Tea-Table Talk

Jerome, Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka), 1859-1927Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.5

Word count: 114K words
Chapters: 12

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.Tea-Table Talk by Jerome K. JeromeAuthor: Jerome, Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka), 1859-1927,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Oct 1, 2000

Editor's review

Jerome K. Jerome's Tea-Table Talk is a set of essay-like conversations set around a tea table, ranging over life, marriage, child-rearing, vanity, habit and death, light in tone yet often ironic. The author never mounts a pulpit; instead he lets a few tea guests talk back and forth, teasing the absurd out of everyday trifles, and readers will easily catch a glimpse of themselves in some line. It suits fragmented reading, since each piece is short and can be entered from any page; it also serves as a sample of late nineteenth-century English humorous prose. One caveat: many of the jokes depend on the social context of the time, and some views carry the limitations of their era; today's readers would do well to take a historical view rather than treat every quip from a tea guest as the author's final verdict. If you enjoy the English humour of Three Men in a Boat, this book offers similar pleasure.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy English humour and personal essays and want light reading in spare moments
Readers interested in late nineteenth-century English social life and family topics
Writers who need short models and want to learn the conversational essay form
Intermediate to advanced English learners who want to build a feel for the language through public-domain English books

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a full plot, character growth or long-form narrative
Readers seeking systematic life guidance or psychological advice
Readers sensitive to the era-bound views on gender and family
Beginners with weak English who need line-by-line notes to read the original

Reading tips

No need to read in order; pick one or two tea-table topics a day, pause after reading, and let them sink in.
Mark the passages that strike a chord and copy out the lines you like, savouring the measure of the irony.
Read the dialogue aloud with friends, taking different roles, to feel the thrust and parry between the tea guests.
When you meet plainly outdated views, note them and consider the historical background rather than simply agreeing.

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 a novel or a collection of essays?

It is closer to the conversational essay: a few tea guests sit around a tea table and talk, with each topic standing on its own and no plot running throughout. It reads like overhearing one chat after another rather than following a story.

Is the style the same as Three Men in a Boat?

Both are by Jerome and both carry light, self-mocking English humour, but Tea-Table Talk leans more toward short pieces of discussion on everyday topics, without the continuous travel narrative of Three Men in a Boat. Readers who like the humour of the former will usually find this one congenial too.

Do the views in the book feel outdated today?

Some remarks on gender, family and class bear the stamp of the late nineteenth century and may jar today. It is best read as a historical text: enjoy the humour and the prose while keeping your own judgment on the specific views.

How difficult is the English, and is it suitable for learning English?

The language is mainly everyday dialogue and essayistic discussion; sentences are not long but contain much irony and many idioms, putting it at an intermediate-to-advanced level. It suits readers who can already read English prose smoothly and want to build a feel for the language; beginners may need supporting tools.

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About the author

Jerome, Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka), 1859-1927 Author

Jerome K. Jerome (1859–1927) was an English humorist known for his light, witty narrative style. His best-known work, Three Men in a Boat, turns a boating trip on the Thames into a comic account of small mishaps and idle reflections; its relaxed pacing and dry humour made it a classic of English comic writing, and the sequel Three Men on the Bummel follows the same vein. His essay collections The Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow and The Second Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, which treat everyday life in a leisurely, self-mocking tone, were likewise widely read. These works have been translated into many languages, and this library alone holds thirty-eight of his titles, a sign of the enduring appeal of his humorous prose across languages.