Journeys to Bagdad

Charles Stephen BrooksProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 128K 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.Journeys to Bagdad by Charles S. BrooksAuthor: Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen), 1878-1934,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Dec 12, 2006

Editor's review

Charles S. Brooks's Journeys to Bagdad is not a geographical travelogue but a collection of English essays framed as a journey, written in a light, mildly ironic vein—part of the humorous, leisurely strand of early twentieth-century American essay writing. The author excels at drawing reflections from everyday trifles and imagined journeys; his prose is attentive to rhythm and turns of phrase, suited to slow reading in spare moments. Its appeal lies in voice rather than information: readers follow the narrator's associations and come away with a relaxed way of seeing the world. Note that the book's imagining of the East bears the marks of its era and is best read today with critical distance. For those studying English essay technique, it is a fitting specimen for observing sentence patterns and the measure of humor.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Casual readers who enjoy English essays and humorous prose
Writing students who want to study early twentieth-century American essay style
Readers seeking short, light reading for commutes or bedtime
Readers interested in literary treatments of travel themes

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting practical travel guides or authentic firsthand impressions of Baghdad
Readers of genre fiction who prefer strong plots and fast-paced narrative
Readers sensitive to old-fashioned Orientalist imagining should approach with caution

Reading tips

Read essay by essay; after each, copy out a sentence or two you like to appreciate the author's turns and humor.
Don't insist on the real geography of the journey; appreciate the narrator's associations as the structure of the essays.
Read alongside other American essays of the same period, noting the lighter tone of the prose and its historical limitations.

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 really about traveling to Baghdad?

The journey in the title is more a frame and pretext for essays, through which the author develops associations and reflections rather than offering a continuous travel record. Reading it as an essay collection fits the text better than reading it as a travelogue.

Is the original English difficult to read?

It is literary essay writing: vocabulary is not very difficult, but the sentences are crafted and the humor depends on tone and irony, so non-native readers may need to slow down, and occasional cultural allusions may require looking up.

Does the content feel dated today?

Its leisurely tone and essay technique still have value, but its imagining of the East carries the prejudices of the early twentieth century. Readers can treat it as a text for understanding popular American literary attitudes of the time while keeping a critical eye.

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About the author

Charles Stephen Brooks Author · American · 1878–1934

Charles Stephen Brooks (1878–1934) was an American essayist and playwright, born in Cleveland, Ohio, and a 1900 graduate of Yale University. He initially entered the family printing business and devoted himself to writing from 1915 onward. His essays are marked by a witty, leisurely tone and often draw on cycling journeys in England and elsewhere; among his works are Journeys to Bagdad, Chimney-Pot Papers, and Hints to Pilgrims. As a playwright, he wrote Wappin' Wharf: A Frightful Comedy of Pirates. He was also a founder and the first president of the Cleveland Play House. Five of his works are held in this collection; public information is limited, and further details of his life and influence remain to be verified.