Missy

Gatlin, Dana, 1884-1940Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.2

Word count: 486K words
Chapters: 49

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.Missy by Dana GatlinAuthor: Gatlin, Dana, 1884-1940,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Oct 1, 2002

Editor's review

One of the early public-domain e-books released by Project Gutenberg, Missy preserves the original form of an early twentieth-century American popular novel: short in length and plain in style, it suits readers who want low-cost access to popular narrative beyond the classics of American literature. Classified under American and Canadian literature, the book follows its title character and carries the emotional and domestic flavor of mass-market fiction of its era. Its value lies not in any literary-historical groundbreaking but in offering a sample of early twentieth-century American popular reading tastes, and in showing how early e-book projects brought obscure old works into public view. As a plain-text public-domain edition, its formatting and proofreading depend on the original transcription; read it chiefly for period context rather than expecting the tight structure of a modern novel.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literature lovers curious about early twentieth-century American popular fiction
Learners who need free public-domain English texts for extensive reading practice
Cultural researchers interested in old American popular reading tastes
Casual readers who enjoy short narratives and do not demand complex structure

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting modern narrative pacing and strong plot tension
Beginners unfamiliar with English originals who need detailed annotations
Readers who only want canonical classics of literary history

Reading tips

Read through once to grasp the characters and period atmosphere, then revisit key dialogues to appreciate the language style.
Read alongside background material on early twentieth-century American society and culture to understand the popular novel's audience.
Use it as English extensive reading material, one or two chapters a day; skip unfamiliar archaic words to keep reading fluently.
After reading, note the family and emotional values presented in the book and compare them briefly with similar contemporary works.

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 in the original English, and does it require a high level of English?

The material shows the book's language is English and that it is a public-domain electronic text. Overall it is early twentieth-century popular narrative; the vocabulary is not especially difficult, but period expressions and old-fashioned syntax will appear. Readers with intermediate English reading ability who are willing to tolerate some unfamiliar words can attempt it; there is no need to look up every word.

Why does the book's description keep talking about Project Gutenberg?

The available material mainly explains Project Gutenberg's history as the earliest free e-book project and gives the book's author, language, category and release date; it does not expand on the novel's plot. Recommendations can therefore only be based on this bibliographic information, and readers must consult the original text to learn the actual story.

Is this electronic edition suitable for academic citation?

As a public-domain electronic text, it can be used for general reading and preliminary understanding, but transcription quality depends on the original version and may contain formatting issues or errors. For formal academic citation, check authoritative print or collated editions and cite their page numbers.

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About the author

Gatlin, Dana, 1884-1940 Author · American · 1884–1940

Dana Gatlin (1884–1940) was an American author. Public information about his life is limited, and what can be confirmed centers mainly on his writing activities. He wrote novels and books for young readers, with subjects spanning history and adventure; this orientation gave his writing both narrative drive and an informative quality, allowing him to bring in period settings and faraway places as the story unfolds, which suited the reading tastes of younger audiences. His representative work is Missy, and one of his works is held in this collection. On the whole, Gatlin was not a major author widely studied by scholars, but as a member of the ranks of American writers of juvenile literature and popular fiction in the first half of the twentieth century, his work offers a concrete example for observing the choice of subjects and modes of expression in such reading material of that era.