The Pagans

Bates, Arlo, 1850-1918Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 334K words
Chapters: 34

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 Pagans by Arlo BatesAuthor: Bates, Arlo, 1850-1918,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Aug 1, 2005

Editor's review

The Pagans is a novel by the late nineteenth-century American writer Arlo Bates, belonging to a strand of American literature that has drawn relatively little attention from Chinese readers. Set in New England intellectual circles, it develops its characters and clashes of opinion around the tension between faith, aesthetic sensibility, and worldly life, bearing the realist and psychological coloring popular at the time. Bates worked for many years as a literary editor and teacher; his prose is polished, and his dialogue often carries speculative discussion, making the book a useful sample for understanding the tastes and currents of thought in nineteenth-century American fiction. The public-domain electronic edition is convenient for searching and comparative reading, though it requires some English reading ability and a sense of historical context. It is not a plot-driven work and is better approached through study or through savoring the language; only by reading the dialogue and the narrator's evaluative tone closely in quiet reading sessions can its value be truly appreciated.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers studying nineteenth-century American literature and intellectual history
Readers who enjoy slow-paced novels rich in dialogue and discussion of ideas
Collectors and readers of public-domain English-language originals
Readers seeking to broaden their map of American fiction beyond the classics

Not a good fit for

Readers of genre fiction who prefer strong plots and fast-paced narrative
Beginners whose English is not yet fluent and who need Chinese annotations
Readers hoping to find clear life guidance or practical knowledge in the book

Reading tips

Read the first two chapters first to gauge the narrative pace and character relationships before deciding whether to read straight through or selectively.
Prepare a character chart and note the key concepts that recur in the dialogue.
Pair the reading with an introduction to nineteenth-century American social or literary history to help reconstruct the context.
Read in chapter-by-chapter batches, summarizing the core conflict in a few sentences after each chapter to avoid losing focus.

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 in the original English?

This is a public-domain English e-book released by Project Gutenberg; the text is in English, with no Chinese translation. It suits readers with some English reading ability to read the original directly, and can also serve as material for comparative study or language learning.

I haven't read anything else by the author. Can I start with this book?

Yes. It is a stand-alone novel and does not depend on earlier works. Still, the religious and literary context of the author's time helps in understanding the characters' discussions, so it is advisable to learn the basic features of nineteenth-century American fiction before starting.

Why does the plot move so slowly?

The book's focus is on clashes of ideas and psychological portrayal rather than density of events. Much of the text is given to dialogue and the narrator's commentary; readers expecting a plot-driven novel will find it slow, but with adjusted expectations its language and intellectual interest become easier to appreciate.

What should I keep in mind when reading the public-domain e-book?

Public-domain texts are prepared by volunteers and may contain minor differences in formatting or punctuation, which do not affect overall reading. It is advisable to use reading software that supports dictionary lookup and note-taking; looking up unfamiliar words or historical names as you go can markedly improve comprehension.

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About the author

Bates, Arlo, 1850-1918 Author

Arlo Bates (1850–1918) was an American author and teacher of literature. Thirteen of his works are held in this Chinese-language book collection, commonly grouped under inspirational and personal growth. Public information about him is limited, and details of his life are difficult to verify, yet his works reveal his main directions. On the one hand he wrote on writing and literary education, including Talks on Writing English (First Series), Talks on Teaching Literature and Talks on the Study of Literature, which discuss methods of writing and approaches to literary study in plain, well-organized prose with the friendly tone of classroom talks. On the other hand he wrote fiction and stories, such as The Puritans, Patty's Perversities, A Book o' Nine Tales, The Intoxicated Ghost, and Other Stories and The Pagans, dealing with social manners and everyday human relations in a style mixing humor and satire. Overall, he combined the roles of teacher and writer, and his works, practical in guidance and readable in narrative, offer some value for learning English writing and understanding the literary tastes of his time.