The Kindred of the Wild: A Book of Animal Life

Roberts, Charles G. D., Sir, 1860-1943Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 4.1
Word count
320K words
Chapters
32

Tags

English Originals Natural Sciences Animal LiteratureEcological WritingNature ObservationWilderness SurvivalNaturalist SentimentAwareness of LifeNature EthicsNarrative TechniqueWoodland StoryCanadian Literature

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 Kindred of the Wild: A Book of Animal Life by Sir Charles G. D. RobertsAuthor: Roberts, Charles G. D., Sir, 1860-1943,Language: English, Class: QL: Science: Zoology, Release Date: Jun 20, 2014

Editor's review

The Kindred of the Wild is a collection of animal stories by the Canadian writer Charles G. D. Roberts, portraying the lives of wild animals in nature through close observation and a literary warmth of touch. Rather than plain popular science, Roberts often builds his narratives around animals' behaviour, instinct and circumstances, letting readers feel the woodland, the marsh and the turning seasons as the story unfolds, and see the natural laws behind predation, the raising of young and migration. The book's value lies in its being both an early representative of animal literature and an accessible entry point to nature for readers: it does not rush into anthropomorphic sentiment but grounds observation in concrete actions and settings. Its language carries the rhythm of early twentieth-century prose and is suited to quiet reading, one piece at a time. For today's readers it can be enjoyed as nature writing and also read as a text for understanding the early tradition of animal narrative; note, however, its element of literary imagination, and do not take it as a strict record of field observation.

Who it's for

A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. Read piece by piece, pausing after each to recall its observational details and narrative perspective.
  2. Keep a sheet of paper to note the animals and settings that appear, to help trace connections and differences between the stories.
  3. When reading with a child, first discuss the animals' motives, then distinguish what is observation from what is literary imagination.
  4. When reading the English original, do not look up every new word; grasp the scene and action first, then return to the key descriptive words.

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
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32

FAQ

Is this book popular science or literature? It is closer to animal literature. Roberts takes wild birds and beasts as his protagonists; the narration has an observational basis and also includes literary scenes and psychological description. It can foster an interest in nature, but it cannot replace a zoology textbook; readers should appreciate its behavioural descriptions as literary presentation.
What age of child is it suitable for? It depends on the edition and the child's reading habits. The stories are not long, but the English original and some descriptions are difficult for younger children. A Chinese translation or reading aloud by an adult can come first; children in the upper primary grades and above who are interested in animals will find it easier to enter. Where natural scenes such as predation appear, parents can offer appropriate guidance.
Are the animal descriptions in the book reliable? The author observed wild animals closely, and many behavioural details have a basis in reality, but the work was written long ago and carries narrative shaping and a tendency to anthropomorphise. Readers can treat it as an introduction to observing nature; where accuracy is needed, they should read it alongside modern zoological sources.
Is the English original difficult to read? The language belongs to early twentieth-century prose, with detailed description and rather long sentences, but it is not an academic text. Readers with intermediate English reading ability can attempt it; reading one piece at a time is advisable, and when environment descriptions are dense, grasp the main line of action first rather than labouring over every word.

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About the author

Roberts, Charles G. D., Sir, 1860-1943 Author

Sir Charles G. D. Roberts (1860–1943) was a Canadian writer known for his animal stories and nature writing. The library holds twenty-nine of his works, including The Kindred of the Wild: A Book of Animal Life, Red Fox, Hoof and Claw, Neighbors Unknown, The Heart of the Ancient Wood, and Kings in Exile. His writing focuses largely on wild animals and life in the wilderness, blending close observation of nature with narrative tension; the animals he portrays are both wild and individual in character, and such works have had a certain influence within the English-language tradition of animal literature. Beyond fiction, he also wrote poetry, as shown by Songs of the Common Day, and, Ave!: An Ode for the Shelley Centenary, indicating that his writing spans both prose and verse. Public information on the details of his life is limited, and none is conjectured here.