Traits of American Humour, Vol. 2 of 3

Project GutenbergProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.5

Word count: 341K 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.Traits of American Humour, Vol. 2 of 3 by Thomas Chandler HaliburtonAuthor: ,Language: English, Class: PN: Language and Literatures: Literature: General, Criticism, Collections, Release Date: Sep 3, 2015

Editor's review

This is the second volume of Thomas Chandler Haliburton's three-volume Traits of American Humour, continuing the editorial approach of the first volume and gathering further texts that exemplify early American humorous style. Its value for readers lies in offering more samples within the same editorial framework, making it easy to compare narrative voices, character types, and comic techniques across selections and to form a fuller picture of the thematic range of nineteenth-century North American English humor. As a public-domain ebook prepared by Project Gutenberg, it is suited to reference, selected reading as a corpus, and supplementary reading for literary history rather than to continuous reading for plot. Because the texts carry pronounced period language features, readers need some experience with English prose and a willingness to consult background materials for dialect and allusions. Readers of the first volume can use this one for extension and comparison; it can also be used independently, though it is advisable to understand the editorial scheme before choosing selections.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who have read the first volume and wish to extend their sample of texts
Literature specialists studying nineteenth-century American humorous style
Teachers who need a public-domain English anthology as supplementary course material
Those interested in early North American folk narrative and character sketches

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking a single book that systematically covers the history of American humor
General readers who prefer modern translations and easy reading
Beginners with little patience for old-fashioned English and dialect

Reading tips

Skim the table of contents first and select readings grouped by character type or narrative mode rather than reading straight through.
Compare treatments of similar subjects with the first volume and note the editor's selection tendencies.
Make brief notes on dialect and allusions, and look up background after finishing a group of selections.
For writing or research, excerpt quotable passages first and note volume and title.

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

Can the second volume be read on its own?

It can be used independently; the volumes are different collections of texts within the same editorial framework and do not depend on continuous plot. Still, understanding the first volume's editorial scheme first makes it easier to grasp the selection logic and stylistic differences in the second.

Do the two volumes overlap substantially?

The materials indicate that the two are different volumes of a three-volume work with a consistent editorial approach but different contents. Whether individual selections overlap should be checked against the actual tables of contents; readers can compare contents before deciding the order of reading.

What themes is this book suitable for studying?

It is suitable for examining the stylistic forms, character types, use of dialect, and folk narrative traditions of nineteenth-century American humor, and can also serve as English prose corpus material or supplementary reading for literary history courses, though it does not provide a systematic theoretical framework.

Why does it not read like modern humor?

Because the texts date from the nineteenth century, their comic modes, language habits, and cultural allusions are distant from contemporary readers, and some humor depends on the social context of the time. Readers need to understand it with background rather than expecting modern jokes.

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About the author

Project Gutenberg Author

Project Gutenberg is not a single author but a nonprofit digital library founded by Michael Hart in 1971 and one of the world's earliest free ebook platforms. It relies on volunteers to digitize, proofread, and freely distribute public-domain works and is now operated by the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Its collection contains 2,692 works, mainly religious texts, epics, and story collections, including the King James Bible and the Douay-Rheims volumes, the epic Mahabharata, a literal translation of the Arabian Nights, and Danish editions of the Old and New Testaments. Public information is limited, and its nature is closer to a public-interest compiling and dissemination body; these texts are open to the public, easy to consult and circulate, and have had a profound influence on the spread of ebooks and the preservation of public-domain resources.