Novelle

Project GutenbergProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.5

Word count: 572K 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.Novelle by conte Cesare BalboAuthor: ,Language: Italian, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: May 8, 2012

Editor's review

This Novelle is a collection of short stories by the Italian writer Cesare Balbo, released as a public-domain electronic text by Project Gutenberg. Balbo was both a historian and a political figure, and his narratives often embed observations on Italian society and customs within the fates of his characters; the pieces are short but carefully structured, making them a good introductory sample for understanding nineteenth-century Italian narrative literature. The book's distinctive value lies in its language: the original is in Italian, and readers can experience the syntax and diction of nineteenth-century written Italian in the context of the stories, more vividly than through a grammar book. Note that this is a public-domain ebook without modern translation notes or an introduction, and the layout is plain; the reading experience depends on the reader's own language level. Recommended for those learning Italian who wish to build reading volume starting from short pieces, or for readers interested in the literary background of the Italian Risorgimento.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Learners with intermediate Italian reading ability who want to build language feel through short pieces
Readers interested in nineteenth-century Italian literature and narrative tradition
Readers who enjoy the short story form and prefer free public-domain electronic texts
Enthusiasts of literary history studying Italian historical fiction and writing by political figures

Not a good fit for

Readers with no Italian foundation who need a Chinese translation for support
Beginners who rely on detailed notes and introductions to enter a text
Collectors who expect modern typography and finely bound paper editions

Reading tips

Read one piece through first to grasp the plot, then go back to look up vocabulary and syntax, avoiding stopping at every word.
After each piece, write a three-to-five-sentence summary in Italian to check comprehension and accumulate expressions.
Read alongside background material on nineteenth-century Italian history to understand the social context of the stories.
Read shorter pieces aloud to feel the rhythm and intonation of the written language.

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 level is needed to read this book?

The original is in Italian, and intermediate or higher reading ability is recommended, sufficient to handle longer sentences and literary vocabulary independently. If you are just starting out, you can read paragraph by paragraph with a dictionary, or try a shorter piece first before deciding whether to read the whole book.

Does this edition have notes or a Chinese translation?

This is a public-domain electronic text released by Project Gutenberg, usually containing only the original text, without modern notes, an introduction, or a Chinese translation. Readers need to bring their own dictionary or consult other materials, and can look up historical figures and place names separately while reading.

Why is the short story recommended for learning a foreign language?

The length of a short story is manageable, and finishing one in a single sitting gives complete feedback on the plot, making it less discouraging than giving up halfway. The vocabulary and sentence patterns in each piece are relatively concentrated, making it easy to organize new words and imitate writing style, and suitable for breaking reading volume into completable small units.

Comments

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About the author

Project Gutenberg Author

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.