The Ash: A Novel

Fernand VandéremProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 390K words
Chapters: 39

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.La Cendre: Roman by Fernand VandéremAuthor: Vandérem, Fernand, 1864-1939,Language: French, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Jul 16, 2016

Editor's review

La Cendre: Roman (meaning "Ashes") is a French novel by the French writer Fernand Vandérem (1864–1939), released by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain ebook. Vandérem was active in Parisian literary circles from the late nineteenth century into the first half of the twentieth, writing both fiction and criticism, and his work often focuses on urban life and character psychology. The title La Cendre itself carries the sense of ashes and embers; readers may notice clues in the narrative related to disappearance, residue, and memory, and observe how the author uses his characters' situations to portray society and human relations. As a sample of French public-domain literature, the book is suited to understanding the fictional methods of popular and psychological narrative in France at the time. Note that the Gutenberg edition is in the original French, with no Chinese translation or annotations, so reading it requires a certain level of French; the specific plot and character relationships should be based on the original text, and one should not over-infer from the title.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Learners with intermediate or higher French reading ability who want to read novels in the original
Readers studying French literature from the late nineteenth to the first half of the twentieth century
Language enthusiasts interested in French public-domain ebooks and Project Gutenberg
Advanced readers who want to build French vocabulary and sentence patterns by reading a whole novel

Not a good fit for

Readers who can read only Chinese and cannot handle the French original
Learners who have just begun French and cannot yet read long sentences and narrative texts independently
Readers who need detailed annotations, an introduction, or a translation for comparison

Reading tips

Read the first few pages to gauge the language difficulty, then decide whether to read closely or extensively, so as to avoid giving up halfway
Keep a vocabulary notebook and record only high-frequency words that recur, reducing interruptions to the narrative flow caused by looking up words
Pay attention to how the title "Ashes" echoes the characters' situations and the scene descriptions, and look back at the relevant passages after finishing
Read alongside a brief history of French literature to understand the narrative style and publishing environment of contemporary novels

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 there a Chinese translation of this novel?

The material provided here shows a French-language ebook released by Project Gutenberg; no Chinese translation is mentioned. If reading French is difficult, you can first look for reliable French-Chinese bilingual readers or introductions to literary history to understand the background, and then decide whether to tackle the original.

What level of French is needed to read this book?

As a complete novel, its sentences and narrative are fairly continuous; intermediate or higher French reading ability is recommended, with the ability to handle longer paragraphs and past-tense narrative independently. Beginners can start with short stories or graded readers before attempting this book.

What does the title "La Cendre" mean?

"La Cendre" means "ashes" in French, often carrying the sense of disappearance, residue, and memory. The title may relate to the characters' situations or the emotional tone of the novel, but its specific meaning must be understood in light of the original plot; one should not infer the whole book's content from the title alone.

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About the author

Fernand Vandérem Author · French · 1864–1939

Fernand Vandérem (1864–1939) was a French writer born in Paris, whose real name was Fernand-Henri Vanderheym; he published under the pen name Vandérem. A playwright, novelist and literary critic, he wrote both full-length and shorter works. Five of his books are held here, including the novels La Cendre, Les Deux Rives, La victime and Charlie, as well as Two Banks of the Seine, a narrative set against life on either side of the Seine. His collection of criticism, Le miroir des lettres, displays the ironic, incisive critical style that made him a distinctive voice in Belle Époque Paris. Public information is limited, but his surviving works show a coolly satirical eye for social manners, urban life and human weakness, leaving a personal mark on both fiction and criticism.