The Star Guardians 1: A Portrayal of Times and Characters from the Days of Queen Christina

Topelius, Zacharias, 1818-1898Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.5
Word count
431K words
Chapters
44

Tags

Foreign Language Books Historical Fiction Historical ReappraisalPortrait GalleryLegendary LivesFate and FortuneTurbulent EraExotic CultureFemale Perspective

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.Tähtien turvatit 1: Aika- ja luonnekuvaus kuningatar Kristiinan ajoilta by TopeliusAuthor: Topelius, Zacharias, 1818-1898,Language: Finnish, Class: PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures, Release Date: Jul 23, 2017

Editor's review

This is the first part of a historical novel by the Finnish author Zacharias Topelius, set in the era of Queen Christina of Sweden. Topelius excelled at interweaving historical figures with fictional characters, depicting courtly and common life with delicate strokes, and this book embodies his creative aim of "a description of the times and of character." Readers can sense the political turbulence, religious atmosphere, and customary details of seventeenth-century Scandinavia, and can also see the author's care in portraying his characters. As a public-domain eBook, it suits readers interested in Nordic history, Finnish literature, or the origins of the historical novel as further reading. Note that the original is written in Finnish and poses a high language barrier; the narrative pace carries the unhurried feel of a nineteenth-century historical novel and requires patience to enter. It is best treated as an introductory sample of Topelius's historical writing rather than as a popular work seeking dramatic excitement.

Who it's for

A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. First learn the basic historical facts of Queen Christina's era, which makes it easier to grasp the characters' situations when entering the text
  2. Proceed chapter by chapter, reviewing after each chapter how the character relationships correspond to the historical background
  3. Read alongside other historical works by Topelius to observe his creative methods
  4. Mark unfamiliar historical terms first and look them up together after finishing the chapter

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
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  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

FAQ

Does this book require a foundation in Finnish? The original is written in Finnish; without Finnish, you will need a translation or another language edition. The public-domain eBook itself provides no translation, so readers should choose how to read according to their own language ability.
Is this a complete story or part of a series? The title indicates it is the first part, belonging to a series of historical depictions set in the era of Queen Christina. It can be regarded as the opening of a series, with subsequent content requiring the corresponding volumes.
Is it suitable for citation as historical material? It is essentially a historical novel rather than a work of historiography; although it contains depictions of the era, the characters and plot include literary fiction. Citation as historical material requires caution and should be checked against professional histories.

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About the author

Topelius, Zacharias, 1818-1898 Author

Zacharias Topelius (1818–1898) was a Finnish author whose thirty-nine works are held in this collection, commonly classified under inspirational and coming-of-age reading. His output spans historical fiction, fairy tales, and the compilation of poetry. Representative works include the historical novel series Välskärin kertomuksia and Tähtien turvatit 2: Aika- ja luonnekuvaus kuningatar Kristiinan ajoilta, the fairy-tale collection Sagor af Z. Topelius., and works such as Talvi-iltain tarinoita 3 and The King‘s Ring. He also took part in compiling the Finnish folk-poetry collection Suomen Kansan Vanhoja Runoja ynnä myös Nykyisempiä Lauluja 1. His historical novels draw on Nordic history and combine plotting with character portrayal, while his fairy tales and stories are imaginative and warm in tone, carrying instructive and inspiring value. Public information is limited, so biographical details are omitted.