Paths of Battle

Marja SalmelaProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.0

Word count: 601K words
Chapters: 61

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.Taistojen teitä by Marja SalmelaAuthor: Salmela, Marja, 1875-1924,Language: Finnish, Class: PH: Language and Literatures: Finno-Ugrian and Basque languages and literatures, Release Date: Oct 20, 2014

Editor's review

Taistojen teitä is a work by the Finnish author Marja Salmela (1875–1924), released free of charge as an eBook by Project Gutenberg and classified under Finnish-language literature. For Chinese readers, its value lies first of all in being a freely available Finnish-language original, suitable as a sample for understanding the Finnish literary language of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Salmela lived at a time when Finnish national consciousness and cultural self-awareness were on the rise, and the language of her text preserves the expressive habits of that era, giving it reference value for the study of the evolution of Finnish and of Nordic women's writing. Readers need not seek dramatic plot in this book; it is better treated as linguistic material and literary-historical source material: read it slowly with a dictionary at hand, noting the period features of vocabulary and syntax. As no Chinese translation is currently available, it suits readers who already have some foundation in Finnish or who have a research interest in Finnish literature, rather than general readers looking for an easy story. The electronic edition is easy to obtain and lends itself to annotated reading on screen or in print.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers with basic Finnish reading ability who want to practise on original texts
University students studying Finnish literature and Nordic women's writing
Readers interested in Finnish society and language of the late nineteenth century
Teachers who need free public-domain foreign-language texts as teaching material

Not a good fit for

General readers with no Finnish at all who hope to read a Chinese translation
Casual readers seeking strong plot and fast-paced narrative
Beginners who want detailed annotations and an introduction

Reading tips

First read through without worrying about full comprehension, marking unfamiliar words and difficult sentences, then read closely chapter by chapter.
Consult a Finnish dictionary and grammar reference alongside the text, building up a vocabulary of period words.
Read it alongside other Finnish realist works to observe similarities and differences in language and theme.
Keep the pace to a few pages a day, taking brief notes as you read to stay consistent.

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 there a Chinese translation of this book?

According to the available information, the book is a Finnish-language eBook released by Project Gutenberg, and no Chinese translation is mentioned. Chinese readers who do not know Finnish will face considerable difficulty; it is advisable first to check whether other translations exist or to use translation tools for support.

Can Project Gutenberg books be read for free?

Yes. Project Gutenberg was the first project to provide free eBooks, and the public-domain works it releases can generally be downloaded and read free of charge. It is still advisable to follow the project's stated terms for the use of its texts.

What level of language proficiency is needed to read this book?

The original is in Finnish and retains the language habits of a century ago; at least intermediate Finnish reading ability is recommended, along with a dictionary. Beginners would do better to start with a bilingual edition or an annotated edition before attempting the original.

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About the author

Marja Salmela Author · Finnish · 1875–1924

Marja Salmela (1875–1924) was a Finnish writer, born Maria Stenroth, who grew up in Laukas and later moved to Karina. She began writing in the early twentieth century and took an active part in the temperance and women's movements, commitments that deeply shaped her writing. In a life of fewer than fifty years she left nine works, including novels and short-story collections. Her representative works include The Victim of Her Dreams, A Segment of Two People's Journey, and Martti Jänne, as well as The Blood-Red Rose, a collection of stories from Italy. Her writing is marked by a religious sensibility and a concern for the lower classes, with particular attention to women's circumstances and inner lives, conveyed in a plain and compassionate style. Public information about her is limited, and many details of her life and work remain to be studied, yet the works available already reveal a distinctive voice in Finnish literature attentive to society's marginalized people.