Prue and I

Curtis, George William, 1824-1892Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.4

Word count: 244K words
Chapters: 25

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.Prue and I by George William CurtisAuthor: Curtis, George William, 1824-1892,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Aug 1, 2005

Editor's review

"Prue and I" is a prose fiction by 19th-century American writer George William Curtis, narrated in the first person by "I" and centered on the everyday trifles and inner musings of the narrator, his wife Prue, and those around them; its tone is gentle and restrained, with an essayistic, lyrical quality. Curtis himself was an essayist, editor, and social reformer whose prose is attentive to rhetoric and rhythm; the book's depictions of married life, city observations, and personal dreams are more inward monologue than plot-driven, suiting slow reading in a quiet setting. As a free public-domain eBook from Project Gutenberg, it is easily accessible and serves as supplementary reading for those interested in 19th-century American literature, the essay tradition, or Victorian domestic narrative. Note that it is in English and that its pacing is slow and its plot thin; readers should come for the prose and atmosphere rather than dramatic conflict.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literary readers interested in 19th-century American prose and essayistic fiction
Readers who enjoy slow-paced, lyrical narrative and attention to prose and atmosphere
Students and researchers studying Curtis or Victorian domestic writing
Self-learners seeking to broaden their reading of English-language originals through public-domain eBooks

Not a good fit for

General fiction readers who prefer strong plots and fast pacing
Beginners with weak English reading skills who need Chinese annotations
Readers expecting systematic social critique or narrative of historical events

Reading tips

Read the preface or first chapter first to judge whether you adapt to its leisurely essayistic rhythm before committing to the whole.
Read one or two chapters a day, taking notes on the narrator's musings and details of daily life, rather than speed-reading it in one sitting.
Compare with other essays by Curtis or anthologies of 19th-century American essays to understand where its style stands.

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 a novel or an essay collection?

It is usually regarded as prose fiction, with a first-person narrator "I" and characters such as his wife Prue, but its plot is loose and it reads more like essayistic, lyrical narrative, focused on atmosphere and inner feeling rather than a complete storyline.

How difficult is the English, and is it suitable for non-native readers?

The original is 19th-century English with long sentences and elegant diction; non-native readers with intermediate or higher reading ability can attempt it, but are advised to use a dictionary and read slowly; those with weaker English may find it difficult.

Why recommend the Project Gutenberg edition?

This edition is a free public-domain eBook, easy to obtain and free of copyright barriers, suitable as an introduction or supplement to reading English originals; note, however, that it is the English text without a Chinese introduction or annotations.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Curtis, George William, 1824-1892 Author

George William Curtis (1824–1892) was an American author, with ten works held in this collection. Public information is limited, and his dates of birth and death and nationality are not clearly recorded in the holdings; the following introduction is based on the works in the collection. He is known chiefly for essays and satirical sketches. The Potiphar Papers depict social manners in a light, mocking tone, while Prue and I leans toward gentle narrative and reverie. The three volumes of From the Easy Chair, together with Ars Recte Vivendi, adopt the relaxed voice of an "easy chair" column to discuss literature, society, and life, in the classic nineteenth-century American essay tradition. Trumps and Literary and Social Essays deal with fiction and social criticism. His style is elegant and observant, with a gift for humorous commentary on manners, offering a useful glimpse of urban American life and literary taste of his time.