Star-Dust: A Story of an American Girl

Fannie HurstProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.2
Word count
656K words
Chapters
66

Tags

English Originals Women's Fiction Love EntanglementsStage LifeUrban RomanceTender SentimentSelf-GrowthYouthful VibeSocial Observation

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.Star-Dust: A Story of an American Girl by Fannie HurstAuthor: Hurst, Fannie, 1889-1968,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Feb 1, 2006

Editor's review

Star-Dust: A Story of an American Girl is an American novel by Fannie Hurst, classified under American and Canadian literature. As a public-domain work in Project Gutenberg's free eBook program, its value lies first in accessibility: readers can encounter an early twentieth-century American woman's narrative at no cost and observe how popular fiction of the period portrayed the growth and fate of an "American girl." Hurst was an active American popular novelist in the first half of the twentieth century, and this book serves as an entry point to the popular literary landscape of that era rather than as a work for readers seeking intricate plotting or literary experimentation. In terms of reading context, it is best suited as supplementary material for English literature courses, as part of a public-domain eBook collection, or as further reading for those interested in early American women's writing. Note that the book is in English and the Project Gutenberg edition presents the original text without a modern introduction or notes; readers should ideally have some English reading proficiency and a basic familiarity with early twentieth-century American social and cultural background to better grasp the context.

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Reading tips

  1. Read the preface or the bibliographic information on the project page first to confirm the edition and language, then decide on a reading pace.
  2. Read alongside background material on early twentieth-century American society and culture to understand the characters' circumstances.
  3. If using it for a course, select key chapters for analysis of character and gender narrative rather than requiring a full read-through.
  4. Note unfamiliar words and cultural questions as you read, and look them up together afterward to minimize interruptions.

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
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  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
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  9. 9
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  41. 41
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  46. 46
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  50. 50
  51. 51
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  55. 55
  56. 56
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  64. 64
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FAQ

Is this book in Chinese or English? According to the information provided, the book is in English and is a public-domain eBook released by Project Gutenberg. No Chinese translation information is provided, so readers need English reading ability. If you are more comfortable reading in Chinese, you may need to find a translation or choose another Chinese work.
What are the features of the Project Gutenberg edition? Project Gutenberg is one of the earliest providers of free eBooks, and this book is a public-domain eBook it released. The information shows a release date of February 1, 2006, and the 2019 entry is labeled as Project Gutenberg. The edition presents the original electronic text and typically includes no modern introduction or detailed annotations, making it suitable for readers who can read the original on their own.
Is this book suitable for learning about American literature? It can serve as supplementary material. It falls under American and Canadian literature, and the author, Fannie Hurst, was an early twentieth-century American novelist. Through this book, one can observe how popular fiction of the time portrayed the "American girl." However, it is not a literary history textbook; for systematic study of American literature, it is best used alongside anthologies, literary histories, and background materials.

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

Fannie Hurst Author · American · 1889–1968

Fannie Hurst (1889–1968) was an American novelist and playwright, born in Hamilton, Ohio, and a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis. Over her career she wrote more than forty novels and short-story collections, drawing mainly on the everyday lives of ordinary women. Her work is notable for its fine detail and its engagement with social issues, striking a balance between popular storytelling and serious concern. This library holds six of her works, including Gaslight Sonatas, The Vertical City, Humoresque, Just Around the Corner, Star-Dust, and Every Soul Hath Its Song, which range across urban life, emotional entanglements, and the fate of women. Her best-known works, such as Back Street and Imitation of Life, were adapted for film several times, a sign of the enduring appeal of her narratives. Public information about the details of her life is limited, so this note confines itself to the facts available.