Thankful Blossom

Harte, Bret, 1836-1902Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 110K words
Chapters: 12

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.Thankful Blossom by Bret HarteAuthor: Harte, Bret, 1836-1902,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: May 1, 2000

Editor's review

Thankful Blossom is a short work by Bret Harte, carrying his customary local color of the West and a gentle, sentimental tone. The story is character-centered, presenting the characters' circumstances and personalities through everyday scenes and delicate emotional description. It is not long and moves at a relaxed pace, suitable as a light read for understanding Harte's narrative style. Harte often portrays the fate and feelings of ordinary people with concise, restrained brushwork, and this piece continues that characteristic; readers may note his handling of scene description and character dialogue. For readers studying American local color literature, this piece can serve as supplementary material, to be read alongside Harte's other Western works in order to observe similarities and differences in characterization and narrative perspective. Because it is a public-domain electronic text with limited edition information, it is advisable to read it together with materials on the author's life and creative background to better understand the work's historical context. Overall, this is a sketch emphasizing atmosphere and character, suitable for reading in fragments of time.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who want to understand Bret Harte's short-story style and local color literature
Students studying nineteenth-century American local color literature who need text samples
Readers who enjoy slow-paced short stories that succeed through character and atmosphere
English learners who want to read an English short story in fragments of time

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer strong plots and fast-paced narrative
Readers completely unfamiliar with the background of American Western literature who are unwilling to consult materials

Reading tips

First understand the basic background of Harte and Western local color literature, then enter the text.
As you read, note the details of scene description and character tone, and appreciate his restrained brushwork.
Read it alongside Harte's other short stories to compare similarities and differences in characterization and narrative perspective.

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 work long, and is it suitable to finish in one sitting?

It is not long; it is a short work, suitable to finish in one sitting or in two or three sessions. The pace is relaxed, so it is advisable to set aside quiet time for close reading, focusing on characters' emotions and scene details rather than on the speed of plot development.

Can I understand it without knowing American Western literature?

You can understand the story itself, but the work carries the context and brushwork of local color literature, and without background knowledge you may not appreciate it deeply. It is advisable to spend a few minutes before reading learning about Harte and his creative background, or to read a relevant introduction.

Does this electronic edition have annotations?

This edition comes from Project Gutenberg and is a public-domain electronic text, usually without detailed annotations. If you encounter unfamiliar expressions or historical background, it is advisable to consult materials yourself, or to read it against an edition with an introduction and annotations.

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About the author

Harte, Bret, 1836-1902 Author

Bret Harte (1836-1902) was an American writer best known for his stories of life during the California Gold Rush. He portrayed the varied characters of mining towns with a style that blends humor, sentiment, and realism, often using unexpected turns to reveal both the warmth and the absurdity of human nature. The collection here includes sixty-three of his works, among them The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales, Tennessee's Partner, Frontier Stories, Selected Stories of Bret Harte, East and West: Poems, Salomy Jane, and the Complete Poetical Works, covering both short fiction and poetry. These works draw largely on the everyday life and legends of the western frontier and have influenced later American Western literature. Public information on his life and education is limited, so no conjecture is offered here.