Dead Man's Rock

Quiller-Couch, Arthur, 1863-1944Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 490K words
Chapters: 50

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.Dead Man's Rock by Arthur Quiller-CouchAuthor: Quiller-Couch, Arthur, 1863-1944,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Feb 23, 2006

Editor's review

Dead Man's Rock is by the English writer Arthur Quiller-Couch, a novelist and professor of literature whose works often blend adventure, suspense and English local colour. Classified under English literature, and judging by the title and the author's usual style, it should be a novel with mystery or adventure elements. As a public-domain eBook from Project Gutenberg, it gives readers low-cost access to English popular fiction of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Its value lies in presenting the typical pleasures of adventure narrative of that era: plot-driven action, atmospheric setting and moral conflict. It suits reading in short sessions on the commute or before bed, and works as an introductory sample of the British adventure novel tradition. Note that public-domain books come without modern introductions, so readers must situate the text in its period themselves; those expecting deep psychological portraiture or modern narrative technique may find the pacing and style traditional.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy late nineteenth-century British adventure and suspense fiction
Readers seeking low-cost access to English public-domain novels
Those interested in Quiller-Couch's work or British popular literature
Readers accustomed to reading eBooks in short sessions

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer fast-paced modern suspense writing
Literary scholars needing detailed annotations or scholarly introductions
Readers who cannot read English and have no translation available
Readers expecting deep psychological characterization rather than plot-driven narrative

Reading tips

Read the first two chapters to gauge the narrative pace, then plan the length of each reading session.
Keep pen and paper handy to note character relationships and key clues so you can follow the suspense.
If the English is difficult, read a plot summary first, then return to the original for close reading.
After finishing, look up the author's life and the period background to deepen your understanding.

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 a horror novel?

The title alone cannot establish the genre, but Quiller-Couch often wrote adventure and suspense stories. This book is more likely an adventure novel with mystery elements than modern horror. Read the opening to get a sense of the tone before deciding whether it suits you.

What if there is no Chinese translation?

This is a Project Gutenberg public-domain eBook, and the entry currently provides only the English original. If reading English is difficult, use a dictionary or translation tools, or first read other works by the author available in Chinese translation to get used to the style, then return to this book.

Is it suitable as English learning material?

As an English novel of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, its vocabulary and sentence patterns carry period features and are not entirely the same as modern English. Intermediate and advanced learners can use it as extended reading; beginners should use annotations or choose more modern texts.

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About the author

Quiller-Couch, Arthur, 1863-1944 Author

Arthur Quiller-Couch (1863–1944) was an English writer with a substantial body of work, of which 41 titles are held in this collection. His writing covers a wide range: essays on the craft of reading and writing such as On the Art of Reading and On the Art of Writing, and narrative works set against the sea, winter, and the fireside, including The Roll-Call of the Reef, I Saw Three Ships and Other Winter Tales, Two Sides of the Face: Midwinter Tales, and The Laird's Luck and Other Fireside Tales. He also retold fairy tales from the Old French in The Sleeping Beauty and other fairy tales from the Old French, and wrote From a Cornish Window, a book that reflects his attention to the Cornish landscape and local life. Public information is limited and biographical details are hard to verify, but the surviving works show a graceful, unhurried prose that combines the reflective habits of an essayist with a storyteller's pleasure in narrative, leaving its mark on English prose and short fiction.