Search-Light Letters

Grant, Robert, 1852-1940Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.4

Word count: 267K words
Chapters: 27

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.Search-Light Letters by Robert GrantAuthor: Grant, Robert, 1852-1940,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Oct 4, 2011

Editor's review

Search-Light Letters is an epistolary work by Robert Grant belonging to American literature. Grant was active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and his style carries the ease and reflectiveness of the essay writing of that era. The book unfolds in letters and suits readers who enjoy a slow, casual, impressionistic kind of reading. The epistolary form naturally brings intimacy and immediacy; readers feel as if they are leafing through an intellectual's private correspondence and catching glimpses of the author's observations and reflections on human affairs. For readers studying American literature or interested in nineteenth-century American society and culture, the book offers a light and engaging entry point. Note that it is an English original in the public domain, without modern notes or introduction, so it requires some English reading ability and a basic familiarity with the cultural background of the time. Overall, it is better suited to bedside reading in spare moments or as supplementary reading for literature lovers than as a core text for systematic research.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English-literature lovers who enjoy epistolary writing and the essay style
Readers interested in American literature of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
Readers who want light access to public-domain English originals
Readers accustomed to reading in English who like to savor language at a slow pace

Not a good fit for

Readers with limited English reading ability who need a Chinese translation
Those seeking systematic literary-historical research or in-depth academic analysis
Readers who prefer strong plot and fast-paced narrative

Reading tips

Read one or two letters a day, taking notes as you go, without rushing.
Keep an English dictionary or electronic tool at hand and look up unfamiliar expressions promptly.
Briefly learn about late nineteenth-century American society before reading to better understand the letters' context.
Read alongside essay collections by American writers of the same period to compare styles.

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?

It is an English original, with the language marked as English, in the American and Canadian literature category. There is no Chinese translation or annotation, so it is better suited to readers with some English reading ability. If your English is limited, consider using a dictionary or starting with a similar work that has a translation.

Isn't epistolary writing rather scattered to read?

Letters do not have the continuous plot of a novel, but each letter usually centers on one topic or observation and stands as a unit of its own. Readers can go in order or skip to pieces that interest them. Slowing the pace actually makes it easier to appreciate the author's tone and the flow of thought.

Is this book suitable for literary research?

As a public-domain e-book, it has no modern scholarly introduction, notes, or reference materials, so it is not suitable as a primary text for systematic research. If you are studying epistolary writing in American literature or nineteenth-century essay style, however, it can serve as supplementary material, offering a writing sample from an author of the period.

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About the author

Grant, Robert, 1852-1940 Author

Robert Grant (1852–1940) was an American writer about whom few details of his life and education are publicly available; eight of his works are held in this collection. Taken together, they show a broad range. Novels such as Unleavened Bread, The Undercurrent and The Orchid turn largely to social questions—marriage, gender roles and social mobility—with a tone of moral observation and irony. The Art of Living, The Opinions of a Philosopher and Search-Light Letters lean toward essays and reflection, plain in style and clear in argument, while The Law-Breakers and Other Stories and A Romantic Young Lady show that he also wrote short fiction and character sketches. His work is marked by realistic subjects and gentle satire.