Eccentric Stories

Bang, Herman, 1857-1912Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.8

Word count: 126K words
Chapters: 13

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.Excentriske Noveller by Herman BangAuthor: Bang, Herman, 1857-1912,Language: Danish, Class: PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures, Release Date: Apr 1, 2004

Editor's review

Herman Bang was a major figure in Danish modern literature, known for delicate psychological description and an impressionistic style. This collection of eccentric novellas brings together his short fiction; the original is in Danish, and Project Gutenberg distributes it free as a public-domain ebook more than a century after publication. The stories centre mostly on the loneliness, repression and turns of fate of ordinary people, written in a cool, restrained tone with strong scene-setting, and are well suited to appreciating the narrative interest of Nordic literature in its transition from realism to modernism. For Chinese readers, its value lies not only in the text itself but in the window it offers onto Danish society and the human heart at the end of the nineteenth century. As a public-domain electronic edition, its layout and annotation are plain; it is better treated as reading material for study or language learning than as popular entertainment. Readers willing to read slowly and attend to psychological detail will gain far more than plot alone.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in Nordic literature, especially Danish literature
Those who want to study Danish or Nordic narrative through original short stories
Readers who enjoy fiction with delicate psychological description and a quiet atmosphere

Not a good fit for

General readers expecting intricate plots and light entertainment
Beginners unfamiliar with Danish who are unwilling to use a dictionary or translation

Reading tips

Read one story first, noting the handling of interior monologue and scene transitions before making notes
Read alongside a Danish dictionary or English translation to lower the language barrier
After each story, write three to five sentences of character psychology analysis to strengthen understanding of the impressionistic style

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 original is in Danish, a public-domain ebook released by Project Gutenberg with no Chinese translation in the body text; Chinese readers need a dictionary or another translation for support.

Is it suitable as Danish learning material?

It can serve as advanced reading material. The text is late nineteenth-century Danish with a literary sentence style; it is best read after gaining some foundation, ideally alongside a contemporary English or Chinese translation.

What kind of stories are in it?

It is a short story collection, with themes mostly revolving around ordinary people's loneliness, repression and turns of fate. The narration is psychological and impressionistic rather than driven by strong conflict; readers should attend to subtle shifts in the characters' inner lives.

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About the author

Bang, Herman, 1857-1912 Author

Herman Bang (1857–1912) was a Danish writer, with thirteen of his works held in this collection. Public information about him is limited, so biographical details should not be added without confirmation. Judging from his representative works, his writing often draws on the everyday lives and inner worlds of ordinary people. The novels Haabløse Slægter and Ved Vejen are commonly regarded as important works: the former concerns the confusion and sense of loss of the younger generation, while the latter depicts the emotional entanglements of provincial characters in a restrained manner. The short-story collection Excentriske Noveller shows his interest in personality and psychological detail. His narrative style tends toward delicate realism, revealing loneliness, repression, and a sense of fate within everyday scenes, and it has had some influence on the tradition of psychological portrayal in modern Nordic literature.