The Brute

Kummer, Frederic Arnold, 1873-1943Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.3

Word count: 333K words
Chapters: 34

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 Brute by Frederic Arnold KummerAuthor: Kummer, Frederic Arnold, 1873-1943,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Jun 28, 2011

Editor's review

The Brute is a work of American literature by Frederic Arnold Kummer, included in Project Gutenberg under the category of American and Canadian literature. Kummer was active in the early twentieth century, and his works often carry the narrative pacing and dramatic conflict typical of popular fiction, as this book does. For readers wishing to understand the landscape of early twentieth-century American popular literature, this work offers a useful sample: it shows how novels of that era handled character conflict, plot development, and moral questions. As a public-domain eBook, it is extremely easy to obtain and suitable as a supplement for literary-historical reference or leisure reading. Readers should not expect modern psychological depth, but rather view it within the tradition of popular narrative, attending to its structure, character design, and period discourse. For readers studying the evolution of genre fiction or doing extensive reading in English originals, the book's length and language difficulty are both fairly accessible.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literary fans interested in early twentieth-century American popular fiction
Readers who wish to practice extensive reading with public-domain English originals
Students or researchers studying genre narrative and the evolution of popular literature
Casual readers who enjoy plot-driven fiction and do not mind the period context

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting modern psychological realism or complex narrative techniques
Beginners who need detailed annotations and scholarly introductions
Readers who prefer contemporary subjects and fast-paced web-fiction-style reading

Reading tips

Read the first two chapters to judge whether the narrative pace suits your taste, then decide whether to read it through or selectively.
Prepare a simple character chart to help track character changes as the plot advances.
If using it for extensive reading in English, excerpt two or three typical expressions per chapter to build up period vocabulary.
After finishing, compare it with other American popular fiction of the same period and consider its place in the genre tradition.

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?

This is a public-domain book in the original English. The language is generally that of popular narrative, but since it was written in the early twentieth century, some expressions differ from today's English. Readers with an intermediate reading level can attempt it; beginners are advised to use a dictionary or choose an annotated edition, and to treat it as extensive reading material rather than an intensive textbook.

What are the features of the Project Gutenberg edition?

The Project Gutenberg edition is a free electronic text that is easy to download and search, and it generally preserves the original book's content with few modern editorial notes. It is suitable for independent reading and research use, but if you need background information, edition notes, or scholarly introductions, you will need to look elsewhere.

Do I need to know the author's background to read this book?

You do not need to study it in depth beforehand, but knowing that Kummer was active in the early twentieth century and that his works bear the characteristics of popular fiction can help adjust your reading expectations. Readers can read the main text first and then consult the author and period background as needed, so as to avoid letting too much peripheral information disrupt the reading rhythm.

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About the author

Kummer, Frederic Arnold, 1873-1943 Author

Frederic Arnold Kummer (1873–1943) was an American author whose life and education are poorly documented in publicly available sources, though his surviving works give a fair sense of his writing. Six of his books are held here, falling into two groups: detective fiction and popular reading for young people. His detective novels include The Film of Fear, The Green God, The Blue Lights: A Detective Story, and The Ivory Snuff Box; they rely on suspenseful plotting and a gradually unfolding investigation, reflecting the typical appeal of early popular detective fiction. He also wrote The First Days of Man, as Narrated Quite Simply for Young Readers, a plain account of early human history for young readers, as well as The Brute. On the whole, his work combines entertainment with the popularization of knowledge and is representative of early twentieth-century popular literature in Britain and America.