The Sherrods

McCutcheon, George Barr, 1866-1928Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 398K words
Chapters: 40

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 Sherrods by George Barr McCutcheonAuthor: McCutcheon, George Barr, 1866-1928,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Feb 24, 2011

Editor's review

The Sherrods is an early twentieth-century American popular novel by George Barr McCutcheon, part of his prolific output and representative of his domestic and social-fiction vein. McCutcheon excelled at plotting and liked to place everyday interpersonal complications within a lightly comic structure, letting readers observe his characters' choices and turning points without heavy going. The book makes no grand historical claims; its value lies more in offering a window onto the middlebrow American reading tastes of its day: dialogue drives the narrative, character types are clearly drawn, and chapter endings are crafted for readability. For readers studying the early twentieth-century American popular-fiction market and the magazine-serial novel style, this public-domain text has sample value; for those simply looking for a light English read, it can serve as a transitional choice, though they must accept its markedly dated narrative rhythm and value assumptions.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers curious about the early twentieth-century American popular novel
Those seeking a light English public-domain text for reading practice
Enthusiasts of McCutcheon's body of work and serial-style narrative
Readers who prefer domestic and social themes driven by character relationships

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking deep social critique or modernist experimentation
Genre-fiction readers who need strong suspense or high-conflict plotting
Readers put off by dated narrative rhythms and values
Readers hoping for a Chinese translation rather than the English original

Reading tips

Read chapter by chapter, briefly noting changes in character relationships at the end of each chapter.
Read it as a period text and attend to the social assumptions embedded in dialogue and domestic scenes.
If the English proves difficult, start with a synopsis and then return to key chapters.
Read it alongside other McCutcheon works to observe his habitual techniques of popular storytelling.

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 as introductory material for reading English originals?

It can serve as transitional material. Its language is early twentieth-century popular-fiction English; sentence structures are not especially complex, but period diction and narrative habits are present. Readers with some English reading foundation can make progress with an e-book's dictionary function; complete beginners may struggle with the large cast and slow pace and are advised to start with shorter texts.

Where does it stand in McCutcheon's career?

The available information only identifies this as a McCutcheon novel catalogued under American literature and offers no specific placement or evaluation within the author's career. The safer approach is to treat it as one sample of his popular domestic-social fiction, compare narrative structure and characterization with his other works, and avoid assuming it is a major representative.

Does the Gutenberg edition include an introduction or notes?

The record describes a public-domain English e-book from Project Gutenberg released in February 2011 and mentions no modern editor's introduction or scholarly annotations. Readers must supply author background and historical context themselves, and when citing should note the public-domain edition's version information rather than treating it as an annotated scholarly edition.

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

McCutcheon, George Barr, 1866-1928 Author

George Barr McCutcheon (1866–1928) was an American novelist, though public information about his life and education is limited. The library holds 35 of his works, including Brewster's Millions, The Rose in the Ring, From the Housetops, Mr. Bingle, Her Weight in Gold, The City of Masks, The Flyers, and The Prince of Graustark. He is known for light, humorous popular fiction with clever plots and lively dialogue, often dealing with themes of wealth, identity, and romance. Brewster's Millions, famous for its premise of having to spend a fortune in order to inherit one, has been adapted for film and television many times and remains influential; the Graustark novels display his romantic imagination in the invented-kingdom genre. Overall, he was a widely read American popular novelist of the early twentieth century, valued for his entertaining and accessible storytelling.