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Saint Michael: A Romance cover

Saint Michael: A Romance

E. Werner (Elisabeth Bürstenbinder)Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.7
Word count
617K words
Chapters
62
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Tags

English Originals Foreign Literature Fate and FortuneReligious LegendLove EntanglementsLove TriangleTest of FaithSaint StoriesMedieval SettingGerman Romanticism

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.Saint Michael: A Romance by E. WernerAuthor: Werner, E., 1838-1918,Language: English, Class: PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures, Release Date: Jan 30, 2011

Editor's review

This is the English translation of Saint Michael, a novel by the nineteenth-century German writer E. Werner, made available as a free eBook by Project Gutenberg. In her lifetime Werner was a prolific author of German popular fiction, usually writing about aristocratic families, artistic circles and emotional entanglements, with full plotting and intricate relationships, bearing the clear marks of the popular literature of her time. Saint Michael is centered on a love story and touches on themes such as class difference, honor and family conflict; its pacing is slow, with attention to scene and psychological description. For today's readers its value lies more in offering a sample of nineteenth-century German popular fiction's narrative tastes, and as a window into the social views and literary market of the period. The English translation is generally readable but has many long sentences and old-fashioned expressions, requiring patience. It does not suit readers seeking strong plot and fast pacing, but rather those interested in nineteenth-century European fiction who are willing to read slowly and closely. As a public-domain eBook it is easy to obtain and suits segmented reading on electronic devices.

Who it's for

A good fit for

  • Readers interested in nineteenth-century German literature and popular fiction
  • English readers who enjoy slow-paced emotional narrative and are willing to read long sentences closely
  • Literature enthusiasts studying European popular fiction and translated texts
  • Upper-level students wanting to broaden their reading of public-domain English books

Not a good fit for

  • Contemporary genre-fiction readers who prefer fast pacing and strong conflict
  • Beginners not yet proficient in English reading and unable to handle old-fashioned long sentences
  • Scholars seeking the German original or an authoritative scholarly translation

Reading tips

  1. Learn the common formulas of nineteenth-century German popular fiction first; this makes characters' motives easier to grasp.
  2. Proceed chapter by chapter, briefly reviewing relationships and emotional shifts after each.
  3. For old-fashioned long sentences, identify the main clause first rather than parsing word by word, to keep reading fluent.
  4. Compare with contemporary British popular fiction to feel the differences in romance narrative across languages.

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.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62

FAQ

Who was E. Werner?
E. Werner was the pen name of a nineteenth-century German woman writer, born around 1838 and died around 1918, who wrote many novels for a broad public, mostly about emotional and family stories among the aristocracy and middle class. She was popular in her lifetime, but her works are now mostly public-domain literature being rediscovered.
Is the English hard to read?
The translation retains nineteenth-century novelistic habits, with many long sentences and detailed narration; vocabulary is not obscure but syntax is complex. Readers at college English level or used to classical fiction can manage; beginners should use a dictionary and slow down.
Is the story a romance?
It centers on love and marriage while interweaving class difference, family honor and characters' fates; it belongs to the popular sentimental fiction of the time rather than being a simple sweet romance, with emotional conflict and real-world pressure throughout.
Is this book suitable for literary research?
As a public-domain electronic text it can be used to study the themes and narrative style of nineteenth-century German popular fiction, but this e-edition is not a scholarly critical edition and lacks detailed notes and textual information; deeper research still requires professional editions and secondary literature.

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About the author

E. Werner (Elisabeth Bürstenbinder) Author · German · 1838–1918

E. Werner, the pen name of Elisabeth Bürstenbinder (1838–1918), was a German novelist. She was born in Berlin in 1838 and died in Merano in 1918. In 1870 she attracted attention with her novel Hermann, and went on to write works such as Vineta, The Sacred Vow, and The Unconquerable. The library holds 19 of her works, including The Northern Light, The Sign of Flame, Vineta, the Phantom City, A Hero of the Pen, Danira, and the two volumes of Riven Bonds. Her works are often classified as inspirational coming-of-age fiction, and many have been translated into English. Public information about her life and writing career is limited, but it is clear that she excelled at long-form narrative, often centering on faith, personal growth, and fate, and that she gained some attention among German readers and through English translations.

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