Emigrant Stories

Zilliacus, Konni, 1855-1924Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.1

Word count: 210K words
Chapters: 21

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.Utvandrarehistorier by Konni ZilliacusAuthor: Zilliacus, Konni, 1855-1924,Language: Swedish, Class: PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures, Release Date: Sep 21, 2015

Editor's review

This Utvandrarehistorier is a collection of emigration stories written in Swedish by the Finnish author Konni Zilliacus, from a public-domain ebook edition via Project Gutenberg. Its value lies first in its subject: during the mass migration of Nordic peoples to America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the author records, from a participant's perspective, fragments of leaving home, the ocean voyage, and making a living in the New World, in plain but warm prose. Second, the book is in Swedish and preserves much everyday language and local expression of the period, making it useful both to students of Nordic migration history and to learners of Swedish. As a public-domain ebook it is short and serves as an entry point to Nordic emigration literature, and can be read alongside historical materials. Note that the narratives bear the marks of their era and that certain attitudes need to be understood in historical context. For reading setting, it suits quiet short sessions, one or two stories at a time.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in Nordic migration history and nineteenth-century social change
Intermediate and advanced learners of Swedish who want to read public-domain originals
Literary readers who enjoy short narratives and foreign local subjects
Teachers or resource workers studying public-domain ebook resources and texts

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a full-length plot or strong dramatic conflict
Beginners without Swedish reading ability who are unwilling to use a translation
Historians seeking systematic historical analysis or scholarly annotation

Reading tips

Read one or two stories at a time, then note the characters, places, and migration routes in a notebook to keep the threads clear.
When encountering Swedish dialect or old-fashioned expressions, first guess from context, then check a dictionary; vocabulary will stick better.
Read a few pieces first to build a feel for the language, then compare with background material on Nordic migration to America.
On an e-reader, note each story's title and paragraph breaks for easy review and excerpting.

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 for learning Swedish?

It suits learners with some foundation. The original is in Swedish, the narrative language is plain, and the pieces are short, making it easy to read in sections; but old-fashioned expressions and local usage are preserved, so beginners should use a dictionary or translation as support to avoid being stopped by dense unfamiliar words.

Are the stories in the book fiction or documentary?

This collection takes emigration experience as its subject and bears clear marks of period life, but the specific characters and plots are literary creations. It is best read as story texts reflecting the emigrant situation of the time rather than as a point-by-point historical record.

What is the reading experience of the public-domain ebook edition like?

This edition comes from Project Gutenberg and is a free public-domain ebook, easy to obtain on a computer or e-reader. The text is presented in the original language and usually includes no modern translation notes or introduction, so readers must supply background material themselves; it suits readers who are already prepared.

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

Zilliacus, Konni, 1855-1924 Author

Konni Zilliacus (1855–1924) was a Finnish author whose works are represented in the collection by five titles. Public information about him is limited, and much of his biography remains uncertain, yet his writings clearly engage with Finnish history and the migrant experience. Sortovuosilta: Poliittisia muistelmia is a political memoir recounting Finland's period of oppression and reads as a testimony of its time, while Utvandrarehistorier and Nya utvandrarehistorier turn to emigration, narrating the fortunes and observations of those who left their homeland. The story collection Mariquita, och andra historier från verldens utkanter shifts its gaze to the margins of the world, and Taavetti Anttilan kohtalo: y.m. kertomuksia Ameriikan suomalaisten elämästä centres on the lives and changing fates of Finnish immigrants in America. His work stands between historical reportage and narrative fiction, focusing on political upheaval and migration, and offers a useful reference for the study of Finnish immigrant literature.