Miscellaneous Pieces

Bunyan, John, 1628-1688Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.2

Word count: 39K words
Chapters: 4

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.Miscellaneous Pieces by John BunyanAuthor: Bunyan, John, 1628-1688,Language: English, Class: BR: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion: Christianity, Release Date: Jan 1, 2003

Editor's review

Miscellaneous Pieces brings together several short essays and sermon-like writings by John Bunyan outside The Pilgrim's Progress, centered on faith, conscience, temptation, and redemption, in the plain, earnest language of seventeenth-century English religious writing. Its value lies in showing another side of Bunyan as a lay writer: rather than grand narrative, he uses short allegories, exhortations, and meditative passages to address everyday spiritual struggles. For readers studying English Puritan literature or religious prose, this book offers texts more scattered than The Pilgrim's Progress yet closer to the grain of the author's thought. It need not be read straight through; selecting individual pieces and reading closely for their imagery and tone of exhortation suits it well. As a public-domain electronic text, it has no modern annotations, so readers should bring their own background knowledge. Overall, it is a small book that calls for quiet attention and some preparation in religious vocabulary.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers studying English Puritan literature and religious prose
Fans who have read The Pilgrim's Progress and want to know Bunyan's other writings
English learners interested in seventeenth-century English exhortatory prose
Readers looking for short devotional reading material

Not a good fit for

General fiction readers hoping for a continuous long narrative
Readers clearly averse to religious exhortation and sermon style
Beginners with weak English unfamiliar with early modern English expression

Reading tips

Read the pieces independently, choosing one or two at a time rather than going straight through in order.
Start with the shorter, more allegorical pieces before moving on to the denser sermonic writing.
Keep pen and paper to mark recurring images such as the road, warfare, and conscience.
Compare with selections from The Pilgrim's Progress to appreciate the difference between Bunyan's short and long forms.

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

What is the relationship between this book and The Pilgrim's Progress?

Both are works by Bunyan, but Miscellaneous Pieces is a compilation of short pieces, not a sequel to The Pilgrim's Progress. It is better as supplementary reading for seeing other sides of Bunyan's writing than as an introduction replacing his masterpiece.

Can I read it without a Christian background?

You can, but understanding will be reduced. The book makes heavy use of Puritan concepts such as sin, grace, and conscience; it is advisable to learn the basic terms first or start with the more allegorical pieces.

Does the electronic edition have annotations?

Project Gutenberg editions generally preserve the original text with few modern annotations. For early modern English spelling and allusions, you will need to consult dictionaries or related scholarship yourself.

Is it suitable for reading a little each day?

Fairly suitable. The pieces are self-contained and not long, so they work as daily short reading; reading one piece at a time and leaving time to reflect is easier to digest than reading straight through.

Comments

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About the author

Bunyan, John, 1628-1688 Author

John Bunyan (1628–1688) was an English writer and preacher. Public information about him is limited and many details of his life cannot be verified, yet eighteen of his works are held in this collection, which shows how widely his writings circulated. His best-known work, The Pilgrim's Progress, uses dream narrative to depict a Christian's journey from the City of Destruction to the heavenly country, and is a widely influential allegory in English literature. Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners is a spiritual autobiography recording his inner struggles and faith. Life and Death of Mr. Badman portrays a negative character through dialogue. His works centre on faith, salvation and morality, written in plain and forceful language rich in metaphor and dialogue, and have had a notable influence on later English literature and religious writing.