What Rough Beast?

Highe, JeffersonProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.5

Word count: 35K words
Chapters: 4

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.What Rough Beast? by Jefferson HigheAuthor: Highe, Jefferson,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Apr 13, 2010

Editor's review

This is an English literary work in the Project Gutenberg collection, classified under American and Canadian literature. The title is taken from a famous line in Yeats's "The Second Coming" and often signals a work concerned with disorder and the darker side of human nature. As a public-domain ebook, its value lies first in accessibility: readers can obtain the complete text at no cost, making it a useful sample of English popular fiction from the late nineteenth to early twentieth century. Read it against the publishing context of its time and note the narrative pacing, characterization, and treatment of moral questions—often the entry points for studying works of this kind. Since the material provides only bibliographic information and no plot summary, readers are advised to read the opening chapters before deciding how far to commit. Overall, it is better suited as literary source material or language-learning material than as a diversion-driven read.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Students and enthusiasts of American literature or English public-domain fiction
Advanced learners seeking to train their sense of English through original reading
Readers interested in the Yeats line and literary intertextuality

Not a good fit for

Beginners expecting a Chinese translation or detailed introductory notes
Casual readers who prefer strong plots and fast pacing

Reading tips

Read the first two chapters to gauge the narrative style before deciding whether to read the whole book.
Keep a vocabulary notebook for frequently recurring period expressions and idioms.
After finishing, look up the original Yeats poem quoted in the title and compare it with the themes.

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 there a Chinese translation of this book?

According to the available material, the book is an English ebook released by Project Gutenberg; no Chinese translation is mentioned. Readers who need Chinese can look for other editions or use dictionaries and translation tools to assist with the original.

Is the title related to Yeats's poem?

The phrase "What Rough Beast" closely resembles a famous line in Yeats's "The Second Coming" and is often borrowed to express a sense of crisis. The available material does not state whether the author explicitly quotes the poem; readers can follow this intertextual thread and judge for themselves.

Is it suitable for learning English?

As a public-domain English novel, it can be used for extensive reading and training a feel for the language, but it dates from an earlier period, some expressions differ from modern English, and no notes are provided. It is best used by intermediate to advanced learners, with a dictionary at hand.

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About the author

Highe, Jefferson Author

Jefferson Highe is an author about whom limited public information is currently available; details such as nationality, dates of birth and death, and educational background are not clearly recorded, and only one of his works is held in the collection. His known representative work is What Rough Beast? Judging from the title alone, its specific subject matter is difficult to determine, but the title borrows a famous line from Yeats's poem "The Second Coming," which often suggests a work with speculative, metaphorical, or socially observant qualities. Because further bibliographic and critical materials are lacking, it is presently difficult to trace a consistent writing style or literary influence, or to confirm whether his writing concentrates on a particular genre or theme. For readers, Highe remains an author awaiting further disclosure, and the value of his work must be assessed in light of the original text and subsequent research.