Alice Adams

Tarkington, Booth, 1869-1946Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.9

Word count: 470K words
Chapters: 47

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.Alice Adams by Booth TarkingtonAuthor: Tarkington, Booth, 1869-1946,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Jul 1, 1997

Editor's review

Alice Adams is a novel by Booth Tarkington set in a small Midwestern American town, centred on the emotional and social experiences of a young woman, Alice Adams, who longs to rise into high society. Tarkington is known for his delicate, often ironic portrayal of psychology and class difference, and this book continues that approach: through Alice's hopes and disappointments it reflects an ordinary family's struggle between respectability and self-respect. The prose is fluent, the plot unfolds naturally and the characters are vividly drawn; it offers some insight into early twentieth-century American society and the situation of women. As a public-domain ebook it works as an introduction to American literature or as English reading material. While reading, watch for themes of class anxiety, family relations and self-perception, and consider the author's Pulitzer-winning background in understanding his style.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literary readers interested in early twentieth-century American social fiction
English learners who want to improve their reading through an original English text
Readers concerned with women's growth and issues of class
Teachers who need a public-domain text for courses or reading groups

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer fast-paced suspense or strong plot
Readers who want a Chinese translation and are not comfortable with English originals
Readers with little patience for descriptions of early American social manners

Reading tips

Read the chapter summaries first, then go chapter by chapter, noting changes in Alice's motives for what she says and does
Keep a notebook of main character relationships and social scenes to help trace the class thread
Read alongside background material on early twentieth-century American history to understand the small-town social structure
When reading in English, mark new words and long sentences and return to key dialogue passages afterwards

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 suitable for English beginners to read directly?

Not really for absolute beginners. It is an English original; the sentences are generally fluent, but the social description and psychological narration demand a certain vocabulary. Intermediate English reading ability is recommended, or read a Chinese summary first and then the original alongside it.

Do I need to know the author's background to read this book?

Deep research is not necessary, but knowing that Tarkington excelled at depicting small Midwestern town life and class difference helps grasp the work's double tone of irony and sympathy. A brief author introduction before reading is enough.

What is the main value of reading this book?

Its main value lies in presenting themes of class anxiety, family relations and self-perception through a young woman's social hopes and disappointments, while preserving the language and manners of early twentieth-century small-town American life; it has both literary and social-observation value.

Comments

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About the author

Tarkington, Booth, 1869-1946 Author

Booth Tarkington (1869–1946) was an American novelist and playwright. The library holds 22 of his works, including The Magnificent Ambersons, Alice Adams, Penrod, Seventeen, The Midlander, Penrod and Sam, In the Arena: Stories of Political Life, and The Turmoil. His writing draws largely on small-town life in the American Midwest, and he is known for his delicate, humorous portrayals of adolescent growth and family change, often touching on social manners during periods of transition. Both The Magnificent Ambersons and Alice Adams won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: the former uses the rise and fall of a family to reflect a changing era, while the latter depicts a young woman's struggles under social pressure. Both remain important works of American realism. Public information is limited, so full biographical details are not expanded here.