Christmas Eve

Mügge, Theodor, -1861Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.5

Word count: 373K words
Chapters: 38

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.Weihnachtsabend by Theodor MüggeAuthor: Mügge, Theodor, -1861,Language: German, Class: PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures, Release Date: Dec 21, 2016

Editor's review

This German work by Theodor Mügge likewise takes Christmas Eve as its subject and is available in the Project Gutenberg public-domain ebook series. Mügge was a nineteenth-century German author whose narratives mostly concern human relations and scenes of everyday life; festive material suits his strength in evoking atmosphere and feeling. In length and genre the book serves as an accessible sample of nineteenth-century German holiday literature, and may be read alongside Schilling's work on the same theme to observe how different authors handle similar material. As a public-domain electronic text it has no modern annotation or introduction, so the barrier to reading lies mainly in language and period context. For learners of German it is light material for encountering older written style; for literary scholars it offers a primary text for examining the tradition of holiday narrative. On the whole the book suits readers with a clear purpose rather than a general audience seeking easy entertainment.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literary readers with German who wish to compare different authors' holiday narratives
Scholars and students of nineteenth-century German everyday narrative and festive themes
Intermediate and advanced learners needing light original German material for extensive reading
Collectors of public-domain German literary ebooks

Not a good fit for

Readers without German who expect a Chinese translation
Scholars of editions seeking detailed annotation and a scholarly introduction
Readers used to modern pacing who have little tolerance for older style

Reading tips

Read alongside Schilling's work on the same theme and note how the two authors differ in handling scene and feeling.
Read through once for the outline of the story, then a second time for unfamiliar words and older syntax.
Look up Mügge's life and the background of nineteenth-century German literature beforehand to reduce obstacles.
After reading, write a short note on how festive imagery and character relationships are handled.

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

How does this book relate to Schilling's work on the same theme?

Both take Christmas Eve as their subject but were written by different authors; they are distinct texts on the same festive theme, not different versions of one work. Reading them together shows how nineteenth-century German authors handled similar material with different methods and emphases.

Is the text furnished with modern punctuation or annotation?

Project Gutenberg public-domain ebooks generally preserve the original text without modern editorial notes or introduction, and punctuation follows the source text. Readers who need a scholarly edition should look for annotated print or database versions elsewhere.

What background knowledge is needed to read it?

It helps to know the general character of nineteenth-century German literature and the cultural place of Christmas in German-speaking regions, and to have a German dictionary at hand. The book supplies no background, so readers must fill in literary history and folklore themselves to follow the details smoothly.

Comments

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About the author

Mügge, Theodor, -1861 Author · German

Theodor Mügge (died 1861) was a German writer known for his historical novels, travelogues, and biographies. Public information about his life is limited: his year of birth and full educational background are not recorded in available sources, and the library currently holds only one work by him, Weihnachtsabend (Christmas Eve). Judging from this work and from the genres he is known to have written in, Mügge's writing often revolves around festive atmospheres, customs and human manners, and historical narrative, combining the readability of a good storyteller with the observational interest of a traveler. His historical novels tend to draw on events of the past, his travelogues record foreign scenery and impressions of the road, and his biographies focus on tracing the course of a person's life. These works make him a noteworthy figure in nineteenth-century popular German-language literature, and his writings still offer reference for readers studying the literature and reading tastes of that period.