The Mentor

Ayres, Alfred, 1826？-1902Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 249K words
Chapters: 25

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 Mentor by Alfred AyresAuthor: Ayres, Alfred, 1826?-1902,Language: English, Class: BJ: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion: Ethics, Social usages, Etiquette, Religion, Release Date: Sep 8, 2016

Editor's review

The Mentor is a work by the nineteenth-century American author Alfred Ayres (1826?–1902), classified by Project Gutenberg under ethics, social customs, and etiquette. Ayres was known for his writing and criticism of language usage, and this book continues his didactic, instructive style, aimed at readers who wish to improve their conduct and manner of dealing with the world. Its value lies mainly as a historical slice: the etiquette norms, social expectations, and moral exhortations presented in the book are direct material for understanding the everyday ethics of nineteenth-century Anglo-American middle-class society. The prose is plain and the structure consists mostly of short exhortative chapters, suitable for casual dipping rather than linear reading. As a public-domain e-book it is free and easily available, but readers should recognize that many of its ideas carry obvious period and class limitations and should not be copied as a contemporary conduct guide. Read it with the question "how were people of that time expected to behave?" and treat it as social history and a rhetorical specimen; the reward will be greater than simply seeking etiquette advice.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers studying nineteenth-century Anglo-American social customs and etiquette ideas
Those interested in admonitory literature, didactic style, and rhetoric
Language learners who want to experience old-style English exhortative prose in the original
Cultural history enthusiasts collecting material on everyday ethics and social norms

Not a good fit for

Readers looking for a contemporary practical etiquette guide
General readers expecting a continuous plot or literary narrative
Readers put off by a preachy tone and old-fashioned values

Reading tips

Read short chapters by theme rather than from start to finish; one or two pieces at a time is enough
Mark passages that clearly conflict with modern ideas and keep them as notes on social history
Excerpt typical sentences to observe the rhetorical patterns of nineteenth-century exhortative writing
After several chapters, write a short summary comparing the book's norms with today's etiquette

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 about? Is it a novel?

It is not a novel. It belongs to the category of instructive works on ethics and social customs, using short exhortative chapters to discuss conduct, manners, and how to deal with the world. Project Gutenberg classifies it under BJ (ethics and social customs within philosophy, psychology, and religion); readers should expect discursive prose rather than a story.

Are the etiquette suggestions in the book still applicable today?

They need to be sifted. Many norms in the book are rooted in nineteenth-century ideas of social hierarchy and gender and are not appropriate to transplant directly into the present. The more valuable approach is to treat them as historical material, observing how society then required individuals to behave, and then compare with today's norms.

How difficult is the English? Is it suitable for language learning?

The original is nineteenth-century English, with fairly long sentences and a formal tone; some wording is distant from today's English. Intermediate and above readers can read it with annotations; as language-learning material it is better suited to observing old-style exhortative style and sentence patterns than to learning contemporary colloquial expression.

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About the author

Ayres, Alfred, 1826？-1902 Author · American

Alfred Ayres (Ayres, Alfred, 1826?–1902) was an American teacher of elocution and a writer. His birth year can only be inferred as around 1826; the exact date and his early life are sparsely recorded in publicly available sources and are difficult to establish with certainty. According to existing materials, he long engaged in teaching and writing on elocution and oral expression, and belongs among the nineteenth-century American popular authors concerned with language usage and spoken cultivation. His representative works include The Verbalist and The Mentor, and he also wrote elocutionary works such as The Actor and His Art. These works mostly center on standards of word usage, techniques of expression, and training in public speaking, bearing a practical, instructive character aimed at general readers. His style is direct, combining examples with rules, and reflects the contemporary American emphasis on proper speech and competence in public expression. His works exercised a certain influence in language education and the popularization of elocution, and are often mentioned by later readers interested in English usage and oral cultivation.