La terre promise

Bourget, Paul, 1852-1935Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.6

Word count: 576K words
Chapters: 58

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 terre promise by Paul BourgetAuthor: Bourget, Paul, 1852-1935,Language: French, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Aug 30, 2008

Editor's review

This is a public-domain electronic text of a novel by the French writer Paul Bourget, released free of charge in the original French by Project Gutenberg. Bourget was known for his fine-grained analysis of his characters' inner lives and social milieu, and this book continues his concern with faith, desire, and moral choice; the story unfolds around the "promised land," and the title itself suggests the search for an ideal and a place of belonging. As a specimen of late nineteenth-century French fiction, it lets readers see the period's transition from realism toward psychological analysis. While reading, pay attention to the narrator's layered revelation of his characters' motives and to the echoes between landscape and states of mind. This free e-book edition is easy to search and carry, and suits readers studying French literature or interested in psychological fiction, who can work through it chapter by chapter; since it is in the original French, readers who do not know the language will need some reading ability.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers with French reading ability who want to understand late nineteenth-century French fiction
Literature lovers interested in psychological description and moral themes
Students studying Bourget's work or the French realist tradition
Readers accustomed to close reading with public-domain electronic texts

Not a good fit for

Readers with no French at all who want a Chinese translation
Casual readers who prefer fast-paced plots and strong conflict
Beginners who need notes, introductions, or other teaching aids

Reading tips

Begin with the opening's groundwork of setting and characters' circumstances, and note how the title image is introduced.
As you move chapter by chapter, jot down changes in characters' motives to keep track of the psychological threads.
Slow down at long passages of interior monologue and sense the distance between narrator and character.
After finishing, revisit the key turning points and sort out the different senses of the "promised land" in the book.

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 in Chinese or French?

According to Project Gutenberg, the book is in French: it is the original French electronic text, not a Chinese translation. Before reading, confirm your French reading ability or use a dictionary alongside it.

Is this edition a paper book?

No. The information shows it was released by Project Gutenberg as a free e-book that can be read on electronic devices. Project Gutenberg is known for providing public-domain electronic texts, so the format differs from a paper publication.

Is it suitable for research on French literature?

It can serve as a primary text for studying Bourget's work, especially for examining how psychological description combines with social background. But this electronic edition contains no scholarly notes or introduction, so serious researchers should supplement it with relevant criticism.

Do I need to know the author's background to read it?

Not strictly, but knowing that Bourget worked in the late nineteenth-century French literary world and tended to focus on faith and moral questions helps in understanding his characters' inner conflicts. You might read a little biographical material before starting the text.

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About the author

Bourget, Paul, 1852-1935 Author

Paul Bourget (Bourget, Paul, 1852-1935) was a French novelist and literary critic whose career spanned the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The library holds twenty-one of his works, including Mensonges, Un Coeur de femme, Cosmopolis, Physiologie de l'amour moderne, and Pastels: dix portraits de femmes. His fiction focuses on the emotional entanglements, marital ethics, and urban life of high society, written with delicate psychological analysis and moral observation. His novels often use salons and social circles as settings, depicting characters torn between love, vanity, and duty in a style that combines realism with sentiment. Some works, such as Cosmopolis, appeared in multiple volumes, showing his skill in long-form narrative. Bourget also wrote literary criticism and had a certain influence on the French literary scene of his time. Public information is limited, and details of his life and honors are difficult to verify, but these works sufficiently reflect his writing orientation toward human nature and society.