Seeing Things at Night

Heywood Campbell BrounProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.5

Word count: 346K words
Chapters: 35

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. Seeing Things at Night by Heywood Broun. Author: Broun, Heywood, 1888-1939. Language: English. Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature. Release Date: Apr 8, 2011

Editor's review

Seeing Things at Night is a collection of essays by the American journalist and critic Heywood Broun, its title carrying the posture of a night wanderer's observation. With the acuity and humor of a newspaper columnist, Broun turns everyday sights, city life, and observations of people and affairs into short, brisk pieces, casual in tone yet never without edge. The value of such writing lies not in systematic argument but in capturing the tone, humor, and concerns of early twentieth-century American urban life; reading it feels like walking alongside a talkative newspaperman. The pieces are short, suited to reading in fragments and to serving as an introductory sample of the American newspaper essay tradition. The English original is highly colloquial and dense with allusions and period context; some jokes require familiarity with the era to appreciate, though on the whole it is less demanding than many literary works of the same period.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy British and American newspaper essays and light, humorous short pieces
Readers who want a sense of the tone of early twentieth-century American urban life
Learners with intermediate English reading ability who want to practice with short pieces
Those interested in newspaper column writing and the tradition of personal commentary

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting systematic historical argument or in-depth analysis
Readers who prefer novels and complete narratives
Beginners who find period allusions and colloquial English hard to follow
Those seeking contemporary current-affairs commentary

Reading tips

Read piece by piece as the mood takes you; there is no need to finish in one sitting—good for commutes or short bedtime reading.
Mark unfamiliar names and places first, then look up the background after finishing a piece.
Choose a few pieces to read aloud and get a feel for the colloquial rhythm and humorous tone of column writing.
After reading, jot down a sentence or two of your own observations for comparison, to train your sense of voice in short commentary.

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 a collection of essays?

It is a collection of essays by Heywood Broun—short newspaper-column pieces rather than fiction. The pieces stand relatively independent, mostly taking everyday sights, people, and city life as their subjects, in a light, humorous tone suited to scattered reading without reliance on plot continuity.

Can I understand it without knowing early twentieth-century American background?

You can grasp the gist of most pieces, but the book involves figures, newspaper context, and everyday details of the time, and some humor requires background knowledge to appreciate. Read a few pieces first to get the tone; when something is unclear, use notes or search to fill in the background, and don't get stuck too long on an individual allusion.

My English is average—is this book suitable for reading practice?

The language is fairly colloquial and the pieces are short, making it easier to progress in segments than with a long literary work—suitable for intermediate readers to practice. But it contains period slang and allusions, so fully effortless reading is still difficult. Treat it as extensive reading material, focusing on gist and tone rather than checking every word.

Comments

Find this book

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

Heywood Campbell Broun Author · American · 1888–1939

Heywood Broun (1888–1939) was an American journalist, columnist and drama critic. Born in Brooklyn and died in Stamford, he wrote columns for the New York Tribune and the New York World, founded the American Newspaper Guild and served as its first president, and was a member of the Algonquin Round Table. His writing ranged from war reporting and current affairs to humorous essays. His representative works include The A. E. F.: With General Pershing and the American Forces and Our Army at the Front, which record his experiences with the American forces; Pieces of Hate And Other Enthusiasms and Seeing Things at Night, which display his sharp and witty essay style; and the novel The Boy Grew Older, which turns to themes of growing up, so his works are often classified under inspirational growth. Public information is limited, and his life is chiefly seen through these works and his newspaper activities.