Eskimo Folk-Tales

Project GutenbergProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.7

Word count: 244K words
Chapters: 25

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.Eskimo Folk-Tales by Knud Rasmussen and W. J. Alexander WorsterAuthor: ,Language: English, Class: E011: History: America: America, Release Date: May 23, 2009

Editor's review

This book is a collection of Inuit folk tales recorded by Knud Rasmussen and compiled by W. J. Alexander Worster, belonging to public-domain ethnographic and folk-literature materials. Its value lies not in intricate plots but in preserving the original telling, rhythm, and worldview of Arctic oral narrative: the boundary between animals and humans, spirits and taboos, and the ethics of hunting life are all presented in plain, short stories. For readers, this is a text that offers direct access to raw folk narrative; the pieces are short and the language simple, making it suitable as an introductory resource for understanding Inuit culture and comparing types of folk tales. Read it as a source collection rather than as entertainment fiction, and pay attention to the survival environment and belief background behind the stories; that will be more rewarding than simply following the plots. The electronic edition is easy to search and excerpt, making it suitable for note-taking reading.

Who it's for

A good fit for

General readers interested in Arctic indigenous culture and oral literature
Folklore and anthropology students using it as comparative research material
Primary and secondary school teachers in need of short folk-tale resources
English-language readers who enjoy short stories and fragmented reading

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting full novel-length plots and character development
Readers with weak English proficiency who need a Chinese translation for support

Reading tips

Read a few short stories first to get familiar with the narrative style, then classify them by theme and take notes
Read alongside basic knowledge of Arctic geography and Inuit life to understand the story backgrounds
Compare similar motifs with folk tales from other regions for comparative 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 a novel or a collection of folk tales?

It is a collection of folk tales, recorded by Knud Rasmussen and compiled by W. J. Alexander Worster. It contains Inuit oral stories and belongs to folk literature and ethnographic materials, not a fictional novel.

How difficult is the English, and is it suitable for beginners?

The language of the stories is generally plain and the sentences are short, but there are proper nouns and background knowledge related to Inuit life and beliefs. Beginners may need notes or reference works; intermediate English reading ability will make it smoother.

What kind of reading approach suits the electronic edition?

The stories are short, making the edition suitable for fragmented reading, searching, and excerpting. It is advisable to mark motifs and character types as you read for later organization and comparison; there is no need to finish it in one sitting.

Comments

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About the author

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Project Gutenberg is not a single author but a nonprofit digital library founded by Michael Hart in 1971 and one of the world's earliest free ebook platforms. It relies on volunteers to digitize, proofread, and freely distribute public-domain works and is now operated by the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Its collection contains 2,692 works, mainly religious texts, epics, and story collections, including the King James Bible and the Douay-Rheims volumes, the epic Mahabharata, a literal translation of the Arabian Nights, and Danish editions of the Old and New Testaments. Public information is limited, and its nature is closer to a public-interest compiling and dissemination body; these texts are open to the public, easy to consult and circulate, and have had a profound influence on the spread of ebooks and the preservation of public-domain resources.