The Road to Paris: A Story of Adventure

Stephens, Robert Neilson, 1867-1906Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.1
Word count
731K words
Chapters
74

Tags

English Originals Foreign Literature Military StrategyAdventure JourneyFate and FortuneVengeance and GratitudePatriotismExotic Culture

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 Road to Paris: A Story of Adventure by Robert Neilson StephensAuthor: Stephens, Robert Neilson, 1867-1906,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Mar 5, 2011

Editor's review

The Road to Paris: A Story of Adventure is by Robert Neilson Stephens, an American writer active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who specialized in historical adventure, often placing characters in motion amid grand historical settings. The book uses adventure as its frame, with the journey and Paris as the destination pulling the narrative forward; the changes and choices the protagonist encounters along the way are the main attraction. As a free public-domain ebook from Project Gutenberg, it is more like a window: through the methods of popular adventure fiction, one can see the narrative pacing favored by English-speaking readers of the era—tight plotting, frequent scene changes, and straightforward character motives. It requires no background in historical research; the point is to experience the tension of being on the road and the feeling of arrival. It suits reading several chapters over a weekend to feel the momentum of old-style adventure, and also serves as a light sample of early twentieth-century American popular literary genres. The original language bears the marks of its time, with some expressions slightly distant from modern English, but this has little effect on extensive reading.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. Read chapter by chapter; at the end of each, summarize in one sentence where the protagonist is and how the goal has changed.
  2. When encountering old-fashioned expressions, first guess from context; look up words after finishing a passage to avoid constantly breaking the rhythm.
  3. Read alongside a map or basic geographical knowledge of Paris to strengthen your sense of the journey's space.

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.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
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  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
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  23. 23
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  25. 25
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  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67
  68. 68
  69. 69
  70. 70
  71. 71
  72. 72
  73. 73
  74. 74

FAQ

When is the story set? The information only gives the author's dates as 1867–1906 and classifies the work as American and Canadian literature, without specifying the story's era. Judging from the author's period, the story should carry the marks of the late nineteenth to early twentieth century; readers can note social details in the text as they read.
How difficult is the English? Is it suitable for intermediate learners? As early twentieth-century popular adventure fiction, the language is mainly narrative and dialogue, with sentence structures that are not overly complex, though some wording and expressions bear period features. Intermediate English learners can try extensive reading, understanding unfamiliar words from context.
Is this book connected to the author's other works? The information does not indicate a series relationship with the author's other works, so it can be read as a standalone story. The Project Gutenberg entry provides only the title, author, and classification, with no mention of sequels or shared characters.

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About the author

Stephens, Robert Neilson, 1867-1906 Author

Public information about Robert Neilson Stephens (1867–1906) is limited. His output consisted mainly of historical adventure and popular romance fiction. Ten of his works are held here, most set in Elizabethan England or in modern city life, such as An Enemy to the King, The Bright Face of Danger, and A Gentleman Player, which tells of a secret mission for the Queen; Captain Ravenshaw is likewise set in Elizabethan London. He also wrote The Mystery of Murray Davenport, set in contemporary New York, and Tales from Bohemia. His style leans toward elaborate plotting and dramatic conflict, drawing readers through historical atmosphere and adventure suspense, and he held a certain influence among popular-fiction readers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.