The Queen‘s Necklace cover

The Queen‘s Necklace

Rating 3.8
Word count
710K words
Chapters
71

Tags

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 Queen's Necklace by Alexandre DumasAuthor: Dumas, Alexandre, 1802-1870,Language: English, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Dec 16, 2006

Editor's review

"The Queen's Necklace" is a historical novel by Alexandre Dumas based on the "Affair of the Diamond Necklace" on the eve of the French Revolution, one of his works related to Marie Antoinette. Dumas excelled at weaving court intrigue, human desire, and historical process into highly readable narratives; the book's strength lies in using a jewelry swindle to draw out the social psychology and court ecology on the eve of the decline of royal power. The English public-domain edition provided by Project Gutenberg is freely accessible, making it a useful supplementary read for understanding the landscape of Dumas's historical fiction. Readers might treat it as a specimen at the boundary of history and fiction: follow the plot while noticing how the author selects and shapes historical material and portrays characters. For readers familiar with The Three Musketeers, this book reveals another strand of Dumas's creative output.

Who it's for

A good fit for

  • Readers who enjoy Dumas's historical novels and want to expand their reading range
  • General readers interested in court history on the eve of the French Revolution
  • English learners who need English public-domain texts as extensive reading material
  • Readers who prefer narratives of intrigue, swindles, and court settings

Not a good fit for

  • Historical researchers expecting rigorous scholarly verification and rejecting fictional embellishment
  • Readers impatient with the pacing of nineteenth-century long-form narratives
  • Readers who accept only Chinese translations and do not read English originals

Reading tips

  1. First learn the basic historical facts of the "Affair of the Diamond Necklace," then read the novel to distinguish fact from fiction.
  2. Proceed chapter by chapter and keep track of character relationships to avoid confusion among the court ensemble.
  3. Compare it with Dumas's other historical novels to observe the continuity of his narrative formulas.
  4. If English reading proves difficult, read the plot in a Chinese translation first, then return to the original.

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.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67
  68. 68
  69. 69
  70. 70
  71. 71

FAQ

What is the relationship between this book and the "Affair of the Diamond Necklace"?
The novel uses the famous "Queen's Necklace" swindle on the eve of the French Revolution as background material; Dumas fictionalizes and dramatizes on the basis of historical facts. It should be read as a historical novel, not as a rigorous work of history.
Can I read this book directly without having read other works by Dumas?
Yes. The plot is relatively self-contained and does not depend on prior events from other works. However, some knowledge of the court background on the eve of the French Revolution will make reading smoother and make the characters' motivations easier to understand.
Is this edition in Chinese or English?
According to the information, this edition is an English public-domain e-book released by Project Gutenberg, and the language is English. Readers who need to read in Chinese should find a domestic translation or use the English original as a supplementary aid to understanding.

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About the author

Alexandre Dumas (1802–1870) was a major French novelist and playwright of the nineteenth century. The collection here holds 133 of his works, including editions in several languages, which shows how widely they have circulated. His best-known works include The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, the latter often published in volumes such as Volume III, Volume II, Volume I, and Volume IV. His writing is usually set against historical backgrounds, with intricate plots and vivid characters, and he was skilled at unfolding grand narratives in serial form, combining adventure, rivalry, and legend. Both novels have been translated into many languages and frequently issued in illustrated editions, leaving a lasting influence on popular literature and on film and television adaptations. Public information is limited, so details of his life and critical assessments are not developed here; readers may discover his narrative appeal through the works themselves.