Kwan-yin

Stella BensonProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 8.2K words
Chapters: 1

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.Kwan-yin by Stella BensonAuthor: Benson, Stella, 1892-1933,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Jan 20, 2013

Editor's review

Stella Benson was an early twentieth-century British writer. This book is an English literary work, classified under English language and literature, and released by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain eBook. Judging from the title, the work takes Guanyin, an image from Eastern religious culture, as its subject, reflecting Benson's characteristic interest in exotic imagination and inner experience. The value of reading this book lies not in gaining systematic knowledge of Eastern religion, but in observing how a British writer uses Eastern imagery for literary narrative, and thereby understanding the cross-cultural imagination in English literature of that era. The text is moderate in length and in English, suitable as supplementary reading for understanding Benson's work and for readers interested in Eastern themes in early twentieth-century English fiction. Because public-domain eBooks lack modern annotations, passages involving cultural background require readers to look them up themselves.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in early twentieth-century English literature and Eastern themes
English learners who wish to expand their reading of original English texts and prefer short to medium-length literary works
Literature students and enthusiasts studying cross-cultural imagination in British writers
Organizers who need public-domain English texts for book clubs or classroom discussion

Not a good fit for

Readers of religious studies who want systematic knowledge of Buddhism or Guanyin worship
Beginners whose English reading is not yet proficient and who need a Chinese translation for support
Readers who prefer tightly plotted modern genre fiction and are uncomfortable with early literary style

Reading tips

First learn about Benson's life and the period in which she wrote, then enter the text; this makes it easier to grasp its narrative tone.
While reading, pay attention to how Eastern imagery is handled and note descriptions colored by cultural imagination.
Compare it with Eastern-themed works by other British writers of the same period to compare differences in perspective.
When reading the original English and encountering passages whose cultural background is unclear, mark them first and look them up together after finishing the chapter.

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

What does Kwan-yin in the title refer to?

Kwan-yin is Guanyin, the widely venerated image of compassion in East Asian Buddhist culture. The book uses it as a title as a literary borrowing of an Eastern religious and cultural image; it is not a religious scripture. Readers can treat it as a clue to the work's symbolic meaning and need not expect the book to provide systematic religious knowledge.

How difficult is the English in this book, and is it suitable for English learners?

This book is an early twentieth-century English literary work; its sentence patterns and word choice carry period features, its narrative pace is relatively slow, and its overall difficulty is above average. It is more suitable for readers with college-level English and experience reading original novels; beginners are advised to read an introduction or criticism first to understand the background before attempting it.

Public-domain eBooks have no annotations. What should readers pay attention to?

Public-domain texts usually retain only the main text and lack background notes and chronology. When reading, it is advisable to prepare your own materials on the author's life, the period of writing, and relevant cultural background, and to stay alert when judging passages involving religion and exotic description, distinguishing literary imagination from historical fact and doctrine.

Comments

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About the author

Stella Benson Author · English · 1892–1933

Stella Benson (1892–1933) was a British feminist, novelist, poet and travel writer, born in Shropshire. She lived for a time in California and set several novels in China, often blending fantasy, satire and social observation. Her representative works include I Pose, This Is the End, Living Alone and The Poor Man; the library also holds Twenty and Kwan-yin. In 1932 she won the French Prix Femina for a foreign novel, and she died in Tonkin, northern Vietnam, in 1933. Public information is limited and many details of her life are uncertain, yet her surviving works show a concern with women's lives and cross-cultural experience, written in a witty and imaginative style that gives her a distinctive place in early twentieth-century British literature.