Balcony Stories

King, Grace Elizabeth, 1852-1932Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.6

Word count: 201K words
Chapters: 21

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.Balcony Stories by Grace Elizabeth KingAuthor: King, Grace Elizabeth, 1852-1932,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Mar 1, 2004

Editor's review

Grace Elizabeth King's Balcony Stories is one of the representative short-story collections of late nineteenth-century American Southern local color literature. Most of the stories are set in New Orleans and Louisiana, and use the balcony—a space both private and public—to let different characters recount past events, rumors, and everyday life, conveying the texture of Creole society, the subtle tensions of race and class relations, and women's perspectives on memory and gossip. King's narration does not rely on strong plot but excels in voice, atmosphere, and detail, with a slow, leisurely storyteller's voice. For readers studying American Southern literature, local color writing, and nineteenth-century New Orleans society and culture, this book is a valuable text; for general readers, it is a literary window into the customs and life of that region. It is best read slowly, with attention to the layered relay of narration between narrator and story, and to the cultural meanings behind dialect and social titles. English public-domain e-book; requires appropriate reading ability.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers studying American Southern literature and local color writing
Those interested in nineteenth-century New Orleans and Creole culture
Literary readers who enjoy short stories and value atmosphere and narrative voice
Learners with good English reading ability willing to engage with public-domain American literature

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer strong plots and fast-paced narratives
Beginning readers with weak English who need a Chinese translation
Readers entirely unfamiliar with Southern American history and local culture who are unwilling to supplement background knowledge

Reading tips

Read one or two stories first to get a feel for the narrative voice and the “balcony telling” framework, then read the whole book, so as not to be put off by the slow pace at the start.
While reading, note who the narrator of each piece is and how many layers of retelling the story passes through; this is key to understanding King's narrative structure.
Read alongside brief background material on New Orleans Creole society and nineteenth-century Southern American history to understand titles and class details.
Choose shorter pieces for close reading and record dialect expressions and local scenery descriptions as material for literary analysis.

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 kind of work is Balcony Stories?

It is a short-story collection of late nineteenth-century American Southern local color literature, set in New Orleans and Louisiana. Through tellings on balconies it presents local characters, past events, and social life, emphasizing atmosphere, voice, and local detail rather than strong plot.

Do I need to know Southern history to read this book?

You need not be an expert, but some knowledge of the nineteenth-century American South, New Orleans Creole society, and racial and class background will clearly help in understanding the titles, social relations, and narrative undercurrents in the book. Readers with no background at all may need to supplement brief material.

Is there a Chinese translation of this book?

The provided information indicates that this is an English public-domain e-book released by Project Gutenberg, with no Chinese translation mentioned. Reading requires some English ability; a dictionary or related background material may be used alongside.

Why is the book called Balcony Stories?

The stories often take the balcony—a space both private and public—as the setting for telling, where characters chat, reminisce, and relay rumors. The balcony is both a physical place and a narrative frame, allowing different voices and past events to unfold naturally and expressing the everyday texture of local life.

Comments

Find this book

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

King, Grace Elizabeth, 1852-1932 Author · American · 1852–1932

Grace Elizabeth King (1852–1932) was an American writer known for her historical novels set in New Orleans and for her works on local history. Her representative work, Balcony Stories, is the only title by her held in this collection; judging from the title and its usual classification, such writing draws heavily on local life in New Orleans and carries a strong regional flavor. King long focused on the history and culture of New Orleans, and her writing spans both historical fiction and local history, giving her a certain influence in preserving and transmitting local memory. Because public information is limited, her specific biographical details, the stages of her career, and the full range of her works are difficult to sketch more fully; on the available evidence, however, she was a writer rooted in regional experience, whose works and local-history writing echo each other.