A Madeira Party

Project GutenbergProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.0

Word count: 126K words
Chapters: 13

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 Madeira Party by S. Weir MitchellAuthor: ,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Jul 17, 2013

Editor's review

A Madeira Party is a novella or short work by Silas Weir Mitchell, included in the Project Gutenberg public-domain eBook library. Mitchell was himself a doctor and novelist, and his narratives often show detailed observation of human nature and social scenes. This book revolves around a Madeira wine gathering; it is concise, and its language has the elegance and restraint of late nineteenth-century American literature. As a public-domain eBook, its value lies in letting readers encounter at very low cost a prolific but often overlooked writer in American literary history, and enjoy the interest of old-fashioned salon narrative driven by dialogue and detail. It suits reading in fragments and also serves as an introductory sample of late nineteenth-century American short fiction. Because the text is in the original English and publication information is brief, Chinese readers need some English reading ability and should use background materials to understand the work's historical context.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English readers who like late nineteenth-century American short fiction
Literature lovers who want low-cost access to public-domain English originals
Readers interested in salon and social-scene narrative
Learners who want to practice close reading in English with short works

Not a good fit for

Readers who rely entirely on Chinese translations and do not read English originals
Readers who prefer strong plots and fast-paced modern fiction
Beginners who need detailed notes and introductions

Reading tips

Read through once to grasp the plot, then look into Mitchell's life and creative background to understand how his medical perspective informs the narrative.
Pick out dialogue from the gathering scenes and read it aloud to feel the tone of old-fashioned English and how character is presented.
After finishing, compare with American short works of the same period and note similarities and differences in structure and subject.
If your English is basic, read a Chinese synopsis first and then the original to lower the threshold.

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 in Chinese or English?

According to Project Gutenberg data, the book is in English, classified under American and Canadian literature, and provides the original English electronic text; there is no official Chinese translation, so Chinese readers need some English reading ability.

Who is S. Weir Mitchell?

The data shows he is the author of this book, with the work classified under American and Canadian literature. In public-domain common knowledge he is often mentioned as an American doctor and writer, but this data provides no biographical details; readers should consult reliable biographical sources separately.

What is Project Gutenberg?

It was the first provider of free electronic books; founder Michael Hart invented eBooks in 1971. This book was prepared and released by the project as a public-domain work that can be obtained and read for free.

Is this book suitable for learning English?

It can be used as extensive or close reading material, but the text is from an earlier period, publication information is brief, and notes are lacking; use it with a dictionary and background materials. It is better suited to learners who already have some foundation.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Project Gutenberg Author

Project Gutenberg is not a single author but a nonprofit digital library founded by Michael Hart in 1971 and one of the world's earliest free ebook platforms. It relies on volunteers to digitize, proofread, and freely distribute public-domain works and is now operated by the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Its collection contains 2,692 works, mainly religious texts, epics, and story collections, including the King James Bible and the Douay-Rheims volumes, the epic Mahabharata, a literal translation of the Arabian Nights, and Danish editions of the Old and New Testaments. Public information is limited, and its nature is closer to a public-interest compiling and dissemination body; these texts are open to the public, easy to consult and circulate, and have had a profound influence on the spread of ebooks and the preservation of public-domain resources.