The Mission

Marryat, Frederick, 1792-1848Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 603K words
Chapters: 61

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 Mission by Frederick Marryat. Author: Marryat, Frederick, 1792-1848. Language: English. Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature. Release Date: Aug 25, 2004

Editor's review

The Mission is a work by the English writer Frederick Marryat (1792–1848), available through Project Gutenberg and classified under English literature (PR). Marryat is known for nautical and adventure fiction, and this book continues that narrative tradition, building its plot around a "mission" and combining adventure with moral observation. As a public-domain eBook, its value lies first in accessibility: readers can obtain the nineteenth-century English original free of charge for language study and literary-historical inquiry. It is best read within the context of British sea fiction and colonial-era narrative, with attention to the narrator's attitudes toward missionary work, foreign lands, and cultural conflict—these are both literary material and samples of historical thinking. The book is better suited as supplementary reading for extensive reading and thematic research than as an entry-level diversion; the English original makes certain demands on vocabulary and syntax, so annotations or a guide are recommended.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English-language readers who enjoy nineteenth-century British adventure and nautical fiction
Students and researchers of Marryat's work or of maritime literature
Language learners who want free access to English public-domain originals
Readers interested in colonial-era missionary narrative and the writing of foreign lands

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer fast-paced contemporary fiction and have little patience for older English narrative
Beginners with weak English who need sentence-by-sentence Chinese comparison
Readers expecting systematic historical scholarship or an academically annotated edition

Reading tips

Read a chapter summary before starting the main text to avoid giving up because of old-fashioned syntax.
Keep a notebook for nautical terms and period background words for easy review.
Read it alongside Marryat's other nautical novels to observe continuity in his subjects and stance.
Note the narrator's evaluations of missionary work and foreign cultures as you read.

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 in Chinese or is it the English original?

This is the English original e-book released by Project Gutenberg, in English and classified under PR (English literature). It contains no Chinese translation or annotations, so readers need some English reading ability and may wish to use a dictionary or guide.

Can I read it without having read other works by Marryat?

Yes. The plot stands relatively independently and does not depend on previous works. But familiarity with Marryat's nautical style and the nineteenth-century British literary context will make it easier to grasp the narrative focus and period attitudes; reading a brief introduction to the author and background first is recommended.

Is it suitable for learning English?

It can serve as extensive reading material for intermediate to advanced learners, offering exposure to nineteenth-century written English and nautical vocabulary. But the sentences are long and the cultural background unfamiliar, so beginners should not treat it as a first textbook; it is best used alongside an annotated edition or graded readers as a transition.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Marryat, Frederick, 1792-1848 Author

Frederick Marryat (1792-1848) was a nineteenth-century British novelist known for his sea stories and adventure fiction. The library holds 51 of his works, including The Children of the New Forest, Mr. Midshipman Easy, Peter Simple, Masterman Ready; or, The Wreck of the Pacific, The Pirate, and The Three Cutters, and The Phantom Ship. Drawing on life at sea, his novels are tightly plotted and humorous, skilled at portraying sailors and the growth of young protagonists, and they exerted a considerable influence on later maritime adventure literature. Works such as The Children of the New Forest have long been regarded as juvenile classics and remain widely read. Details of his biography are not recorded in the library's materials, and public information is limited, so this introduction focuses on his subjects, style, and influence.