Quilito

Ocantos, Carlos María, 1860-1949Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.1

Word count: 475K words
Chapters: 48

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.Quilito by Carlos María OcantosAuthor: Ocantos, Carlos María, 1860-1949,Language: Spanish, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Oct 14, 2007

Editor's review

Quilito is a novel by the Argentine writer Carlos María Ocantos (1860–1949), released free of charge by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain Spanish-language ebook. Ocantos was an Argentine novelist of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries whose works drew largely on social customs and everyday life, with a realist, costumbrist flavor. As one of his works, the book serves as supplementary reading for understanding early Spanish American fiction and Argentine social life: it is not among the classics of Spanish-language literature, but for readers studying Latin American literary history, practicing Spanish reading, or exploring public-domain texts, it is an easily accessible, lightweight sample. The book is in the original Spanish, with no Chinese translation or annotations; its older vocabulary and syntax pose a hurdle for beginners, making it better suited to readers with some Spanish reading ability, who can work through it chapter by chapter alongside literary-historical background materials.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers with intermediate to advanced Spanish reading ability who want to practice reading original works
Students and scholars studying Latin American literary history and Argentine fiction
Literature enthusiasts interested in late-nineteenth-century novels of social customs
Teachers needing free public-domain Spanish texts as corpora or teaching materials

Not a good fit for

Readers with no or only beginner Spanish who need translation support
Readers expecting fast-paced plots or contemporary fiction
Readers needing authoritative translations, detailed annotations, and introductions
Readers with no interest in Latin American literary background who just want light entertainment

Reading tips

Read the opening chapters first to get familiar with the language style and character relationships, then proceed chapter by chapter.
Keep a Spanish dictionary at hand, note new words and old-fashioned expressions as you go, and build up a feel for the language.
Pay attention to descriptions of social customs and daily life while reading to understand its realist orientation.
Read alongside a history of Argentine literature or a survey of Latin American fiction for comparison.

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

What language is this book written in?

The original is in Spanish, and the Project Gutenberg edition is also in the original Spanish with no Chinese translation. Readers need some Spanish reading ability; beginners are advised to use a dictionary or a translation for support.

What kind of writer is Ocantos?

He was an Argentine novelist of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries whose works drew largely on social customs and everyday life, with a realist, costumbrist flavor. This book is one of his works and can serve as a sample of Argentine fiction of the period, though it is not among the classics of Spanish-language literature.

Is the ebook free, and how can I get it?

The book is a free public-domain ebook on Project Gutenberg and can be searched and downloaded on its website by title or author, usually in formats such as plain text, at no cost. The formats actually available are those shown on the website page.

Is it suitable for practicing Spanish reading?

It can serve as extensive reading material for intermediate and advanced learners, and its length and difficulty suit chapter-by-chapter progress; but the book was written long ago, its vocabulary and syntax show old-fashioned traces, and it has no annotations, so beginners may struggle. It is advisable to sample the first few pages to judge whether it matches your level.

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About the author

Ocantos, Carlos María, 1860-1949 Author · Argentine · 1860–1949

Carlos María Ocantos (1860–1949) was an Argentine novelist and diplomat. Born in 1860 and deceased in 1949, he lived through the social changes of Argentina in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His writing centered on fiction, and his representative novel Quilito portrays the manners and morals of upper-class society. Ocantos was skilled at depicting local customs; his narratives focus on social circles, family life, and class tastes, presenting the social scene through concrete settings and characters' words and actions, with a realistic bent and mild irony. His career as a diplomat gave him close observation of upper-class etiquette and social interaction, a background that informs his fictional themes. Public information is currently limited, and details of his life and a complete bibliography remain to be verified; only one of his works is held in this collection, yet novels such as Quilito are still regarded as literary samples for understanding Argentine social customs of the time.