Walking Essays

Sidgwick, Arthur, 1840-1920Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.7

Word count: 275K words
Chapters: 28

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.Walking essays by Arthur SidgwickAuthor: Sidgwick, Arthur, 1840-1920,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Jul 21, 2018

Editor's review

This is a collection of essays by Arthur Sidgwick built around walking, one of the lighter branches of the English essay tradition. Writing from a walker's perspective, the author observes the scenery, people, and thoughts along the way in unhurried, gently paced prose that suits reading in short snatches. Its value lies not in systematic theory but in demonstrating a method for turning ordinary experience into writing: organizing what one sees and feels on a walk into short pieces with a beginning, development, and close. Readers who want to practice English essay writing can use the pieces as structural models; those who enjoy the feel of old-fashioned English prose will find quiet pleasure here. Note that this is a public-domain e-book, and the English carries a late-nineteenth- to early-twentieth-century flavor, with some expressions distant from contemporary speech. Suitable for commutes, short bedtime reading, or model-text discussion in writing classes.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy English essays and slow-paced prose
Writing practitioners who want to learn how to turn daily walks into short pieces
English learners who need short reading material for fragmented time
Those interested in the feel of late-nineteenth- to early-twentieth-century English prose

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking systematic walking theory or outdoor-exercise guides
Readers who prefer strong plots and fast-paced narrative
Beginners with weak English who need line-by-line annotation

Reading tips

Read one essay a day, then jot down in two or three sentences the angle of the author's observation to build writing material.
Mark old-fashioned expressions first and look them up after finishing the whole piece, so as not to break the rhythm.
Read alongside famous Chinese essays to compare Eastern and Western writing about walking.
Use one piece as a model and write a short essay about a walking route of your own.

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 a novel or a collection of short pieces?

Judging from the title and the information available, this is a collection of English essays on the theme of walking, made up of multiple short pieces rather than a novel with a continuous plot. It suits reading piece by piece, not necessarily from start to finish.

What English level does it roughly require?

The author lived in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and the prose has an old-fashioned style with longish sentences; the vocabulary is not obscure, but the habits of expression differ from contemporary English. Readers with college-level English who are willing to look words up can attempt it.

What should I note when reading a public-domain e-book?

The book comes from Project Gutenberg and is a free public-domain e-book. Layout may differ across devices, so it is best to use a reader with adjustable font size and to check that chapter breaks are clear.

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About the author

Sidgwick, Arthur, 1840-1920 Author

Arthur Sidgwick (1840–1920) was an English scholar and essayist; public information about his life and education is limited. Only one of his works is currently held in this collection, Walking essays. Judging from the title and genre, his writing centres on walking, rambling and outdoor observation, in the leisurely strain of the English essay tradition: first-person accounts of journeys, together with natural scenery, things seen along the way, and the thoughts they prompt, in an unhurried tone that values personal impression over systematic argument. Such writing typically relies not on grand theory but on delicate observation, a relaxed pace and clear, fluent prose, and is suited to slow reading. Given the limited material, details of his life, his other writings and later influence cannot be firmly established; readers may regard him as an essayist known for the theme of walking and appreciate his style and leisurely interests through this work.