The Princess Aline

Davis, Richard Harding, 1864-1916Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.2

Word count: 140K words
Chapters: 14

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 Princess Aline by Richard Harding Davis. Author: Davis, Richard Harding, 1864-1916. Language: English. Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature. Release Date: Sep 1, 1995

Editor's review

The Princess Aline comes from the American writer Richard Harding Davis (1864–1916). It is a short novel about a young painter in pursuit of an ideal princess-like woman, with a light romantic tone and the social atmosphere of the early twentieth century. Davis's narration is brisk and his dialogue lively; he advances the story through scenes and characters' behaviour, making it an easy, fluent read. As a free Project Gutenberg ebook, it is especially suitable for readers who want low-cost access to classic American popular literature, and can serve as English extensive reading material or entertainment for a short trip. While enjoying the plot, readers can also sense how love, identity, and ideals were imagined in that era.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who like light romantic stories and want easy English fiction
Readers interested in early twentieth-century American popular literature
Language learners who need short English extensive reading material
Readers who want light stories for commuting or travel

Not a good fit for

Serious literary readers expecting deep social critique or complex narrative structures
Readers uninterested in conventional romance themes and period gender views
Beginners just starting English reading who need sentence-by-sentence annotation

Reading tips

Treat it as light extensive reading, one or two chapters a day, to keep the story coherent.
Note the dialogue and scene descriptions to appreciate the author's brisk way of advancing the plot.
After finishing, compare it with other American popular fiction of the same period to see common romance conventions.
For English study, copy out lively dialogue and imitate its colloquial expressions.

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

About how long is this novel, and how long does it take to read?

It is a short novel or novella in length, with the exact page count depending on the format. At an intermediate English reading speed, using spare time each day, it usually takes several days to about a week to finish, making it suitable for a lightweight English reading plan.

What kind of readers is the story's theme suitable for?

The story centres on a romantic pursuit and is light in style, suitable for readers who want relaxed reading and are interested in conventional love themes. Those who prefer social realism or experimental narrative may find the theme light; try the opening chapters first before deciding whether to continue.

What should I note when reading the ebook?

The book comes from Project Gutenberg as a free public-domain ebook that can be downloaded and read freely. Layout varies slightly by format, so choose a version suited to your device; as the work is from an earlier era, some expressions carry period colour, and an open-minded perspective is enough while reading.

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About the author

Davis, Richard Harding, 1864-1916 Author

Richard Harding Davis (1864–1916) was an American writer and war correspondent, with 49 works held in this collection. Public information is limited, yet the range of his writing can be seen from the titles listed here: he wrote both war reportage and fiction and character sketches. Notes of a War Correspondent records a reporter's firsthand experiences in the field, Real Soldiers of Fortune tells of adventurous soldiers, while Gallegher and Other Stories and Van Bibber and Others show his skill in the short story, with a light touch and a gift for portraying city life and a variety of characters. His works are often classed as inspirational coming-of-age reading and have circulated among young readers, combining the immediacy of journalism with the readability of fiction; they have influenced later war reporting and popular narrative.