The Brigade Commander

John William De ForestProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 58K words
Chapters: 6

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.The Brigade Commander by John William De ForestAuthor: De Forest, John William, 1826-1906,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Oct 24, 2007

Editor's review

The Brigade Commander is a work by the American author John William De Forest, released free by Project Gutenberg. De Forest served in the American Civil War, and his writing often observes military life and human conflict; this book continues that focus. As a public-domain e-book, its main value is as a textual sample of nineteenth-century American military narrative, letting readers experience the novelistic style and character portrayal of the period. The pacing is relatively unhurried, and the dialogue and scene descriptions bear the marks of their time, making it suitable for reading as literary history or war literature. Since it is an English original of novella-to-short-novel length, readers with some grounding in English should read it continuously in a quiet setting, or use it as supplementary reading for the study of Civil War-era literature. Those who prefer strong plotting and fast-paced modern war fiction may find it less satisfying.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English-language readers who want to learn about nineteenth-century American war fiction
Researchers interested in De Forest and the literary context of the American Civil War
Learners who need public-domain English texts for reading or translation practice

Not a good fit for

Readers hoping for fast-paced modern military fiction
Readers with weak English reading skills who need Chinese annotations

Reading tips

Learn the basic background of the American Civil War first, then work through the relationships and conflicts
Take brief notes by chapter on characters' identities and military terms to reduce reading difficulty
Read alongside other public-domain Civil War novels to observe how different authors frame their narratives

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 suitable for English beginners?

Not really. It is an English original whose language follows nineteenth-century literary conventions, and its sentences and vocabulary pose some difficulty for beginners. It is best for readers with intermediate or higher English reading ability, or used with a dictionary or annotated edition.

Is this a complete long novel or an excerpt?

Project Gutenberg offers the full text of this work by De Forest; it is of novella-to-short-novel length, not an excerpt. Readers can finish it in one sitting or spread it over two or three.

Do I need to know about the American Civil War before reading?

It helps somewhat. Knowing the Civil War background makes it easier to understand the military life and characters' situations, but the work is still driven by character and narrative, so you can enter it without first reading a specialized history.

Comments

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About the author

John William De Forest Author · American · 1826–1906

John William De Forest (1826–1906) was an American realist novelist born in Connecticut. He is best known for his Civil War novel Miss Ravenel's Conversion from Secession to Loyalty (1867), a work regarded as an important early example of American realism and one that has led to his being seen as one of the earliest American realists. His other works include Overland: A Novel and The Brigade Commander, and three of his works are held in this collection. He also published the well-known essay "The Great American Novel" and wrote several novels, among them Kate Beaumont. Public information is limited, but his fiction, often drawn from war and social life, is realistic in style and has had a certain influence on the later development of American realist literature.