Myrkkyä

Kielland, Alexander Lange, 1849-1906Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.8

Word count: 300K 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.Myrkkyä by Alexander Lange KiellandAuthor: Kielland, Alexander Lange, 1849-1906,Language: Finnish, Class: PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures, Release Date: Jan 16, 2016

Editor's review

Myrkkyä (Finnish for “Poison”) is a work by the Norwegian writer Alexander Lange Kielland (1849–1906), released by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain eBook in Finnish. Kielland was a major figure in nineteenth-century Norwegian realism, and his writing often uses satire to examine social institutions and moral hypocrisy; this work follows the same direction, presenting through concrete situations his characters’ choices and self-deception under pressure. For Chinese readers, the book’s distinctive value lies in the cross-linguistic reading experience created by its double threshold: it offers a window onto how Nordic realist literature circulated in the Finnish-speaking world, and also a sense of what small-language public-domain resources make available. The book suits readers with some foundation in Finnish or an interest in the history of Nordic literary circulation; without being able to read the original, a full literary experience is hard to obtain. Overall, this is a niche text for a specific readership, valuable not for casual entertainment but as a reference point in literary history and cultural transmission.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers with Finnish reading ability who want to read Nordic public-domain literature
Literary scholars studying translations and the circulation of Kielland’s works
Collectors interested in the development of small-language public-domain eBook resources

Not a good fit for

General readers who read only Chinese and cannot use the Finnish original
Students who expect a Chinese translation and detailed notes to aid comprehension
Readers who prefer light, entertaining stories and do not want to deal with a language barrier

Reading tips

Learn first about the Norwegian realist background in which Kielland wrote, then read the text; this makes the satirical target easier to grasp.
If Finnish is difficult, first sort out the characters and scenes, then read key dialogues closely paragraph by paragraph.
Compare this book with the author’s other social satires to observe his consistent critical perspective.
After reading, note unfamiliar expressions in the text as material for building small-language reading skills.

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 language is this book written in?

According to Project Gutenberg, the book is in Finnish and falls under Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures. It is not a Chinese book, and reading it requires a foundation in Finnish.

What country is the author Kielland from?

Alexander Lange Kielland, born in 1849 and died in 1906, was a Norwegian writer. The source provides no further biographical details; readers can understand the work’s background in light of his nationality and era.

What does the title Myrkkyä mean?

Myrkkyä is Finnish for “poison.” This is only a literal meaning; what metaphor it points to in the work itself readers must judge from the text, as the source does not explain it.

Can I read it without any Finnish?

This edition is the Finnish original, with no Chinese translation or notes. Without Finnish, understanding the text will be difficult; it is advisable first to look for a relevant translation or introductory material before deciding whether to read the original.

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About the author

Kielland, Alexander Lange, 1849-1906 Author

Alexander Lange Kielland (1849–1906) was a Norwegian author, with 11 works held in this collection. Public information is limited, so the main available basis is the subject matter and stylistic clues presented by the works themselves. His representative works include Skipper Worse, Norse Tales and Sketches, Arbeiders, and Fortuna, while translated editions appear under titles such as Vergif, Myrkkyä, and Työmiehiä, showing that his novels circulated in several languages. Judging from these titles, his writing deals with Norwegian maritime and small-town life as well as with ordinary workers and grassroots society, often portraying characters' circumstances in a realistic manner with a spirit of social observation and critique; his short stories and sketches present local customs and everyday human relations. Kielland was one of the important Norwegian writers of the nineteenth century, associated with the realist movement, and his works have had a certain influence among readers in the Nordic countries and Europe.