The Golden Silence

Williamson, C. N. (Charles Norris), 1859-1920Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 951K words
Chapters: 96

Summary

This is a Project Gutenberg release of The Golden Silence, a novel by A. M. Williamson and C. N. Williamson, here presented as a public-domain English-language ebook. The work continues the popular novelists' emphasis on plot momentum and the tension of personal relationships, while the "silence" of the title directs attention to what the narrative leaves unsaid: misunderstandings, forbearance and truths long withheld often drive the story more than open conflict. As an early twentieth-century English novel, it is also a sample of the narrative pacing, portrayal of women and handling of social themes typical of popular fiction of the time. It lends itself to extensive reading in English, taken in instalments on the commute or before bed, and to browsing by readers curious about public-domain ebooks and the range of Project Gutenberg's holdings. The electronic edition imposes no typographic burden and makes it easy to search for characters and chapters, though its age means some expressions feel distant from reading habits today.

Editor's review

This is the first volume of William Makepeace Thackeray's Vanity Fair in French translation, released by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain ebook. The French title points straight at the novel's central image: pursuit, social climbing and disillusionment on the stage of society. Volume I lays the groundwork of characters and period setting, and readers can already see the author's cool irony toward the glitter of fashionable circles. For French readers it is practical material for encountering a nineteenth-century English novel in French: a chance to practise reading a long French text and to compare how its tone carries across languages. It suits readers with some French who are willing to work through it volume by volume over a longer period, and can also serve as an entry point to the framework of the Vanity Fair story. Note that this is only the first volume, the story is not resolved, and readers should be prepared to continue.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Learners with intermediate or better French who want to read a long work in the original language
Readers who want to grasp the framework of Vanity Fair through a French translation
French readers interested in nineteenth-century social satire
Organizers who need public-domain French texts for courses or reading groups

Not a good fit for

Beginners with weak French who want an easy read
Readers who want only a Chinese translation or the English original
Those expecting a complete story in one volume and unwilling to continue to later volumes

Reading tips

Confirm that this is only Volume I and plan your chapters so you do not give up partway through.
Keep a simple list of characters as you read, handy for checking when French names recur.
Read a fixed number of chapters each week, then summarise the plot in Chinese to check your understanding.
Slow down for satirical passages and watch for tone words and ironic turns of phrase.

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 the complete story of Vanity Fair?

No. The metadata identifies the book as La foire aux vanités, Tome I, covering only the earlier part of the story, with characters and plot still unfolding. To read the whole story you need to find the later volumes. Be prepared to continue, and do not mistake one volume for the whole.

What level of French do I need to read this?

This is a French translation of a nineteenth-century novel, with fairly complex syntax and period vocabulary. It suits readers at intermediate level or above who can work through long sentences with a dictionary. Beginners are likely to be discouraged; they might start with short stories or bilingual materials first.

Does this edition have notes or an introduction?

The metadata describes it as a Project Gutenberg public-domain ebook and mentions no notes or introduction. It is primarily a readable electronic text, and readers must look up background and difficult points themselves. If you need scholarly annotation, find an annotated edition to read alongside it.

Comments

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About the author

Williamson, C. N. (Charles Norris), 1859-1920 Author

Charles Norris Williamson (1859–1920) was a British writer who often collaborated with his wife, Alice Williamson. The library holds thirty-one of his works, mostly popular novels from the early twentieth century centred on motoring travel, cross-border adventure and romantic intrigue. The Lightning Conductor series follows a car and its chauffeur through a series of comic and picaresque episodes, while books such as It Happened in Egypt combine exotic settings with suspense. His fast-paced, accessible style catered to the emerging craze for automobile tourism and to popular reading tastes, giving him a modest place in early motoring-travel literature. Public information is limited, and details of his life and exact nationality remain to be confirmed.