Mathieu Ropars: et cetera

Young, William, 1809-1888Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.3

Word count: 312K words
Chapters: 32

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.Mathieu Ropars: et cetera by William YoungAuthor: Young, William, 1809-1888,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Mar 13, 2012

Editor's review

This book is the Project Gutenberg electronic edition of Mathieu Ropars: et cetera by William Young (1809–1888), an English-language literary work (PR class). It stands well outside today's bestseller system and is better treated as a specimen for the study of nineteenth-century English literature and of textual editions. The advantages of the electronic edition are full-text searchability and quotable passages, which make it easy to verify bibliographic details such as the original title and the author's birth and death years. Read it with a bibliographic awareness: first confirm the source of the edition and its publication information, then turn to the text, noting the French elements in the title and the miscellaneous character implied by “et cetera.” For general readers its value as literary-historical material may exceed its appeal as narrative; for researchers it can serve as a concrete case for examining the scope of Project Gutenberg's holdings and the forms of public-domain texts.

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FAQ

Is this book suitable for literary research?

It can serve as supporting material for the study of nineteenth-century English literature and textual editions, especially for verifying bibliographic information and the forms of public-domain texts; but it is not a systematic literary-historical treatise, and research will still need to draw on specialist introductions and secondary literature.

Do I need to know French to read this book?

The text is in English, but the title contains French elements. Not knowing French does not prevent basic reading; if you want to analyze the title and edition, it is advisable to consult the meanings of the relevant French words so as not to misunderstand the title.

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About the author

Young, William, 1809-1888 Author · 1809–1888

William Young (1809–1888) is an English-language author about whom little is publicly known; his nationality, occupation and education cannot be described in detail on the available evidence. Only one work by him is held in the collection, entitled Mathieu Ropars: et cetera. Judging by the title, the book centres on a character named Mathieu Ropars, while the phrase "et cetera" suggests a miscellany, a continuation, or a gathering of fragments, and a correspondingly free and varied style. In the absence of contemporary reviews and biographical records, the work's genre, its writing style and its reception among readers of the time are difficult to establish, and only limited inferences can be drawn from the title and bibliographic details. On the whole, William Young is a nineteenth-century author with a slender surviving output who awaits further study, and his significance lies more in this book itself than in any notable literary reputation.