The Lighted Match

Charles Neville BuckProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 364K words
Chapters: 37

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 Lighted Match by Charles Neville BuckAuthor: Buck, Charles Neville, 1879-1957,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: May 7, 2006

Editor's review

The Lighted Match is a novel by the American writer Charles Neville Buck, made available as a free electronic edition by Project Gutenberg. Buck was active in early twentieth-century American popular fiction, and this work belongs to his output as a novelist, classified under American and Canadian literature. From the available information, the book can serve as a sample of early twentieth-century American popular fiction: plot-driven narrative, character relationships, and dramatic conflict are usually the reading focus of such works. The electronic edition is easy to obtain and search, but the original is in English, and the Project Gutenberg version is primarily text-based, so the reading experience depends on the reader's adaptation to early English novel syntax. It is better suited to reading as literary-historical background or genre entertainment than to fast-paced reading in the manner of a contemporary bestseller. Since detailed plot information is lacking, readers are advised to set the exploration of the author's narrative technique and period language as their reading goal.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in early twentieth-century American popular fiction
Advanced learners who want to expand their literary reading through English originals
Researchers studying Buck's works or period fiction narrative

Not a good fit for

Ordinary readers who read only contemporary Chinese bestsellers
Beginners who need detailed introductions and notes to read an English original
Readers expecting fast-paced, strongly plotted excitement

Reading tips

Read the opening chapters first to adapt to the syntax and narrative rhythm of early twentieth-century English fiction, then decide your reading pace.
Record character relationships and key conflicts, and treat plot progression as clues for observing the author's narrative technique.
If used for literary research, read in comparison with other works by Buck or with contemporaneous American popular fiction.

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

What is this book mainly about?

The available information only identifies it as a novel by Charles Neville Buck and provides no plot summary. Readers are advised to judge the story's direction from the opening chapters themselves, or to learn about the author's usual subjects and narrative style from his other works; they should not presuppose specific plot details before reading.

How difficult is the English, and is it suitable for learning English?

The work is an early twentieth-century English novel, and its syntax and vocabulary carry period features, so it is not entirely the same as contemporary English. Readers with some foundation in reading English fiction can attempt it, but if they need sentence-by-sentence notes to understand it, the reading burden will be considerable. They can start with short chapters and proceed gradually with a dictionary.

Does this electronic edition have notes or an introduction?

According to the information, this is an electronic text provided by Project Gutenberg, with no notes or introduction mentioned. When encountering period background or unfamiliar expressions, readers must look up the information themselves. If used for a course or research, it is advisable to pair it with secondary literature on the author's life and the historical background.

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About the author

Charles Neville Buck Author · American · 1879–1957

Charles Neville Buck (1879–1957) was an American novelist born in Woodford County, Kentucky, and a graduate of the University of Louisville. He first worked as a journalist and cartoonist before turning to fiction. Many of his novels are set in the Cumberland Mountains of Kentucky, and his representative works include The Call of the Cumberlands, A Pagan of the Hills, The Lighted Match, The Portal of Dreams, The Tempering, and The Key to Yesterday. Eleven of his works are held in this collection. Buck was known for depicting mountain rural life and the fate of his characters, often with romantic and dramatic plots. Several of his novels were adapted into silent films, giving him a certain influence in early twentieth-century American popular literature. Public information about his life and writing remains limited, and a fuller scholarly assessment of his work has yet to be established.