Books and Authors

AnonymousProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.0

Word count: 276K words
Chapters: 28

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.Books and Authors by AnonymousAuthor: Anonymous,Language: English, Class: PN: Language and Literatures: Literature: General, Criticism, Collections, Release Date: Nov 2, 2009

Editor's review

This is an English essayistic work by an anonymous author, organized around the theme of "books and authors." It belongs to the category of literary criticism and essay collections, classified under general literature and criticism in the Gutenberg catalog. Its value lies not in systematic construction of literary theory but in presenting the observations and discussions of books, authors, and reading fashions by readers and writers of a given era, with a distinct essayistic temperament and personal tone. For today's readers it is more like a window: one can see how old-time literary people talked about books, judged people, and discussed literary phenomena, and can also learn about public topics around book culture in the English-speaking world of the time. Because the author is anonymous and the format is loosely organized, there is no need to seek coherent argument; it suits casual browsing and selective reading. For readers studying reading history, book culture, or literary essay writing, it offers quotable samples of primary text; for general readers, it can serve as light bedside reading, conveying the tone and charm of old-style literary commentary.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in book culture, reading history, and old literary-world topics
Those who enjoy the essay form and are willing to browse original English in fragments
Students studying literary criticism and essay writing who need samples of primary text
Intermediate English readers wanting to build reading volume with short English essays

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking systematic literary theory or a clear argumentative framework
Beginners needing modern annotation, introductions, and background explanation
Readers who prefer plot-driven or story-based reading

Reading tips

No need to read from cover to cover; browse by essay or paragraph according to interest.
While reading, note the author's judgments on books and authors to form your own excerpts.
If using it for English study, close-read a short passage each day and analyze sentence structure and word choice.
Read alongside materials on book culture of the same period to understand the context of the discussions.

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

Does this book have a unified theme or complete structure?

It is a collection of essays around "books and authors," loosely organized and not known for rigorous argument or a chapter system. It is better for selective fragment reading, as a sample of old literary-world observations rather than a systematic textbook or theoretical monograph.

Does the anonymous authorship affect reading?

To some extent, because one cannot use the author's biography to situate the views. But the text can still be read independently; readers can focus on the content of the discussions and the style, and use the Gutenberg classification information to understand its literary-critical character.

Is this book suitable as an introduction to literary criticism?

Not really as an introductory textbook. It lacks the conceptual organization and case system of modern criticism textbooks, and the language is old-fashioned. If you already have some reading foundation and want to feel old-style critical tone and book topics, it can serve as supplementary browsing.

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About the author

Anonymous Author

Anonymous is a collective designation used in English-language publishing for works whose authorship is unknown or unsigned, rather than the real name of a single author. The 716 titles attributed to this name include the Gospel of John, Psalms, Romans, Luke, Philippians, and 1 Corinthians from the World English Bible, as well as the Gospel of John and Psalms from the King James Version. Such texts are mainly religious classics and ancient folk traditions that were copied, translated, and compiled over long periods, making their original authors difficult to trace; they therefore circulated anonymously. Public information is limited, and neither nationality nor dates of birth and death can be confirmed. The significance of anonymity lies in focusing attention on the works themselves rather than on authorial identity, and in reminding readers of the collective and variable nature of texts in transmission.