The Foolish Lovers

Ervine, St. John G. (St. John Greer), 1883-1971Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.6

Word count: 675K words
Chapters: 68

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 Foolish Lovers by St. John G. ErvineAuthor: Ervine, St. John G. (St. John Greer), 1883-1971,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Dec 1, 2005

Editor's review

The Foolish Lovers is a novel by the Irish playwright St. John G. Ervine, available in the Project Gutenberg public-domain collection. Ervine is known primarily for drama, and his fiction likewise carries a strong sense of dialogue and stage direction: characters speak vividly, and the plot advances through misunderstanding and emotional mismatch, giving the reading experience a theatrical feel. The title's "foolish lovers" signals the work's gentle satire of blindness and self-conceit in love, and readers can see how early twentieth-century English popular fiction observed courtship, class, and respectability. As a public-domain e-book, it suits extensive reading in English literature and helps readers discover a writer famous in theater history whose novels are relatively little discussed. The text is driven mainly by dialogue and reads at a brisk pace, though plot density is not high; it is better suited to reading for leisure and language learning than to readers seeking strong plotting or profound themes.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literature lovers looking to broaden their reading of English public-domain novels
Readers interested in Irish literature and novels by playwrights
Readers who enjoy dialogue-driven, brisk popular fiction
Advanced English learners needing extensive reading material

Not a good fit for

Genre-fiction readers seeking strong plots and suspenseful twists
Specialist researchers aiming to study Ervine's dramatic achievements systematically
Readers uncomfortable with the feel of early twentieth-century English popular fiction

Reading tips

Read the dialogue passages as if they were a play, noting tone and subtext.
Briefly familiarize yourself with the author's theatrical background beforehand to better understand his narrative style.
Skip unfamiliar cultural allusions at first to keep the reading rhythm, then return to them.
Read alongside contemporary English love-themed novels to observe differences in technique.

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

What is this book mainly about?

Judging from the title and the author's style, it is a popular novel centered on misunderstanding and self-conceit in love, with character relationships and emotional mismatches at its core. For specific plot details, consult the original English text; this introduction does not retell beyond the available material.

What does Ervine mainly write?

St. John G. Ervine was an Irish playwright known for his drama; his novels are relatively little discussed. This novel continues his strengths in dialogue and scene management and can serve as supplementary reading for understanding his literary profile.

Is it suitable for English beginners?

Not really for absolute beginners. The text is an early twentieth-century English novel with period features in syntax and vocabulary; intermediate reading ability or a bilingual edition is recommended.

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About the author

Ervine, St. John G. (St. John Greer), 1883-1971 Author · Irish · 1883–1971

St. John G. Ervine (1883–1971) was an Irish playwright and critic. Publicly available information about his early life and education is limited. He wrote a number of social-problem plays that addressed real-world conflicts and the circumstances of his characters, and he was active at the Abbey Theatre, where he was connected with the Irish national theatre movement. Two of his works are held in this collection, The Foolish Lovers and Changing Winds; judging from their titles and the available material, his writing combines dramatic qualities with social observation. His plays and criticism hold a certain significance in the context of twentieth-century Irish literature and theatre, but beyond the details above little can be confirmed, and readers should approach his style and concerns through the works themselves.