Mazeppa

Whishaw, Frederick, 1854-1934Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.5

Word count: 369K words
Chapters: 37

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.Mazeppa by Frederick WhishawAuthor: Whishaw, Frederick, 1854-1934,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Feb 8, 2018

Editor's review

Mazeppa is an English-language literary work by the British author Frederick Whishaw, published as a public-domain ebook. The figure of Mazeppa has been repeatedly reworked in European literature and music, from Byron's long poem to orchestral works by Liszt and Tchaikovsky, all drawing on the legend of his exile bound to a horse's back. As an English literary text, this book offers readers another route into the subject and can be read alongside Byron's poem to observe how the same legend is handled differently across genres and national literatures. It is moderate in length and written in nineteenth-century English, making it suitable for readers interested in the transmission of Romantic-era subjects and the history of legend adaptation, as well as for use as supplementary comparative reading in English literature courses. One caveat: this is not a work of historical research, and it should be read as a literary text rather than as a source of historical fact.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in the Mazeppa legend and its literary adaptations
Students of nineteenth-century English literature and the transmission of legends
Readers looking for a moderate-length English public-domain book for general reading
Teachers and students in English literature courses who need comparative reading materials

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking rigorous historical scholarship
Beginners whose English reading is not yet proficient and who need modern simplified texts
General readers who prefer the narrative pace of contemporary fiction

Reading tips

Gain a basic outline of the Mazeppa legend before entering the text; understanding will come more easily.
Read it alongside Byron's long poem Mazeppa to compare how the same subject differs across genres.
While reading, note the narrator's tone in evaluating the protagonist and observe its period standpoint.
Keep paper and pen ready to sort out character relationships and plot points, avoiding confusion from nineteenth-century long sentences.

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 the historical Mazeppa?

It takes the Mazeppa legend as its subject and is a literary work, not historical research. Mazeppa was indeed a historical figure, but episodes such as his exile bound to a horse's back belong more to legend, which spread widely after being written about by Byron and others. Readers should distinguish literary elaboration from historical fact and not treat the book's contents directly as historical evidence.

How difficult is the English? Is it suitable for beginners?

This is a nineteenth-century English work with rather long sentences and period vocabulary; it is not a modern simplified reader. It is better suited to readers with intermediate or higher English reading ability. Beginners who are interested should first read a Chinese or English retelling to understand the story, then attempt the original with a dictionary and notes.

What background preparation is needed before reading?

It is advisable first to learn the basic outline of the Mazeppa legend and how the subject was transmitted through Byron's long poem and related works by Liszt and Tchaikovsky. With this background, readers can more easily see the author's choices in selecting plot elements and shaping characters, and can more clearly judge the text's literary intent.

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About the author

Whishaw, Frederick, 1854-1934 Author

Frederick Whishaw (1854–1934) was an author whose biographical details are limited in publicly available sources. Judging from his surviving works, he wrote mainly historical adventure novels and story collections for young readers. The Romance of the Woods is set against nature and the wilderness; Gunpowder Treason and Plot, and Other Stories for Boys collects tales for boys drawn from historical events; Moscow: A Story of the French Invasion of 1812 and Mazeppa draw on Napoleon's Russian campaign and Cossack history, while Boris the Bear-Hunter depicts the life of a Russian hunter. These works show his preference for historical settings and exotic subjects, with narratives that emphasize adventure and plot tension in an accessible, popular style. Five of his works are held in the collection, and he remains known chiefly for such historical adventure writing.