Life at High Tide

Project GutenbergProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.9

Word count: 301K words
Chapters: 31

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.Life at High Tide by Henry Mills Alden and William Dean HowellsAuthor: ,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Jan 1, 2005

Editor's review

This book is an English-language literary anthology released by Project Gutenberg, connected with the editorial work of Henry Mills Alden and William Dean Howells and classified under American and Canadian literature. Its value lies in gathering short works by several writers, with considerable variety in subject and style. It reflects the tastes of English-language literary periodicals and anthology editing of the time and serves as a sample reader for understanding English short fiction from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century. A highlight is that the pieces are relatively independent and moderate in length, so readers can skip around by piece rather than pushing straight through; the different authors' narrative perspectives and language habits also offer room for comparative reading. Because it is a public-domain electronic text, the book generally has no modern annotations, and the period background and vocabulary of some pieces require readers to check for themselves. It is suitable as selected reading for literature students and for readers who want to build reading volume through English short fiction. Those expecting a unified theme or strong plot momentum may find the jumps between pieces considerable.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English literature students using it as selected short-fiction reading
Self-learners who want to build reading volume through English short stories
Readers interested in late nineteenth-century English-language periodical literature
Readers who like to skip around by piece and do not seek continuous plot

Not a good fit for

Early readers who need Chinese translation or modern annotation
Readers who prefer a single author's long work and continuous narrative
Readers expecting an anthology with a unified theme

Reading tips

First browse the contents, pick a shorter piece or one with an appealing title to sample, then decide the order.
After each piece, note the characters and conflict in two or three sentences to facilitate comparison across authors.
When you meet unfamiliar period expressions, skip them first and check key words after finishing the piece.
Compare with other American short-story anthologies to observe differences in selection and 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

Does this book contain a novel or short pieces?

From the information available, this book is an anthology in the American and Canadian literature category, compiled from works by multiple authors. It is better read as short pieces or independent selections rather than as a continuous long narrative.

Can I understand it without notes?

Most pieces can be understood in general outline from context, but some period expressions and background require independent checking. Keep a dictionary at hand and search key cultural terms as needed rather than stopping over every word.

Is it suitable as English-learning material?

It can serve as extended reading, but the text carries period language features, and its syntax and vocabulary are not fully equivalent to modern English. It is better suited to readers who already have some foundation and wish to encounter literary expression.

Comments

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About the author

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Project Gutenberg is not a single author but a nonprofit digital library founded by Michael Hart in 1971 and one of the world's earliest free ebook platforms. It relies on volunteers to digitize, proofread, and freely distribute public-domain works and is now operated by the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Its collection contains 2,692 works, mainly religious texts, epics, and story collections, including the King James Bible and the Douay-Rheims volumes, the epic Mahabharata, a literal translation of the Arabian Nights, and Danish editions of the Old and New Testaments. Public information is limited, and its nature is closer to a public-interest compiling and dissemination body; these texts are open to the public, easy to consult and circulate, and have had a profound influence on the spread of ebooks and the preservation of public-domain resources.