The Pest

Shore, W. Teignmouth (William Teignmouth), 1865-19Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.9

Word count: 346K words
Chapters: 35

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 Pest by W. Teignmouth ShoreAuthor: Shore, W. Teignmouth (William Teignmouth), 1865-1932,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Nov 14, 2015

Editor's review

The Pest is an English-language literary work by the British author William Teignmouth Shore, available through Project Gutenberg as a free eBook. Shore lived from 1865 to 1932, and his writing career fell between the late Victorian and Edwardian periods, a background that gives the work a distinctly period feel in its language, social observation, and narrative pace. For today's readers, the book's primary value is documentary and linguistic: it offers an original sample of early twentieth-century English prose and fiction technique, suited to close reading by those studying the evolution of popular literature or changes in the English language. As a public-domain eBook, it is easy to obtain and of manageable length, making it useful for short-term reading practice or textual analysis exercises. It should be noted that the available information provides only bibliographic details, with no specifics of plot or evaluation, so it is better read as a piece of literary source material to be explored independently rather than as a bestseller with a ready-made introduction. While reading, pay attention to the author's diction, sentence structure, and character portrayal to sense the texture of English writing from over a century ago.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in English literature of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
Learners studying changes in the English language and the techniques of popular fiction
Self-learners who need a short English text for close-reading practice
Readers accustomed to public-domain eBooks who prefer to explore independently

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting modern fast-paced plots and strong narrative conflict
Beginners who need detailed notes and introductions to enter the text
Those who read only contemporary bestsellers and are uncomfortable with older language

Reading tips

Read through once for the overall sense, then go back and mark unfamiliar and period-specific words.
Keep a notebook to record the author's sentence patterns and methods of character description.
Use histories of English literature to place the work back in its period for understanding.
Read a fixed number of pages each day to avoid abandoning it because of the language barrier.

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 suitable for English beginners?

Not really. The work was written in the late nineteenth to early twentieth century, and its vocabulary and syntax carry period features that can trip up beginners, especially in long sentences and old-fashioned expressions. It is better suited to readers with some foundation in English reading who are willing to look up words and adapt to an older style; beginners might start with retold versions or contemporary works.

Why is there no detailed plot introduction in the book?

The available information includes only the author, language, category, and release details, with no plot summary. The recommendations therefore focus on the work's documentary value and ways of reading it rather than its story. Readers can download the original text from the Project Gutenberg page to learn the plot for themselves.

What should I keep in mind when reading a public-domain eBook?

Public-domain eBooks are usually proofread by volunteers, and some versions may have typesetting or leftover OCR issues. It is best to choose a common format offered on the official page; when you encounter an obvious typo, judge it from context and don't let it affect your overall understanding—there is no need to agonize over every character.

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About the author

Shore, W. Teignmouth (William Teignmouth), 1865-19 Author

W. Teignmouth Shore (William Teignmouth Shore, 1865–19) was an English writer whose exact dates and biographical details are sparsely recorded in publicly available sources. Three of his works are held in this collection, spanning notably different subjects: D‘Orsay or, The complete dandy explores nineteenth-century English dandy culture in an anecdotal, engaging manner; The Pest, as its title suggests, turns to darker and more dramatic material; and Canterbury shifts toward history and local description, reflecting an interest in cathedral cities and cultural heritage. Taken together, the three books show Shore to be not a writer confined to a single field but a versatile author moving between social manners, narrative fiction, and historical account. His prose is generally clear and readable, attentive to detail and atmosphere, and suited to readers interested in late Victorian popular genres and English local subjects.