The Northern Light

E. Werner (Elisabeth Bürstenbinder)Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 610K words
Chapters: 61

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 Northern Light by E. WernerAuthor: Werner, E., 1838-1918,Language: English, Class: PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures, Release Date: Jun 20, 2005

Editor's review

The Northern Light is a novel by the German author E. Werner (1838–1918), made available by Project Gutenberg as a free English ebook and classified under Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures. In the late nineteenth century Werner was known for family and sentimental novels aimed at a broad readership, and this book shares the features of popular narrative of its time: relationships and emotional conflict form the main thread, the telling is unhurried, and moral and emotional questions are given equal weight. Its value for readers lies mainly in showing what nineteenth-century German popular fiction looked like once translated into English; it is better suited as supplementary material for literary history and translation studies than as a modern genre novel to be read for a tightly plotted story. Read it slowly, paying attention to the period assumptions embedded in dialogue and scene-setting; set alongside background material on contemporary German popular literature, its place becomes clearer. The English translation carries the flavor of its age, and some expressions need to be understood from context.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in nineteenth-century German popular fiction and its English translations
Readers who enjoy leisurely classical sentimental stories centered on relationships
Readers looking to widen their reading of English classics through public-domain ebooks
Beginning researchers interested in the relationship between translated literature and period ideas

Not a good fit for

Readers of contemporary genre fiction who want strong suspense and fast plotting
Readers with limited stamina for English who give up easily over long sentences and old-fashioned expressions
Readers looking for a modern annotated edition or scholarly introduction

Reading tips

Try the first two or three chapters to see whether the translation’s language and narrative pace suit you.
Keep track of the main characters and how their relationships change to follow the long plotlines.
Watch for period language in the translation; when you hit an obstacle, infer from context first, then check.
Compare with background material on contemporary German popular fiction to understand the work’s historical position.

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 German original or an English translation?

The version offered by Project Gutenberg is an English electronic text for English-language readers. The author, E. Werner, was a German writer whose work reached the English reading market in translation, and the translation carries nineteenth-century habits of expression.

Is the plot tense and exciting?

It is not known for strong suspense or fast pacing. The work is closer to nineteenth-century family and sentimental fiction, emphasizing relationships, emotional conflict, and moral questions, and it suits readers willing to read slowly.

Can I read it without knowing German?

Yes; this version is in English and requires no German. The translation is, however, from an earlier period, and its sentence patterns and vocabulary are distant from contemporary English, so some experience with long English texts is advisable.

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About the author

E. Werner (Elisabeth Bürstenbinder) Author · German · 1838–1918

E. Werner, the pen name of Elisabeth Bürstenbinder (1838–1918), was a German novelist. She was born in Berlin in 1838 and died in Merano in 1918. In 1870 she attracted attention with her novel Hermann, and went on to write works such as Vineta, The Sacred Vow, and The Unconquerable. The library holds 19 of her works, including The Northern Light, The Sign of Flame, Vineta, the Phantom City, A Hero of the Pen, Danira, and the two volumes of Riven Bonds. Her works are often classified as inspirational coming-of-age fiction, and many have been translated into English. Public information about her life and writing career is limited, but it is clear that she excelled at long-form narrative, often centering on faith, personal growth, and fate, and that she gained some attention among German readers and through English translations.