Wolf's Head

Murfree, Mary Noailles, 1850-1922Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.2

Word count: 37K 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.Wolf's Head by Mary Noailles MurfreeAuthor: Murfree, Mary Noailles, 1850-1922,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Nov 19, 2007

Editor's review

Wolf's Head is a public-domain electronic reprint of a short story by Murfree. Compact in length, its narrative focus lies not in spectacular action but in the psychological fluctuations and moral dilemmas of characters in a frontier setting. Murfree excels at using mountain scenery and dialect to build tension, and this piece likewise presses external conflict into characters' hesitation and choices, reading with the sense of deep water flowing quietly. As a free electronic text from Project Gutenberg, it serves as a sample for understanding late nineteenth-century American local color literature: one can see both the rudiments of genre narrative and the author's close observation of tensions within marginal communities. While reading, note how the narrative rhythm gradually tightens through environmental description, and how立场 differences emerge in characters' dialogue. It is not a grand epic, yet it suits reading in one sitting on a commute or before sleep, then returning to key passages to appreciate the blanks and hints within the short story's structure.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in American local color literature and short narrative
Readers who want to understand late nineteenth-century American mountain frontier life through a short story
English learners in need of free public-domain English electronic texts
Literary readers who prefer psychological tension over action scenes

Not a good fit for

Adventure readers expecting fast-paced action and clear good-versus-evil confrontations
Academic readers needing complete author biographies and research materials
Beginners unaccustomed to English dialect dialogue and old-fashioned narrative pacing

Reading tips

Read through once to grasp the plot direction, then a second time to examine how environmental description sets up characters' psychology.
Do not pause at every dialect spelling; first infer tone from context, then review after finishing the paragraph.
After reading, compare with contemporary local color short stories to observe Murfree's restrained handling of conflict.
Can be read in one sitting on a commute or before sleep, then mark two key turning-point passages for rereading.

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

What type of work is Wolf's Head?

This is a literary work by Mary Noailles Murfree, belonging to American literature. Her writing often uses the Tennessee mountains as a background and emphasizes local scenery and character portrayal. For this specific book, refer to the actual content of the original text; it is not advisable to read it with expectations of genre fiction.

Is the source of this e-book reliable?

It comes from Project Gutenberg, a platform specifically collecting e-books whose copyright has entered the public domain, proofread and released by volunteers. The text is freely available, but different versions may have typesetting or textual differences; when citing, it is advisable to check the original page numbers.

What subjects does the author Murfree mainly write about?

Mary Noailles Murfree (1850–1922) was an American writer who often wrote against the backdrop of the Tennessee mountains and the Cumberland Mountains, and her works carry a strong local color. Her writing drew contemporary readers' attention to the society and life of the southern American mountains.

How difficult is reading the English original?

As an American literary work from the late nineteenth to early twentieth century, the language carries period style, the narrative pace is slower, and dialect or local expressions may appear. It is recommended to attempt it after having a fairly good English reading ability; one may first read an introduction or book review to understand the background.

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About the author

Murfree, Mary Noailles, 1850-1922 Author

Mary Noailles Murfree (1850-1922) was an American writer of local color literature, best known for her novels and short stories set in the mountain regions of Tennessee. Her works often portray the customs and people of the Great Smoky Mountains, blending realistic observation with a legendary tone. Her representative works include The Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains, The Ordeal: A Mountain Romance of Tennessee, The Mystery of Witch-Face Mountain, and Other Stories, and The Phantoms of the Foot-Bridge, and Other Stories. Twenty-six of her works are included in this collection, commonly classified under inspirational growth, with many stories focusing on mountain youths coming of age and showing resilience in hardship. Public information about the details of her life is limited, so no speculation is offered here.