The Indian's Hand

Stoddard, Lorimer, 1864-1901Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.5

Word count: 17K words
Chapters: 2

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 Indian's Hand by Lorimer StoddardAuthor: Stoddard, Lorimer, 1864-1901,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Oct 24, 2007

Editor's review

The Indian's Hand is a literary work by the American author Lorimer Stoddard, available as a free ebook from Project Gutenberg and classified under American and Canadian literature. Judging from the title and the author's late-nineteenth-century context, the work partakes of the frontier and ethnic themes common in American literature of the period, making it a useful sample for understanding the literary tastes and narrative modes of that era. In length and genre it suits light reading of an English original, and it can also serve as a case study in how nineteenth-century American writers handled ethnic imagery and regional experience. A caveat: the work was born of a specific historical context, and its portrayal of Indigenous peoples may bear the marks of its time; readers should approach it with a historicized eye rather than treat it as a reliable description of Indigenous culture.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in late-nineteenth-century American literature
Scholars and students studying the representation of ethnic groups in American literature
Learners seeking short English originals for reading practice
Ebook readers collecting public-domain American literary texts

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking accurate knowledge of Indigenous culture
General readers who prefer the pacing and style of contemporary fiction
Beginners with weak English reading skills who need extensive annotation

Reading tips

Learn about the author's life and the period in which he wrote before entering the text; this helps grasp the narrative intent.
Note how the work depicts characters and places, and record the period ideas it reflects.
Read it alongside works by other American writers of the same period and compare themes and methods.
The work is short; read it through in one sitting, then revisit key passages to form an overall judgment.

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

Can this work be used as material on Indigenous culture?

No. It is a literary work reflecting the imagination and narrative conventions surrounding Indigenous peoples in the American society of the author's time, not an anthropological record of culture. For knowledge of Indigenous culture, consult ethnographies and historical studies written with the participation of scholars from the relevant communities.

Is this book suitable for English learners?

It can serve as advanced reading material. The text is late-nineteenth-century literary English, with sentence patterns and diction somewhat removed from modern English, and it presumes historical background knowledge. Readers at intermediate level or above can read it with notes and a dictionary; beginners may find it difficult.

What background preparation is needed before reading?

It is advisable to first learn about the life and period of the author Lorimer Stoddard, and about the common themes of frontier literature in late-nineteenth-century American writing. With this background, readers can more easily recognize the narrative conventions and period ideas in the work and avoid mistaking literary depiction for historical fact.

Comments

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About the author

Stoddard, Lorimer, 1864-1901 Author · American · 1864–1901

Lorimer Stoddard (1864–1901) was an American writer and the son of the poet Richard Henry Stoddard. His short life spanned the later nineteenth century, and he tried his hand at both fiction and the essay. One work of his is held in this collection, The Indian's Hand, which, judging by its title, is a narrative centred on Native American themes, continuing the period's American literary interest in the frontier and in indigenous life. Public information about his life and writing is limited; his output was small and his reputation modest, yet as a writer from a literary family his work carries the blended quality of late-nineteenth-century American essay and fiction, offering a concrete sample of the ecology of minor writers of that era.