The Broken Soldier and the Maid of France

Van Dyke, Henry, 1852-1933Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.0
Word count
50K words
Chapters
5

Tags

English Originals Foreign Literature HeroismHuman NatureSpiritual HealingMoral DilemmaTurbulent EraFemale Perspective

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 Broken Soldier and the Maid of France by Henry Van DykeAuthor: Van Dyke, Henry, 1852-1933,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Jun 3, 2005

Editor's review

The Broken Soldier and the Maid of France is a short work by Henry Van Dyke that brings together the figures of a wounded soldier and a French girl, bearing clear marks of moral consolation and humanistic care. Van Dyke was both a writer and a pastor, and his prose tends to be gentle and dignified, attentive to spiritual comfort; this work continues that temperament. The free electronic edition from Project Gutenberg lets readers encounter the original English text at little cost, making it suitable as an introductory text for understanding themes of war and faith in early twentieth-century American literature. It does not rely on complex plotting but rather on the unfolding of situation and emotion; while reading, note how the soldier's trauma is written, what symbolic meaning the girl's figure carries, and how the author conveys belief through simple narrative. For readers studying war literature, religious humanism, or Van Dyke's work, this is an easily accessible primary source; for general readers, it is more like a short piece to be read quietly to the end, suited to slow appreciation in a quiet hour.

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Reading tips

  1. Read through once to grasp the overall situation, then go back and read closely the passages of dialogue between the soldier and the girl.
  2. While reading, mark words and sentences involving pain, belief, and comfort, and consider the author's language choices.
  3. You may combine brief background material on the early twentieth-century war to understand the work's emotional orientation.
  4. The length is short; it suits reading in one sitting followed by a brief response piece sorting out symbolic meaning.

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
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5

FAQ

Is this work a novel or a short piece? Judging from the Gutenberg entry, this is a relatively short work, suitable for reading in one sitting or over two or three sessions. Readers should not expect complex subplots at the pace of a novel, but should focus on the core situation and emotional expression.
What are the characteristics of Van Dyke's writing style? Van Dyke was both a writer and a pastor, and his prose is usually gentle and dignified, valuing spiritual and moral expression. This work also leans toward the unfolding of emotion and belief rather than intense plot conflict, and is suited to slow reading that savors tone and diction.
If there is no Chinese translation, how should one read it? You can first read through with a dictionary, focusing on the characters' situations and the gist of the dialogue rather than translating word by word. After finishing, look up key unfamiliar words and consult brief introductions to Van Dyke's life and historical background to better understand the work's emotional orientation.

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

Van Dyke, Henry, 1852-1933 Author

Henry Van Dyke (1852–1933) was an American author best known for his essays and Christmas stories. Public information about him is limited, and the details of his life are not further documented in this collection. Judging from the works available here, he wrote in a clear, quietly poetic style, dealing with themes of faith, goodwill, and inner growth; his narratives are gentle and carry a strong sense of festival and reflection. The Story of the Other Wise Man, his most widely read short work, follows the journey of a fourth Magi and is often regarded as a classic of Christmas literature; The Lost Word: A Christmas Legend of Long Ago continues in this legendary vein. The Mansion uses allegory to explore life and the world to come, brief in length but lingering in meaning. The essay collection Little Rivers: A Book of Essays in Profitable Idleness turns to nature and leisurely pleasure in an unhurried tone, reflecting his love of outdoor life. Thirty-three of his works are held here, showing that his writing spans fiction, parable, and essay, and that he earned a place in early twentieth-century American popular and holiday reading.