Saracinesca

Crawford, F. Marion (Francis Marion), 1854-1909Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.9

Word count: 864K words
Chapters: 87

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.Saracinesca by F. Marion CrawfordAuthor: Crawford, F. Marion (Francis Marion), 1854-1909,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Oct 15, 2004

Editor's review

Saracinesca is a late-nineteenth-century novel by F. Marion Crawford set in Rome, centering on questions of honor, love, and hereditary responsibility within an aristocratic family. Crawford lived in Italy for many years and observed its society and noble life closely; the novel is highly readable in its dialogue, scene-setting, and dramatic conflict, satisfying readers' appetite for an exotic historical atmosphere while inviting reflection on the tension between loyalty, family, and personal choice. This edition is a public-domain Project Gutenberg eBook with clean formatting and easy searchability. It suits readers interested in nineteenth-century European historical fiction and Italian themes in English and American literature for commuting or bedtime reading in installments; because the language is English and the book is early, readers may wish to consult notes or an introduction for cultural context.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English-language readers who enjoy nineteenth-century European novels
Those interested in Italian history and aristocratic society
Readers looking to broaden their knowledge of English and American literature through public-domain eBooks
Readers accustomed to English originals who can accept an older narrative pace

Not a good fit for

Beginners who need a Chinese translation or bilingual edition
Readers who prefer fast-paced, plot-driven contemporary fiction
Readers with little patience for nineteenth-century English sentences and elaborate description

Reading tips

Begin with the opening description of the Roman setting to establish the spatial and social background, then move into the character relationships.
Read chapter by chapter, and at the end of each chapter note in a sentence or two the main conflicts and shifts in the characters' positions.
Look up historical or religious terms as they arise so that unfamiliar background does not cause you to lose the thread.
Read alongside biographical material on the author's years in Italy to understand his perspective on aristocratic society.

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 level of English is needed to read this book?

The original is a late-nineteenth-century English novel with long sentences and dense description. University-level English or above is advisable, or at least the ability to read a long English book continuously with a dictionary. If you rarely read English originals, try the first two chapters to see whether the pace suits you.

What are the features of the Project Gutenberg edition?

This edition is a free public-domain eBook, with text prepared by Project Gutenberg; it is easy to download, search, and quote, but it generally does not include a modern introduction, detailed notes, or scholarly appendices. Readers who need background explanation can look separately for the author's biography and material on Italian history around the time of unification.

Is this novel suitable as an introductory book for learning about Italian history?

It is first of all a work of literature; the historical background serves the characters and plot rather than providing a systematic history. Readers can sense the atmosphere and attitudes of nineteenth-century Roman aristocratic society, but to understand specific historical events they should still read it alongside general histories.

Comments

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About the author

Crawford, F. Marion (Francis Marion), 1854-1909 Author

F. Marion Crawford (Francis Marion Crawford, 1854–1909) was a notably prolific English-language novelist. The library holds 46 of his works, spanning a wide range of subjects: long novels set in Italy, such as Saracinesca, Greifenstein and Fair Margaret: A Portrait; the two-volume Ave Roma Immortalis, which portrays the history and monuments of Rome; the Arabian tale Khaled, A Tale of Arabia; and atmospheric ghost stories including The Upper Berth and Wandering Ghosts. These works show a writer skilled at evoking foreign and historical settings, with clear narrative structure and steady plotting, accomplished both in popular long fiction and in tales of the strange. His supernatural stories in particular have been favored by later anthologies and have had some influence on the English ghost-story tradition. Because public information is limited, biographical details are not elaborated here; the outline above rests on the works in the library's holdings.