The Broken Gate: A Novel

Hough, Emerson, 1857-1923Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.1

Word count: 439K words
Chapters: 44

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.The Broken Gate: A Novel by Emerson HoughAuthor: Hough, Emerson, 1857-1923,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Aug 20, 2010

Editor's review

The Broken Gate is a novel by the American writer Emerson Hough, belonging to the category of American and Canadian literature. It is now freely released by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain ebook. Hough was active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and his novels usually bear the marks of their time and a taste for popular storytelling. This book can serve as an accessible sample for understanding American popular novel writing of that period. Readers may start from the characters' predicaments, social conflicts, and narrative pacing to observe how writers of the time organized long fiction and responded to readers' tastes. As an English public-domain book, its main barrier lies in language and historical context rather than in obtaining a copy. It is better suited to readers interested in early American fiction or public-domain ebook resources, whether as research support or casual reading. It is advisable to plan progress according to the table of contents and chapter length rather than forcing yourself to read it straight through in one sitting.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers curious about early American popular novels who want a low-cost sample
English learners needing public-domain English texts as extensive reading material
Readers studying American and Canadian literature or following Project Gutenberg catalogues
Casual readers who prefer to advance chapter by chapter at their own pace

Not a good fit for

Readers hoping for contemporary bestseller style or an audiobook companion
Readers with weak English foundations who need a Chinese translation or annotations
Those seeking tight plotting, strong suspense, or major twists

Reading tips

Read the first two or three chapters to gauge the narrative pace before deciding whether to finish the book.
Keep a separate record of unfamiliar words and period terms, and look them up together after each chapter.
Read alongside similar public-domain American novels to observe differences in narrative technique.
Set a daily page target by chapter to avoid giving up midway because of the linguistic distance.

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 in Chinese or English? How difficult is it?

This is an English public-domain novel. Its language belongs to early twentieth-century American written English, and its sentence patterns and vocabulary are somewhat distant from contemporary readers. Readers at intermediate level or above can read it through with a dictionary; beginners are better off doing close reading of excerpts or bilingual comparison, and it is not recommended as their first English novel.

Is the electronic edition complete, and can it be quoted directly?

The book is released by Project Gutenberg as a free electronic text, usually prepared according to the original book's content. It is generally usable for study and ordinary citation, but for formal academic citation you should still check an authoritative edition or library copy and verify textual accuracy and copyright status yourself.

There is no detailed author introduction; how can I judge whether it is worth reading?

Look first at the language style and character setup in the opening chapters, then decide whether to continue. If you are interested in the narrative appearance of American popular fiction from the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries, this book has sample value; if you only want high-density plotting, it may not suit you. Trying it yourself is more reliable than relying on a synopsis.

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

Hough, Emerson, 1857-1923 Author

Emerson Hough (1857-1923) was an American writer whose biographical details remain limited in publicly available sources. The collection here includes 26 of his works, most of them novels and historical narratives set against the backdrop of the American frontier. Representative titles include The Passing of the Frontier: A Chronicle of the Old West, The Covered Wagon, and The Story of the Outlaw: A Study of the Western Desperado. His subjects center on westward expansion, Western outlaws, and historical episodes such as the Mississippi Bubble, as well as life in the West. His writing blends fiction with documentary observation, combining authentic historical atmosphere with adventure plots in a plain yet vivid style. His works offer readable and lively portraits of America's westward development and hold a place in Western-themed literature.