tools.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Scholars studying nineteenth-century European sports writing and early narratives of the marathon
Readers with Dutch reading ability and an interest in sports literature
Ebook enthusiasts collecting public-domain texts from Project Gutenberg
Graduate students working at the intersection of sports history and literature

Not a good fit for

Runners seeking modern marathon training methods and race guides
Readers with no Dutch who are unwilling to use translation tools
General readers expecting accessible sports stories or biographies

Reading tips

Read the table of contents and opening first to determine whether the text is narrative, historical source material, or argument, then decide what to read closely
Prepare a Dutch dictionary or translation tool and take comparative notes on key sports terminology
Read alongside background material on nineteenth-century European sports history, avoiding applying modern marathon concepts directly
Annotate the electronic text, recording differences in period vocabulary and narrative perspective

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 about modern marathon training?

No. This is a nineteenth-century work on the marathon written in Dutch by its author; it is a public-domain text whose focus is not modern training methods or race guides but the sports writing of its time. It is suitable as material for sports history and literary research.

Can I read this book without knowing Dutch?

Reading the original requires a foundation in Dutch. Without Dutch, you can use translation tools or a parallel translation as support, but note that machine translation may lose the period feel. It is better suited to readers with Dutch reading ability or a willingness to invest in the language.

What are the characteristics of the Project Gutenberg edition?

Project Gutenberg provides free electronic texts, mainly in plain text, which are convenient for searching and annotating, though the layout and notes are usually plain. This is a public-domain work, suitable for reading on electronic devices and convenient for researchers who wish to copy passages for textual analysis.

What background knowledge is needed to read this book?

A basic familiarity with nineteenth-century European sports culture, the early history of the marathon, and Dutch literature is recommended. Without that background, readers may first consult an overview of sports history before entering the text, which will help them better understand the author's emphases and the limitations of the period.

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About the author

Betz, Gerardus Henri, 1850-1900 Author · Dutch · 1850–1900

Gerardus Henri Betz (1850–1900) was a Dutch author of the late nineteenth century. Only one work by him, entitled Marathon, has come down to us, and further details of his life are difficult to trace, as publicly available information is quite limited. The surviving bibliographic record suggests that his writing activity was concentrated in the second half of the nineteenth century and that his work drew on classical subject matter, narrating events and legends of the ancient world. The title Marathon clearly points to the ancient Greek battle of Marathon and the traditions surrounding it, indicating a preference for major events and figures of the classical world, with a style likely given to historical exposition and extended narrative in the typical taste of nineteenth-century European historical writing. Because so few of his works survive, scholarly study of and reference to him remain scant, and he is remembered mainly in bibliographic records as a nineteenth-century Dutch author who left a small handful of writings; his literary standing and influence await further investigation.