Prinssi ja kaunis näyttelijätär: Salapoliisikertomus

Elvestad, Sven, 1884-1934Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.7
Word count
139K words
Chapters
14

Tags

Foreign Language Books Mystery and Suspense Suspense ThrillerPlot TwistActress LifeIdentity MysteryCriminal PsychologyDetective FictionNordic Setting

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.Prinssi ja kaunis näyttelijätär: Salapoliisikertomus by Sven ElvestadAuthor: Elvestad, Sven, 1884-1934,Language: Finnish, Class: PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures, Release Date: Nov 17, 2018

Editor's review

This is a Finnish-language detective novel by Sven Elvestad, one of the representative figures of early Nordic detective fiction. The story builds its mystery around a prince and a beautiful actress, with the title announcing the central relationship and the nature of the case. For readers familiar with the Nordic crime fiction tradition, the book offers a chance to look back at early genre writing: detective stories of the time relied more on plot development and dialogue than on modern forensic or psychological analysis. As a free ebook from Project Gutenberg, its value lies in accessibility and documentary significance, making it suitable as supplementary material for language learning or genre studies. When reading, pay attention to the pacing of the case and the way characters are drawn, and appreciate the narrative pleasures of early twentieth-century Nordic popular fiction. Because the original is in Finnish, non-Finnish readers will need translation tools or a parallel translation, so the barrier to entry is relatively high.

Who it's for

A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. Start with the title and chapter headings to build a character map before entering the main text, reducing the comprehension burden caused by the language barrier.
  2. After each chapter, summarize the case's progress in one sentence to help track the chain of clues in the detective story.
  3. Read alongside an English or Chinese translation if possible; guess unfamiliar words before looking them up to keep reading fluid.
  4. After finishing, revisit the key turning points and sort out how the author planted clues, as an exercise in genre analysis.

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.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14

FAQ

What language is this book written in, and can non-Finnish readers read it? The original is in Finnish. Readers without Finnish will need translation tools or a translation in another language, otherwise comprehension is difficult. It is best suited to readers with some language background or research needs.
What is Elvestad's standing in detective fiction? Sven Elvestad was a Norwegian writer of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, known for detective novels and an important figure in early Nordic detective fiction. This book is a Finnish translation of his work, offering a glimpse of Nordic genre fiction of the period.
Is this book suitable as an introduction to mystery reading? Not very suitable for complete beginners. Early detective fiction differs considerably from contemporary work in narrative pace and language style, and the original is in Finnish, so it is better attempted by readers with some genre reading experience or language ability.
What are the practical features of the Gutenberg edition? Project Gutenberg provides free electronic texts that are easy to download and search, suitable for research citation or language learning. However, the formatting and annotations are plain, without the introductions and notes of modern editions, so readers must supply background material themselves.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Elvestad, Sven, 1884-1934 Author

Sven Elvestad (1884–1934) was an important writer of popular fiction in the history of Nordic detective literature. The collection holds thirteen of his works, including such representative titles as Musta tähti, Punainen leski, Salaperäinen vihollinen, and Peli elämästä ja kuolemasta. Judging from these titles and subtitles, he mainly wrote detective and crime novels, centering on investigations and case-solving by figures such as the detective Asbjørn Krag. The plots often involve secret enemies, pursuit, revenge, and life-and-death struggles, with a style that emphasizes suspense and narrative pacing. His works survive in the collection mostly in Finnish translations, which reflects to some extent his reach and readership in the Nordic region. Public information about his nationality, life, and writing career is limited, and the available bibliographic details are not sufficient for a more detailed account, pending further verification.