The Family

Wied, Gustav, 1858-1914Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.6

Word count: 392K words
Chapters: 40

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.Slægten by Gustav WiedAuthor: Wied, Gustav, 1858-1914,Language: Danish, Class: PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures, Release Date: Oct 1, 2011

Editor's review

Slægten (The Family) is a novel by the Danish author Gustav Wied, written in the late nineteenth century. This free electronic edition is offered by Project Gutenberg in Danish and is classified under Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literature. Wied is known for his sharp satire; this work centers on generational relationships and the façade of respectability within a family, with a cool, mocking tone that exposes hypocrisy and self-deception through everyday dialogue and scenes. As a public-domain e-book, its value lies first in accessibility: readers can encounter this important example of the Danish satirical tradition without buying a print copy. Readers are advised to pay attention to shifts in narrative perspective and the ironic tone, and to notice how the author builds critical force from seemingly ordinary domestic matters. For readers studying Nordic literature, comparative literature, or nineteenth-century European social history, this is a primary source worth close reading; for casual readers seeking entertainment, the Danish original and the slower narrative pace may pose a barrier.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Scholars and students of Danish or Nordic literature who need the original text
Readers interested in nineteenth-century European family novels and satirical literature
Those with Danish reading ability who want to broaden their reading of public-domain literature
Instructors who need Nordic literature examples for comparative literature courses

Not a good fit for

General readers without Danish reading ability and without a translation to assist them
Casual readers expecting fast-paced plots or strong dramatic conflict
Researchers needing detailed annotations and scholarly introductions; this edition is only an electronic text of the original

Reading tips

Read one chapter first to get a feel for Wied's ironic tone, then go back and map out the family relationships.
Read alongside materials on nineteenth-century Danish social history or introductions to Nordic literature.
Note recurring domestic scenes and conversations, and observe how the satire accumulates layer by layer.
If reading Danish is difficult, first consult an English translation or related research articles as support.

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 in, and what reading background does it require?

The original is in Danish and is a public-domain e-book provided by Project Gutenberg. Readers need some Danish ability, or must rely on translations, dictionaries, and literary research materials for support; otherwise it is hard to appreciate the satirical language.

What are the features of the Project Gutenberg edition?

Project Gutenberg is the earliest project offering free e-books, founded by Michael Hart in 1971. This edition is a free public-domain electronic text that is easy to access and search, but it usually contains no modern scholarly annotations, introduction, or detailed background notes.

What are Gustav Wied's writing characteristics in this work?

Wied is known for satire and cool social observation. Slægten revolves around family relationships and reveals characters' hypocrisy and self-deception through everyday dialogue and domestic scenes; the tone is restrained and mocking, and readers need to pay attention to irony and shifts in narrative perspective.

Comments

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About the author

Wied, Gustav, 1858-1914 Author

Gustav Wied (1858–1914) was a Danish writer whose life and creative background are little documented in the Chinese-speaking world, with limited public information available. Two of his works are held in this collection: Slægten and Fædrene æde Druer, Roman, the latter being the novel The Fathers Eat Grapes. Judging from the titles and genres of these two works, his writing tends to revolve around family, generational succession, and domestic relationships, and carries an observational and critical edge toward social reality. Wied worked within the Danish literary context of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and his works often use satire to expose the hypocrisy and contradictions of the bourgeois class, with sharp language and dramatically exaggerated characterization. Although the available material is insufficient to detail his full biography, his surviving works still reveal a sustained concern with family ethics and social structures, as well as his place within the Nordic realist and satirical tradition.