Red Fleece

Will Levington ComfortProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 293K words
Chapters: 30

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.Red Fleece by Will Levington ComfortAuthor: Comfort, Will Levington, 1878-1932,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Aug 1, 2004

Editor's review

Will Levington Comfort's Red Fleece is an English-language novel set during World War I, focusing on individual experience and psychological change in wartime. It continues the author's characteristic narrative pacing, presenting the impact of war on ordinary lives through the choices and encounters of its characters amid conflict. Its value lies in recording the emotional experience of a particular historical period in literary form rather than offering macro-level military history analysis. Its strengths are vivid, cinematic scene descriptions and naturally developing character relationships, making it a useful entry point for understanding early twentieth-century American war fiction. It suits segmented reading during study breaks or commutes, and comparative reading alongside war literature of the same period. The text is a public-domain English ebook whose language carries the marks of its era; some expressions differ from modern English and require adjustment. The overall length is moderate and the plot moves quickly, so readers interested in war literature can enter it fairly smoothly.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in literature set against World War I
Students seeking to understand early twentieth-century American fiction
General readers who enjoy war-themed narratives

Not a good fit for

Military researchers needing systematic campaign histories
Readers who prefer concise contemporary English
Readers sensitive to war depictions

Reading tips

First learn the basic timeline of World War I, then enter the text to situate the plot
Read in sections by chapter, briefly noting changes in character relationships after each
Read alongside war novels of the same period, noting differences in narrative perspective and emotional treatment

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

When is the novel set?

It is set during World War I. The story revolves around characters' experiences in wartime and presents the impact of conflict through individual perspectives rather than a panoramic depiction of battles.

How difficult is the English original?

Moderately to fairly difficult. The language carries early twentieth-century usage, and some sentence patterns and word choices differ from modern English, but the plot moves quickly; readers with a reasonable English foundation can finish it with the help of a dictionary.

Is it suitable as history-learning material?

It is not suitable as military history material. It is a literary work focused on characters' emotions and experiences, with scattered historical information shaped by artistic treatment; for history study it should be paired with formal campaign histories.

Comments

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About the author

Will Levington Comfort Author · American · 1878–1932

Will Levington Comfort (1878–1932) was an American novelist, born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and died in Los Angeles in 1932. He served in the Spanish–American War and worked as a war correspondent, reporting from places such as the Philippines and Japan; these experiences supplied material for his later writing. He became known chiefly for his adventure novels, which often involve exotic settings and questions of human fate, with tightly plotted narratives that focus on the choices people make in difficult circumstances and on their inner transformations. The library holds five of his works, including Red Fleece, She Buildeth Her House, Fate Knocks at the Door, The Hive, and Child and Country: A Book of the Younger Generation, which include both fiction and observations on the younger generation. Public information on his early education and specific awards is limited, and existing accounts focus mainly on his career as a journalist and his adventure fiction.