The Disentanglers

Lang, Andrew, 1844-1912Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 597K words
Chapters: 60

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 Disentanglers by Andrew LangAuthor: Lang, Andrew, 1844-1912,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Nov 8, 2005

Editor's review

The Disentanglers is an English work by Andrew Lang, classified under English language and literature. Judging from the title and the author's consistent narrative interests, it is a collection of stories built around "disentangling," in which characters move through tangled relationships and troubles and clear each predicament through wit and ingenuity. Lang was a versatile figure in late nineteenth-century British letters, well versed in folk tales and legendary traditions, so the narrative here often has a brisk pace and clever twists, reading more like an intellectual game than heavy social realism. Its value lies in offering a relaxed yet ingenious reading experience: the stories do not aim at deep psychological exploration but excel at taking plots apart and reassembling them, making the book suitable for reading one piece at a time in spare moments. The Project Gutenberg edition makes this relatively early work easy to obtain, whether as an introduction to late Victorian popular narrative tastes or for readers who enjoy "knot-untying" plots to dip into at leisure.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy Victorian English popular stories with light, clever plots
Language learners who want to build English reading experience through short stories
Readers interested in Andrew Lang's writing style and the folk-tale tradition
Commuters who prefer reading in spare moments and do not need long, continuous narratives

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting serious social realism or deep psychological portrayal
Beginners who need modern annotations and detailed background introductions
Readers who prefer strong suspense and fast-paced thriller plots

Reading tips

Read the pieces independently; there is no need to push straight through from beginning to end.
In each piece, first note where the "tangle" begins, then see how it is resolved, to appreciate the structural play.
Mark unfamiliar expressions first and look them up after finishing a piece, so as not to break the rhythm.
Compare with Lang's other story collections to observe his habitual ways of handling plot twists.

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 a long novel or a collection of short stories?

Judging from the title and the author's usual forms of writing, the book is closer to a collection of stories built around a shared theme, with relatively independent pieces. It can be read piece by piece rather than all at once, and suits browsing in spare moments.

What level of English does it suit?

This is a late nineteenth-century English work, with sentence patterns and vocabulary bearing the marks of its time; it is not contemporary easy reading. Readers with intermediate or higher English reading ability who are willing to look up words will find it easier to enter; beginners are advised to use an annotated edition or start with simpler texts.

Do I need to know Victorian background to read it?

The stories can be understood without systematic historical knowledge, but familiarity with the social customs and popular reading tastes of the time makes it easier to appreciate the humor and twists. Read one or two pieces first to get a feel for the style, then decide whether to add background material.

Comments

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About the author

Lang, Andrew, 1844-1912 Author

Andrew Lang (1844–1912) was a British writer, poet and folklorist best known for compiling collections of fairy tales and myths. The library holds 77 of his works, including The Blue Fairy Book, The Red Fairy Book, The Yellow Fairy Book, The Violet Fairy Book and The Brown Fairy Book, as well as Tales of Troy and Greece and The Homeric Hymns. He gathered, edited and retold folk tales from Europe and around the world, naming the volumes by colour; his clear, fluent prose served both children and folklore scholarship. These collections preserved a wealth of oral material and shaped the modern English-speaking world's image of fairy tales, leaving a lasting influence on fairy-tale publishing and comparative story research. Public information on his life is limited, so this note focuses on his editorial and literary contributions.