The Headswoman

Kenneth GrahameProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.5

Word count: 42K words
Chapters: 5

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 Headswoman by Kenneth GrahameAuthor: Grahame, Kenneth, 1859-1932,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Nov 8, 2010

Editor's review

This is a short satirical novel by Kenneth Grahame, author of The Wind in the Willows, concise in length and coolly humorous in tone. Set in a small town whose trade is execution, it builds absurdity from the mismatch between professional identity and everyday human ties; Grahame handles heavy material with a light touch, his satire tempered by gentle compassion. Rather than relying on plot like a full-length adventure novel, it succeeds through characterisation and verbal wit, revealing the author's early observation and teasing of social custom. Readers familiar with the English literary tradition and fond of short satire will find here a brisk yet lingering reading experience. As a public-domain ebook it is easy to obtain, suited to reading in fragments during commutes or spare moments, and also useful as material for close textual analysis.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who love The Wind in the Willows and want to explore the author's other work
Literature lovers interested in English short satirical fiction
English learners in need of short English texts as reading material
Readers who enjoy absurd stories built on conflicts between profession and morality

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a long adventure narrative or complex plot
Readers sensitive to themes of execution and death
Beginner English readers who need detailed background notes

Reading tips

Read through once to feel the humorous rhythm of the language, then revisit key dialogues to appreciate the layers of satire.
Compare with Grahame's other short stories or The Wind in the Willows to observe the continuity of his style.
After finishing, write a few sentences analysing character motivation to grasp the target of the author's satire.
If the English original proves difficult, read a Chinese summary first and then return to the text to reduce interruptions.

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 suitable as introductory material for English learning?

The language carries the sentence patterns and humour of late nineteenth-century English literature, posing some difficulty for beginners. Readers with intermediate or higher English reading ability are advised to attempt it, or to read alongside notes and a translation, focusing on short sentences and dialogue.

Is the story long, and how long does it take to finish?

It is a short work of modest length, readable in an hour or two of focused reading. It can also be read in two or three sessions; reviewing the characters' situations after each session helps in appreciating the satirical turns.

Can I read this directly without having read the author's other works?

Yes. The story stands alone and does not depend on the plots of other works. Still, familiarity with the author's habitual gentle irony makes it easier to fall into the reading rhythm, and afterwards you may seek out his other short stories for comparison.

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About the author

Kenneth Grahame Author · British (Scottish) · 1859–1932

Kenneth Grahame (1859–1932) was a British (Scottish) writer, born in Edinburgh; after losing his mother in early childhood, he moved to England with his grandmother. He worked for a long time at the Bank of England and rose to become its secretary. Grahame first won recognition for his nostalgic prose collections of childhood, The Golden Age and Dream Days, which are gentle in tone and observe the adult world through a child's eyes. The Wind in the Willows, published in 1908, is his masterpiece of children's literature. It creates vividly characterised figures such as Mole, Rat, Badger and Toad, sets their adventures against the pastoral life of riverbank and woodland, and blends humour, friendship and adventure in clear, rhythmic prose. It has become a classic of English children's literature and has deeply influenced later animal stories and children's fantasy.