Zoraida: A Romance of the Harem and the Great Sahara

Le Queux, William, 1864-1927Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.0
Word count
787K words
Chapters
79

Tags

English Originals Legendary LivesAdventure JourneyHarem SecretsForeign RomanceDesert AdventureExotic Culture

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.Zoraida: A Romance of the Harem and the Great Sahara by William Le QueuxAuthor: Le Queux, William, 1864-1927,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Oct 9, 2012

Editor's review

William Le Queux's Zoraida: A Romance of the Harem and the Great Sahara is an English popular romance set in the harem and the Sahara, a typical product of late nineteenth-century adventure romance. Its reading value lies mainly in genre history and popular culture studies: it shows how British popular literature of the time drew on Orientalist imagination, exotic spaces, and sentimental adventure to create suspense. The plot advances through desert journeys, harem secrets, and questions of identity, and the language carries the narrative habits of late Victorian adventure fiction. It should be noted that the book's depiction of the "Orient" carries obvious period stereotypes and an exoticizing perspective; today's readers should read it critically rather than as a reliable portrait of the Sahara or North African society. It is suitable as a genre sample for courses on popular literature, or for readers interested in Le Queux's work and late nineteenth-century adventure romance.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. Read it as a genre fiction sample, noting how the desert journey and harem spaces drive suspense.
  2. While reading, mark exoticizing descriptions and character stereotypes, and take comparative notes alongside Orientalist criticism.
  3. You may first read the opening and key turning-point chapters, then review character relationships to avoid being slowed by the old-fashioned pacing.
  4. If used for a course, discuss it alongside an introductory study of late nineteenth-century adventure romance.

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.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67
  68. 68
  69. 69
  70. 70
  71. 71
  72. 72
  73. 73
  74. 74
  75. 75
  76. 76
  77. 77
  78. 78
  79. 79

FAQ

Is this book a factual record of Sahara or harem life? No. It is a popular romance novel that uses exotic settings to create adventure and emotional suspense; its harem and Sahara descriptions serve the plot and the Oriental imagination of its contemporary readers, and it should not be used as social history or a cultural guide.
What period limitations should readers note? Note the exoticizing perspective, character stereotypes, and colonial-era discourse. The novel treats North African space as an adventure stage, and its characterization often carries stereotypes. Read critically, distinguishing literary imagination from historical reality.
Can I understand it without relevant background? The plot itself is not hard to follow, but the pacing of old-fashioned adventure fiction, lengthy descriptions, and period language may pose obstacles. If you only want the story, skim the main line; if doing research, first learn the basic context of late nineteenth-century British popular fiction and Orientalist criticism.
Is it suitable as English-learning reading? It can serve as supplementary reading but is not suitable as a first-choice textbook. The language features the long sentences and outdated expressions of late Victorian popular fiction, and the cultural perspective requires guidance. Intermediate and above learners may read selections with teacher or annotation support.

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About the author

Le Queux, William, 1864-1927 Author

William Le Queux (1864–1927) was a British writer of popular fiction, with 74 of his works held in this collection. He is best known for invasion-scare and spy-adventure stories; The Invasion of 1910, which depicts a German invasion of Britain and the siege of London, drew considerable attention in its day, and The Great War in England in 1897 belongs to the same vein. His other works centre on mystery, intrigue and international espionage, such as The Zeppelin Destroyer, The Secrets of Potsdam, The Closed Book: Concerning the Secret of the Borgias and The Golden Face: A Great ‘Crook’ Romance, all marked by tight plotting and dense suspense. Le Queux often set fictional crises against real places to create a sense of urgency, and his work had some influence on the development of early spy fiction and thrillers. Public information is limited, so biographical details are not elaborated here.