Port-Tarascon

Daudet, Alphonse, 1840-1897Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.2

Word count: 273K words
Chapters: 28

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.Port-Tarascon by Alphonse DaudetAuthor: Daudet, Alphonse, 1840-1897,Language: French, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Apr 17, 2005

Editor's review

Port-Tarascon is a novel by the French writer Alphonse Daudet, the last in the Tartarin de Tarascon series; this entry is a French public-domain electronic text provided by Project Gutenberg. Daudet is known for his Provençal local color and satirical tone; this book continues the absurd adventures of a Tartarin-like figure and, through a fantastical colonial voyage overseas, offers mild yet biting mockery of nineteenth-century French colonial enthusiasm, provincial vanity, and group psychology. For readers familiar with Daudet's short stories, this novel shows another side of his narrative pacing and satirical talent; for French literature enthusiasts, it is also an interesting entry point into Provençal themes and the social mentality of the colonial era. This electronic edition has no annotations or introduction and is in French, making it better suited to readers with some French reading ability who are willing to supply background themselves.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers with some French reading ability who want to encounter Daudet's longer works
Enthusiasts interested in nineteenth-century French literature and Provençal themes
Students studying Daudet's series or the satirical tradition in French colonial literature
Language learners needing free public-domain French texts for extensive reading practice

Not a good fit for

Ordinary readers with no French who hope to read a Chinese translation
Beginner foreign-literature readers needing detailed annotations and background introductions
Researchers who prefer serious historical analysis to satirical fiction

Reading tips

Learn the basic character setup of the earlier Tartarin series first; the book will read more smoothly.
Read it as satire and note the exaggerated depictions of provincial vanity and colonial fantasy.
For French reading, use a dictionary for close reading and summarize each chapter's plot in a few sentences after finishing it.
If time is limited, read the opening and final chapters first to grasp the book's satirical tone.

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's style the same as Daudet's The Last Class?

Not entirely. The Last Class is a short story with a solemn emotional tone; this book is a satirical novel continuing the absurd adventure style of the Tartarin series, with Provençal local color and mockery of colonial fantasy, making for a lighter, more humorous reading experience.

Does this electronic edition have a Chinese translation?

According to the data, this edition is in French, a public-domain ebook from Project Gutenberg, with no mention of a Chinese translation. Chinese readers need French reading ability or must find a Chinese translation for comparison.

Do I need to read the earlier books in the series first?

This is the last book in the Tartarin series; knowing the earlier characters' background helps but is not strictly necessary. Reading it directly still conveys the main satirical adventure line, though some character relationships and jokes must be inferred.

Comments

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About the author

Daudet, Alphonse, 1840-1897 Author

Alphonse Daudet (1840–1897) was a French writer known for clear, brisk storytelling in a warm and slightly melancholy style. Forty of his works are held in this collection, including Lettres de mon moulin, Le petit chose, Tartarin de Tarascon and Le nabab. His writing often draws on the landscapes and customs of southern France, combining lively narration with concern for the fate of ordinary people, which gives it both readability and emotional depth. His works are categorized here as inspirational and coming-of-age, reflecting the lasting appeal of their themes of growth and struggle. Public information on the details of his life is limited, so no conjecture is offered here.