The Mountebank's House

Stolz, Mme. deProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.7

Word count: 270K words
Chapters: 27

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.A Casa do Saltimbanco by Mme. de StolzAuthor: Stolz, Mme. de,Language: Portuguese, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Dec 28, 2009

Editor's review

This work is written in Portuguese and falls under the category of French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese literature. It is by Mme. de Stolz and is distributed free of charge by Project Gutenberg. From the title A Casa do Saltimbanco (The Tightrope Walker's House), one can infer that the narrative revolves around a family of performers, with the warmth and dramatic color of European popular literature. As a public-domain ebook, its greatest value lies in giving Chinese readers zero-cost access to a primary text of nineteenth-century European popular fiction, suitable as supplementary reading for language study and comparative literature. While reading, treat it as a window: one can observe the narrative tone of Portuguese-language literature of the time and appreciate the public-service spirit of early ebooks represented by Project Gutenberg. Since it is a foreign-language original without Chinese annotations, it is recommended for readers with some Portuguese foundation or who are willing to read with reference works; those who only want the plot may need a translation or a guide.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Learners with a Portuguese foundation who want to improve reading through original novels
Readers interested in nineteenth-century European popular literature and performer themes
Digital humanities enthusiasts studying public-domain ebooks and the history of Project Gutenberg
Teachers and self-learners who want low-cost access to foreign-language originals

Not a good fit for

Readers with no Portuguese at all who just want to enjoy a Chinese story
Readers expecting the pace of modern bestsellers and strong plot twists
Classical literature researchers who need authoritative annotated or academic translations

Reading tips

First read Project Gutenberg's copyright and edition notes to confirm the source of the text before entering the main text.
Prepare a Portuguese dictionary or translation tool, and organize new words chapter by chapter, balancing language learning with plot progress.
You may consult French or English literary history materials to learn about the author and the background of popular fiction of the time.
After finishing, write a short note recording the connection between the performer-family theme and the social milieu of the time.

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 book a Chinese translation?

No. According to the materials, the book is in Portuguese and published by Project Gutenberg; it is a public-domain foreign-language ebook with no Chinese translation. Chinese readers need Portuguese reading ability or must rely on dictionaries and translation tools.

What is Project Gutenberg?

The materials show that Project Gutenberg is the earliest institution providing free ebooks, founded by Michael Hart in 1971, and its philosophy continues to influence ebooks and related technologies. This book is distributed free of charge by it as a public-domain ebook resource.

Can I read it without any Portuguese?

You can try, but it will be quite difficult. It is advisable to first use translation tools to grasp the general meaning, then choose passages of interest to read closely against the original; if you only want to understand the story, you can look for translations in other languages or related guide materials as support.

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About the author

Stolz, Mme. de Author

Stolz, Mme. de is an author about whom very little biographical information is available: her birth and death years, nationality, and main life experiences are all unknown. The library currently holds only one work under her name, A Casa do Saltimbanco, whose title appears to be Portuguese and may therefore point to a connection with the Portuguese-language literary tradition. Because public sources are limited, it is difficult to say more about her education, writing career, or social standing, and her usual genre or period of activity cannot be confirmed. On the available evidence, this single work is the main entry point for understanding her, and its subject matter and style deserve examination from within the text rather than through biographical inference. Readers who wish to know more about her may begin with the work's narrative content, language, and possible literary context, and through close reading gain a sense of its characteristics and likely reach.