The Tempering
Tags
Summary
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- English-language readers who enjoy early American fiction and regional literature
- English learners who wish to practice reading with public-domain English originals
- Readers interested in the themes of early-twentieth-century American popular fiction
- Literature enthusiasts who study novels set in the American mountains
Not a good fit for
- Readers hoping for a Chinese translation or a modern vernacular adaptation
- Those who prefer contemporary literary style and are impatient with old-fashioned narrative pacing
- Researchers who need strict academic annotation and critical introductions
Reading tips
- First read through the opening chapters to become familiar with the author's language style and narrative rhythm, then decide whether to read closely or extensively.
- While reading, note how the protagonist's character changes under environmental pressure and trace how the theme of "tempering" unfolds.
- Background material on American regional literature can help in understanding the novel's depiction of mountain life and folk characters.
- English learners can use the book as graded reading material and, after each chapter, summarize the plot in their own words.
About the publisher
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
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FAQ
Is this book an English original? What reading level is it suitable for?
What does the title The Tempering mean?
How is this book related to Buck's other works?
As a public-domain ebook, what are its reading-experience features?
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About the author
Charles Neville Buck (1879–1957) was an American novelist born in Woodford County, Kentucky, and a graduate of the University of Louisville. He first worked as a journalist and cartoonist before turning to fiction. Many of his novels are set in the Cumberland Mountains of Kentucky, and his representative works include The Call of the Cumberlands, A Pagan of the Hills, The Lighted Match, The Portal of Dreams, The Tempering, and The Key to Yesterday. Eleven of his works are held in this collection. Buck was known for depicting mountain rural life and the fate of his characters, often with romantic and dramatic plots. Several of his novels were adapted into silent films, giving him a certain influence in early twentieth-century American popular literature. Public information about his life and writing remains limited, and a fuller scholarly assessment of his work has yet to be established.
