Claude et Juliette

Alfred AssollantProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 49K words
Chapters: 5

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. Claude et Juliette by Alfred Assollant Author: Assollant, Alfred, 1827-1886, Language: French, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Oct 14, 2005

Editor's review

This is the novel Claude et Juliette by the French writer Alfred Assollant (1827–1886), released by Project Gutenberg as a French-language electronic edition and part of the public-domain literary corpus. Assollant was known for historical and adventure fiction, often tinged with satire and romance; this novel centers on two eponymous protagonists and traces their emotional and fateful story, making it suitable for readers curious about nineteenth-century French popular literature. The electronic edition is easy to search and compare, making it useful as extensive reading material for French learners and for readers interested in the literary landscape of France's Second Empire. Note that the Gutenberg edition is a public-domain electronic text without a modern introduction or notes; its pacing and attitudes bear the marks of its era, so readers should approach it as literary-historical material and language practice rather than expecting the tight experience of a contemporary bestseller.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Learners with basic French reading ability who want to practice extensive reading with original French texts
Literary readers interested in nineteenth-century French literature and Assollant's work
Readers who enjoy classical emotional and adventure narratives and can accept the style of an older era
Teachers and students who need a public-domain French text for course materials or textual analysis

Not a good fit for

Beginners with no French who need a Chinese translation to assist them
Readers who prefer contemporary fast-paced plots and strong suspense structures
Advanced researchers who need detailed annotations, introductions, and scholarly editions

Reading tips

Read one chapter first to gauge the language difficulty, then decide whether to read closely or skim; there is no need to look up every word.
Prepare a basic French dictionary or electronic lookup tool; for long sentences, first identify the subject and verb, then fill in the modifiers.
Read alongside background material on nineteenth-century French history to help understand the characters' words and actions and the atmosphere of the period.
After reading, retell the main plot and character relationships in your own words to check the effectiveness of your extensive reading.

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 French beginners to read directly?

Not very suitable for readers starting from zero. The original is nineteenth-century French, with sentence patterns and vocabulary characteristic of its time, and requires some grounding in grammar and vocabulary. It is advisable to have at least intermediate reading ability, or to read a simplified version or a Chinese translation alongside the original first.

Does the Gutenberg edition have notes or an introduction?

Project Gutenberg provides public-domain electronic texts, which usually contain no modern editor's introduction, footnotes, or scholarly appendices. Readers who need background information should consult literary histories and biographical materials on the author themselves, or choose an annotated print edition.

Who is Assollant?

Alfred Assollant was a nineteenth-century French writer, born in 1827 and died in 1886, whose work includes novels and historical adventure subjects. His works are available in the public domain, but introductions in the Chinese-speaking world are limited; readers may regard him as a sample of French popular literature.

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About the author

Alfred Assollant Author · French · 1827–1886

Alfred Assollant (1827–1886) was a French writer born in Aubusson, known for his radical republican stance and fierce opposition to Napoleon III. He traveled in the United States and wrote Scènes de la vie américaine. In 1867 he published the children's adventure novel Les Aventures merveilleuses mais authentiques du capitaine Corcoran, which was warmly received by readers. The library holds eight of his works, including both parts of the Captain Corcoran story, as well as Histoire fantastique du célèbre Pierrot, La chasse aux lions, Hyacinthe, Claude et Juliette, and Rose d'Amour, many of which deal with exotic travel and adventure. His fortunes declined in later life, and he died in a Paris hospital for the poor.