The Strange Plant

Robbers, Herman Johan, 1868-1937Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 149K words
Chapters: 15

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.De vreemde plant by Herman Johan RobbersAuthor: Robbers, Herman Johan, 1868-1937,Language: Dutch, Class: PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures, Release Date: Sep 7, 2008

Editor's review

De vreemde plant (The Strange Plant) is a literary work by the Dutch author Herman Johan Robbers (1868–1937), now available free in electronic form from Project Gutenberg. The book belongs to Germanic-language literature and is suitable for readers interested in Dutch-language or modern European literature as source reading material. The value of the Gutenberg edition lies in its public-domain status and easy access: readers can encounter texts by Dutch authors of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries at no cost, for language study, literary-historical research, or translation practice. Because the available information provides only bibliographic details and does not address plot or stylistic features, readers are advised to use it as a primary source rather than rely on an introduction. When reading, keep a Dutch dictionary and literary-historical background materials at hand: first read through to grasp the feel of the language, then read chapter by chapter. For readers studying the literature of Europe's smaller languages, such public-domain texts are an extremely low-cost entry sample.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Intermediate and advanced learners of Dutch who wish to practice reading with literary texts in the original language
Researchers and enthusiasts studying Dutch literature of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
Translators doing practice in smaller-language translation who need public-domain source texts
General readers interested in the map of modern European literature who are willing to read in the original language

Not a good fit for

Readers unfamiliar with Dutch who expect to read a Chinese translation directly
Beginning readers seeking a detailed plot introduction or annotated analysis
Readers who prefer the pace and narrative style of contemporary bestselling novels

Reading tips

First look up basic biographical information on the author Robbers and the literary movement he belonged to, establishing a background framework before entering the text
Prepare a Dutch dictionary and read through chapter by chapter, marking unfamiliar words first and looking them up together afterward to keep the reading flowing
Read alongside public-domain works by Dutch writers of the same period to observe common features of language and subject matter
If using it for translation practice, select a passage for close reading and make a bilingual comparison, checking tone and rhetoric sentence by sentence

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 a Chinese edition?

No. The book is in the original Dutch, released in electronic form by Project Gutenberg. Chinese readers need Dutch reading ability or must rely on dictionaries and translation tools for assistance.

What are the features of the Project Gutenberg edition?

Project Gutenberg provides free public-domain e-books, mainly in the original language and usually without modern annotations or introductions. The advantages are free access and easy searching; the limitation is the lack of scholarly notes, so readers must supplement background materials themselves.

Can I understand it without knowing the author?

You can try, but it is advisable first to learn about the life and times of the author Robbers (1868–1937) before reading the text. Without background knowledge, one may have an insufficient grasp of the text's historical context and diction.

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About the author

Robbers, Herman Johan, 1868-1937 Author

Herman Johan Robbers (1868–1937) was a Dutch author who remains little known to Chinese readers, and publicly available information about him is quite limited. Three of his works are held in this collection: De roman van Bernard Bandt, De vreemde plant, and De bruidstijd van Annie de Boogh. Judging from their titles and form, he chiefly wrote novels, with themes centering on ordinary people's growth, courtship and marriage, and everyday circumstances. His style tends toward realism, with attention to characterization and psychological detail. Existing sources do not allow a full account of his life, his literary school, or later critical reception, yet these works circulated to some extent in the Netherlands and can serve as reference for the study of Dutch fiction in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Through the fates of his characters, readers may glimpse the family ethics and emotional attitudes of Dutch society of his time.