Old Mary

Becke, Louis, 1855-1913Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.2

Word count: 51K words
Chapters: 6

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."Old Mary" by Louis BeckeAuthor: Becke, Louis, 1855-1913,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Feb 18, 2008

Editor's review

Old Mary is a short work in English by Louis Becke, released free by Project Gutenberg so that readers can easily obtain the original text. Becke wrote extensively with Pacific islands as his setting, and that subject matter is likewise reflected here, making the book suitable for readers who want to encounter this author’s style through a short piece. As a public-domain electronic text, it has no modern annotations or introduction, so readers must grasp the narrative background and linguistic details on their own. Its value lies in offering a lightweight entry point: it is short, easy to access, can be finished in fragments of time such as a commute or lunch break, and is also suitable as supplementary reading for English literature courses, to observe the narrative methods and geographical imagination of English short fiction from the late nineteenth to early twentieth century. Those who wish to learn more about Becke can read it alongside his other sea-themed works.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who want a quick sense of Louis Becke’s style through a short piece
English learners who need free public-domain English texts
Readers interested in English fiction set in the Pacific islands
Teachers and students who need supplementary short fiction for English literature courses

Not a good fit for

Readers hoping for a modern annotated or introduced classic edition
Readers who prefer long continuous narratives and need a complete plot structure
People unaccustomed to reading English public-domain texts without modern editorial revision

Reading tips

Read through once to grasp the plot, then read a second time to look up new words and place names.
While reading, note the narrative perspective and scene descriptions, and consider how the short piece reaches its conclusion.
Read alongside other Pacific-themed short stories to compare the author’s recurring imagery.
Read it in two or three sittings during spare moments, then write a three-to-five-line summary to consolidate understanding.

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 Chinese or English?

According to Project Gutenberg’s materials, the book is in English and belongs to English literature; there is no Chinese translation in the book. Chinese readers need some English reading ability and may use a dictionary or a bilingual approach.

Why does this book have no publisher’s introduction?

The book is released by Project Gutenberg as a free electronic text. The project mainly provides electronic texts of public-domain works and usually does not include modern publishers’ annotations, introductions, or translator’s notes. Readers who need background information can look up relevant studies of the author and work separately.

Is it suitable for English beginners?

This is a short work in English with period language features and no annotations, so it presents some difficulty for English beginners. It is more suitable for learners with some reading foundation who can use a dictionary to handle unfamiliar words; beginners may first read graded readers and then try it.

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About the author

Becke, Louis, 1855-1913 Author

Louis Becke (1855–1913) was an English-language writer active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; details of his life and nationality are limited in publicly available sources. The library holds thirty-eight of his works, including novels and short-story collections, mostly concerned with seafaring, island life and adventure. Representative titles include By Reef and Palm, Rídan The Devil And Other Stories, Rodman The Boatsteerer And Other Stories, The Trader's Wife, Yorke The Adventurer and Tessa. His writing is often set against the backdrop of Pacific islands and maritime experience, with a realistic tone that portrays sailors, traders and islanders in foreign settings and the human nature they reveal, giving his work a distinct flavour of sea adventure. The library classifies his works under inspirational growth; his books retain a readership within the tradition of maritime adventure fiction, though overall scholarly material on him remains limited.