The Drone

Mayne, Rutherford, 1878-1967Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

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.The Drone by Rutherford MayneAuthor: Mayne, Rutherford, 1878-1967,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Dec 23, 2006

Editor's review

The Drone is an English-language literary work by the Irish playwright Rutherford Mayne, classified under English language and literature and released free of charge by Project Gutenberg. Mayne was active in the early twentieth-century Irish theatre movement; his plays are mostly set in rural life and excel at portraying character and family conflict within seemingly calm daily routines. The Drone follows this vein: the title's "drone" refers both to an idler and carries an ironic jab at human inertia, and readers can sense the author's gentle scrutiny of ways of living through dialogue and plot. The book is short, its language close to colloquial speech, and it suits as an introduction to Irish little-theatre drama. While reading, note the dialect flavor in the lines and the subtext in characters' interactions—this yields more than simply following the plot. As a public-domain e-book, its typesetting and notes are plain; using it with introductory materials is advised. Overall, it suits readers interested in English literature and theatre history rather than general readers seeking strong plot-driven narrative.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in Irish drama and the history of English literature
Learners who want to encounter original English plays in a shorter format
Readers who enjoy savoring character and family relationships through dialogue
Organizers who need free public-domain English texts for classes or reading groups

Not a good fit for

General fiction readers expecting strong plots and fast pacing
Beginners whose English is not yet fluent and who need extensive notes
Researchers seeking detailed background introductions and scholarly annotations

Reading tips

Read through once to grasp the plot, then revisit key dialogues to appreciate the subtext in characters' tones.
Try reading aloud by role or in a group; the dialogue's tension comes through more clearly when spoken.
Briefly learn about the early twentieth-century Irish theatre movement beforehand to better understand the work's aims.
When encountering dialect or colloquial expressions, guess from context first, then check a dictionary; overall understanding is not affected.

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 play?

It is a dramatic work, consisting mainly of dialogue and stage directions, classified under drama in English literature. The reading experience differs from a novel and relies more on readers reconstructing relationships and conflicts from dialogue.

How difficult is the English, and what level is it for?

The text is mainly everyday colloquial dialogue with short sentences, but carries Irish English habits of expression. Readers with intermediate English who can use a dictionary for dialect words should manage it.

Why does this book have no detailed notes or introduction?

Released free by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain electronic text, its main purpose is to provide the original text, usually without scholarly notes or introductions; readers can pair it with relevant literary history materials.

Do I need to know the author beforehand to read this play?

Not in depth, but a brief understanding of Rutherford Mayne's connection to the Irish theatre movement helps clarify the play's focus on rural life and character, giving the reading more direction.

Comments

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About the author

Mayne, Rutherford, 1878-1967 Author · British · 1878–1967

Rutherford Mayne (1878–1967) was a British playwright from Northern Ireland, best known for his comedies about Irish country life. His plays draw largely on the everyday manners and customs of rural Northern Ireland, using a light comic touch to present the conflicts and humours of country life, with plain, natural dialogue and vividly local characters. His representative works, The Drone and The Turn of the Road, show his fondness for rural subjects and his close observation of ordinary country people. Through his writing, the Northern Irish countryside came vividly to the stage, adding a lively page to the regional dramatic tradition. Public information about his life is limited; two of his works are held in this collection, which offer a sense of his writing.