The Giant's Robe

Anstey, F., 1856-1934Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.4
Word count
862K words
Chapters
87

Tags

English Originals Suspense ThrillerFate and FortuneHuman NaturePsychological InsightSocial CritiqueMoral DilemmaHumor ReliefIntellectual CommentarySatirical StyleVictorian Era

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 Giant's Robe by F. Anstey. Author: Anstey, F., 1856-1934. Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Dec 12, 2008

Editor's review

The Giant's Robe is a novel by F. Anstey blending satire with fantasy; the author treats themes of identity, vanity and social reputation in a light, faintly absurd manner, with witty narration and characters whose predicaments often carry comic tension. The work belongs to the popular satirical tradition in English literature and rewards leisurely reading for its humor and observation of social manners. As a Project Gutenberg public-domain ebook, it is easy to obtain and read on the go, and serves as one of the introductory texts for understanding Anstey's style. No more specific plot details are provided in the source material; readers should attend to its satirical tone and shifts in character psychology rather than expect a serious social epic.

Who it's for

A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. Read chapter by chapter, watching for irony and exaggeration in characters' words and deeds and savoring the comic rhythm
  2. After finishing, review the key turning points and trace the author's satirical targets of vanity and identity
  3. If reading proves difficult, learn about Anstey's background first, then enter the text

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.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67
  68. 68
  69. 69
  70. 70
  71. 71
  72. 72
  73. 73
  74. 74
  75. 75
  76. 76
  77. 77
  78. 78
  79. 79
  80. 80
  81. 81
  82. 82
  83. 83
  84. 84
  85. 85
  86. 86
  87. 87

FAQ

What is the book roughly about? The source material identifies it only as an English literary work and gives no detailed plot; judging by Anstey's style and the title, one can usually expect satire, mistaken identity and light comedy, but the actual content should be confirmed from the text itself.
Is the electronic edition complete and easy to read? The book comes from Project Gutenberg as a free public-domain ebook and normally provides the complete text; layout and reading experience vary by device, so reading software that supports font adjustment is recommended.
Is it suitable for English learning? It can serve as extensive reading material for intermediate to advanced English readers, but the work contains period language and satirical expression; beginners may need a dictionary and should not rely on it alone as an introductory textbook.

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About the author

Anstey, F., 1856-1934 Author

F. Anstey (1856–1934) was a British writer known for humorous fantasy novels and satirical works. His best-known book, Vice Versa or, A Lesson to Fathers, tells the absurd story of a father and son who swap identities and became a pioneer of this kind of plot after its wide popularity; The Brass Bottle uses a genie released into the modern world to set off a series of comic conflicts. He also wrote novels such as In Brief Authority and The Tinted Venus: A Farcical Romance, short story collections including The Black Poodle, and Other Tales, and parodies of well-known Ibsen plays collected as Mr Punch's Pocket Ibsen. His works often use supernatural premises to poke gentle fun at Victorian social customs and family relations, in a light and witty tone. The library holds 18 of his works. Public information is limited, and this introduction is based mainly on his surviving works.