The Missionary

Griffith, George Chetwynd, 1857-1906Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.2

Word count: 486K words
Chapters: 49

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 Missionary by George Chetwynd Griffith. Author: Griffith, George Chetwynd, 1857-1906. Language: English. Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature. Release Date: Aug 21, 2009

Editor's review

George Chetwynd Griffith was a British popular fiction writer of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, often writing stories with speculative and adventurous coloring. "The Missionary" has been prepared as a free ebook by Project Gutenberg; it is short and bears a clear late-Victorian narrative style, with exposition, commentary, and plot advancing together, and characters who often carry some idea. Readers can see how British popular literature of that era handled themes such as faith, civilization, and exotic imagination, and can also sense what early science fiction and adventure fiction looked like before they separated. Because the work dates from an early period, its value judgments and narrative tone bear vivid marks of their time; read today, it is both a story and a text for observing the mindset of the imperial age. It suits readers interested in literary history as supplementary reading, or as a change of pace between classic long novels.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in late-Victorian British popular fiction
Enthusiasts studying the overlap between early science fiction and adventure literature
Readers who want to broaden their literary-historical horizons through public-domain ebooks
Readers who like short stories and can accept old-style narrative pacing

Not a good fit for

Contemporary fiction readers who prefer modern pacing and strong plot momentum
Readers sensitive to old-era statements about religion and civilization
Hard science fiction fans hoping for mature science fiction settings

Reading tips

Before reading, learn the common themes of late-nineteenth-century British popular fiction to enter the context more easily.
Mark the ideological commentary in the narration separately, and after finishing look back at the author's period stance.
Read it against adventure fiction of the same period, comparing narrative techniques and thematic preferences.

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 work science fiction or adventure fiction?

It is closer to late-Victorian popular adventure stories with speculative coloring; the boundary between early science fiction and adventure literature was blurry at the time. Readers should not judge it by contemporary hard science fiction standards but understand it in the genre context of its day.

Do I need to know the author's background to read it?

Systematic research is not necessary, but knowing that Griffith was a British popular fiction writer of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries helps in understanding the commentary-heavy narration and period tone. A brief look at the author's dates and the writing period is enough.

What should I note when reading the electronic edition?

The Project Gutenberg version is a public-domain electronic text, mainly plain text, and may contain old-style spelling and punctuation. Use a reader with adjustable font size, and when encountering unfamiliar old-fashioned expressions, infer from context first rather than checking every word.

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About the author

Griffith, George Chetwynd, 1857-1906 Author

George Chetwynd Griffith (1857–1906) was a British author best known for his science fiction and adventure novels. Eight of his works are included here, among them Olga Romanoff, The Angel of the Revolution: A Tale of the Coming Terror, A Honeymoon in Space, The World Peril of 1910, The World Masters, and The Mummy and Miss Nitocris: A Phantasy of the Fourth Dimension. His writing centres on future warfare, technological adventure, and political intrigue, with fast-moving plots and bold imagination that blend emerging technology with apocalyptic crisis and imperial rivalry, bearing the clear stamp of his era. Public information about him is limited, so biographical details are difficult to set out; yet his surviving works show that he held a place in early twentieth-century popular science fiction and had some influence on later speculative and disaster narratives.