Major Vigoureux

Quiller-Couch, Arthur, 1863-1944Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 499K words
Chapters: 50

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. Major Vigoureux by Arthur Quiller-Couch. Author: Quiller-Couch, Arthur, 1863-1944. Language: English. Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature. Release Date: Mar 20, 2007

Editor's review

This is a novel by the British author Arthur Quiller-Couch, better known as a poet, essayist, and Cambridge professor, whose fiction likewise shows a strong narrative craft and a strong sense of place. Set once again against the islands and seaside towns he knew so well, the book centers on Major Vigoureux and the human ties and predicaments that surround him; the tone is unhurried, the characterization delicate, and the plot unfolds with humor and warmth. Readers who enjoy traditional English narrative fiction and care about character and local atmosphere will find it a book to savor slowly. The Project Gutenberg edition is easy to search and carry, and suits reading in installments on a commute or a journey. Note that this is the original English text, written in an early twentieth-century literary style that may take some getting used to in sentence structure and vocabulary; no Chinese translation is included.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy traditional English narrative fiction
Readers interested in early twentieth-century English literature
Readers with good English reading ability who want to explore original texts
Readers who like stories set on islands and in small towns

Not a good fit for

Readers with weak English who need a Chinese translation
Readers who prefer fast-paced, plot-driven genre fiction
Readers looking for children's or young adult books

Reading tips

Read a chapter or two first to get used to the author's sentence patterns and narrative rhythm, then move into the main story.
Keep pen and paper handy to note the characters and their relationships, so you don't confuse the names.
When you meet an unfamiliar place name or cultural reference, skip it for now and look it up after finishing the chapter.
Reading one chapter a day at a fixed time works well for keeping track of characters and plot.

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 book?

According to the available information, this is the original English electronic edition released by Project Gutenberg, with no Chinese translation included. Chinese readers will need some English reading ability, or should use a dictionary and other aids alongside the text.

What does Quiller-Couch mainly write?

He was an English poet, essayist, and Cambridge professor who also wrote fiction. This book is one of his novels, marked by English local color and a cast of characters, with an unhurried narrative that emphasizes characterization.

What level of English is needed to read this book?

The text is in early twentieth-century literary English, whose sentence patterns and vocabulary are some distance from modern spoken usage. Intermediate reading ability or above is recommended, along with patience for longer sentences and paragraphs, for a smoother reading experience.

Comments

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About the author

Quiller-Couch, Arthur, 1863-1944 Author

Arthur Quiller-Couch (1863–1944) was an English writer with a substantial body of work, of which 41 titles are held in this collection. His writing covers a wide range: essays on the craft of reading and writing such as On the Art of Reading and On the Art of Writing, and narrative works set against the sea, winter, and the fireside, including The Roll-Call of the Reef, I Saw Three Ships and Other Winter Tales, Two Sides of the Face: Midwinter Tales, and The Laird's Luck and Other Fireside Tales. He also retold fairy tales from the Old French in The Sleeping Beauty and other fairy tales from the Old French, and wrote From a Cornish Window, a book that reflects his attention to the Cornish landscape and local life. Public information is limited and biographical details are hard to verify, but the surviving works show a graceful, unhurried prose that combines the reflective habits of an essayist with a storyteller's pleasure in narrative, leaving its mark on English prose and short fiction.