In the Family

Malot, Hector, 1830-1907Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.5

Word count: 586K words
Chapters: 59

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.En famille by Hector MalotAuthor: Malot, Hector, 1830-1907,Language: French, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Oct 19, 2004

Editor's review

En famille is another novel by the French writer Hector Malot, following Sans famille, that takes children and family fortunes as its subject; the original French text is released free by Project Gutenberg. Malot excels at depicting, with delicate restraint, the struggles and growth of lower-class youngsters in hardship, and this book follows that vein: family upheaval, tests of kinship, and a boy's self-reliance form the narrative spine, with the plot driven by natural changes in the characters' circumstances rather than deliberate sentimentality. For Chinese readers, it is both first-hand material for understanding nineteenth-century French children's literature and a good reader for learning French narrative—clear syntax, concrete scene description, moderate vocabulary density. It suits reading straight through once a basic grounding in French is acquired, and also serves children's literature researchers and fans of Malot as extended reading after Sans famille. Note that this is a public-domain ebook of the original French, with no translation notes or introduction; readers should have reference works at hand or a parallel translation.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers with intermediate French who want to practice reading original French texts
Readers who love Sans famille and want to know more of Malot's work
Scholars of nineteenth-century French children's literature and family-themed fiction
Parents seeking classic coming-of-age stories for children and able to read along with a translation

Not a good fit for

Complete beginners in French who need Chinese translation notes
Readers who prefer fast-paced suspense and lack patience for everyday narrative
Researchers who need an annotated scholarly edition or authoritative translation for citation

Reading tips

Read a chapter or two first to gauge the language difficulty, then decide whether to read the whole book or selected parts.
Keep a French-Chinese dictionary handy and record recurring family and emotion-related vocabulary in one place.
Read it alongside Sans famille to compare how Malot handles similar themes.
Read a fixed ten to fifteen pages a day and retell the plot, practicing both comprehension and French expression.

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 in Chinese or the original French?

This is the original French ebook released by Project Gutenberg, with the text in French and no Chinese translation or notes. Chinese readers with limited French are advised to read it alongside an existing Chinese translation, or work through it chapter by chapter with a dictionary.

How is it related to Sans famille?

Both are by Malot and both center on a youngster's growth amid family upheaval, in a similar style. But En famille is an independent work; its characters and plot do not continue from Sans famille. It can be seen as another long novel in the same creative direction, suitable as extended reading rather than a sequel.

What level of French is needed to read it?

The narrative language is generally clear, with concrete scenes and dialogue; readers with intermediate reading ability and a grasp of common tenses and basic vocabulary can attempt it. You may need to look up words frequently at first; build vocabulary as you go and don't aim to understand every detail in one pass.

Does the ebook have an introduction or notes?

Project Gutenberg mainly provides public-domain original texts; this edition generally has no introduction, translation notes, or exercises. Readers who want background can consult materials on Malot's life and nineteenth-century French children's literature, or use an annotated print edition alongside it.

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About the author

Malot, Hector, 1830-1907 Author

Hector Malot (1830–1907) was a French writer known for novels about childhood and family circumstances. The library holds 23 of his works, including Alleen op de Wereld, Nobody’s Boy, Nobody’s Girl, En famille, and Ghislaine. Nobody’s Boy, better known as Sans famille, tells the wandering coming-of-age story of the foundling Rémi and is his most widely known work; several of his novels center on orphans searching for family, wandering, and belonging. His style is plain and delicate, focusing on shifts in his characters’ fortunes and on emotional portrayal, often showing the hardships of the lower classes through a child’s perspective while conveying warmth and hope. Because public information is limited, details of his life and the nationality and birth and death years not clearly recorded in the library are omitted; nevertheless, the works at hand show his lasting influence in children’s literature and family fiction, and his books have been translated into many languages.