Northern Lights

Sir Horatio Gilbert George ParkerProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.4

Word count: 607K words
Chapters: 61

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.Northern Lights by Gilbert ParkerAuthor: Parker, Gilbert, 1862-1932,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Oct 12, 2008

Editor's review

Northern Lights is a novel by Canadian author Gilbert Parker, one of his narrative works set against the North American frontier and life in the North. Parker's writing often foregrounds vast landscapes, community ties, and moral choices, and this book continues that concern, interweaving character fates with local colour to present a picture of life and emotional tension in the northern environment. As an English public-domain eBook released by Project Gutenberg, it offers a sample of the narrative style of North American English popular fiction from the late nineteenth to early twentieth century, and will appeal to readers interested in the early face of Canadian literature. The narration carries a period feel, and its characterisation and plotting differ from contemporary fiction; it is best read within the traditions of North American regional and popular fiction. The English original makes some demands on the reader's language ability.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in Canadian literature and North American regional fiction
Readers curious about English popular fiction of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
English majors who need public-domain English texts for national-literature research
Advanced English readers who enjoy northern frontier settings and community-life narratives

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer contemporary urban subjects and fast-paced plots
Readers with limited English reading experience who find early English fiction hard to follow
Readers seeking detailed Canadian historical research rather than literary reading

Reading tips

Read the preface or author biography first to understand Parker's regional writing background before starting the text.
Locate the regions involved in the story on a map to help build a sense of space and context.
For early English long sentences, read for the gist of a paragraph first and return to details later, so frequent dictionary look-ups do not break the rhythm.
After reading, sort out the main characters' motives and their ties to the local community to grasp the work's themes

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 the same book as Philip Pullman's Northern Lights?

No. This is a novel by Canadian author Gilbert Parker, part of early North American English literature; it shares a title with Pullman's fantasy work but differs entirely in content, author, and genre. When searching and citing, use the author's name to distinguish them and avoid confusion.

What language is this edition in?

This is an English public-domain eBook from Project Gutenberg; the text is in English with no Chinese translation. It suits readers with some English reading ability who wish to encounter early North American fiction in its original form, and can also serve as a primary text for English literary study.

Do I need to know Canadian history to read this book?

Not strictly, but familiarity with social life and community structures in northern North America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries will make the characters' situations and the plot logic easier to understand. General readers can read the story first and add background later; researchers can read it alongside Canadian literary history and regional writing traditions.

Is this book suitable as English-learning material?

It can serve as advanced reading material, but the book was written early and its sentence patterns and vocabulary bear period features, so it is not suitable as an introductory text for beginners. Readers with some experience of original texts can use it to become familiar with early English fiction's narrative style while noting the difference between historical usage and contemporary usage.

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About the author

Sir Horatio Gilbert George Parker Author · Canadian · 1862–1932

Sir Horatio Gilbert George Parker (1862–1932), known as Gilbert Parker, was a Canadian author and politician. Born in Ontario, he worked as a teacher and journalist before settling in London. He is known for novels depicting the lives of French Canadians, notably Pierre and His People and The Seats of the Mighty, the latter held in the library as a complete edition and in several volumes. From 1900 to 1918 he served as a Member of the British House of Commons, making him one of the few Canadian-born figures to achieve distinction in both literature and politics. His works often draw on Canadian history and French-Canadian society, with romantic narrative and attention to character and local setting. The library holds 134 of his works; classification information is limited, as are public records of the details of his writing.