The White Mice

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

3.2

Word count: 364K words
Chapters: 37

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 White Mice by Richard Harding DavisAuthor: Davis, Richard Harding, 1864-1916,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Nov 11, 2008

Editor's review

The White Mice is an adventure novel by Richard Harding Davis, belonging to the brisk, tightly plotted strand of early twentieth-century American popular fiction. Suspense and action drive the narrative as the characters maneuver through crises; it reads with strong visual immediacy and is a good sample of the popular adventure fiction of its day. Davis's experience as a journalist gives his prose efficiency, his scene changes are crisp, and dialogue carries much of the narrative, so the barrier to reading is low. Readers studying popular-fiction technique might note how he plants suspense, controls the release of information, and closes his chapters. As a public-domain ebook it is easy to obtain and suits commutes or short reading sessions. Note that characterization and exotic imagining in such works often bear the marks of their time; today's readers should view it through literary history—enjoying the story's readability while noting its limits.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers of classic adventure and suspense fiction
Students and enthusiasts of early twentieth-century American popular literature
Learners seeking light English reading practice
Readers who need plot-driven material for commutes or short sessions

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer serious literature and deep psychological portraiture
Those sensitive to the period prejudices in early adventure fiction
Readers expecting historical verification or realistic subject matter

Reading tips

Read through once for the plot, then a second time to note how suspense is set up and chapters are paced.
Record the suspense technique at each chapter's end and sum up the author's narrative formula.
Compare one scene with a similar adventure novel to see what the genre shares.
When reading in English, start with the dialogue passages and return to the narration, which lowers the difficulty.

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 book suitable for English beginners?

It can serve as extensive reading for intermediate learners. The sentences are mostly narrative and dialogue, the plot moves fast, and it is easy to finish; but some vocabulary and expressions are dated, so beginners may need a dictionary. Read a Chinese summary first to get the plot, then the English original, skipping unfamiliar words that do not hinder understanding.

Is the story standalone or part of a series?

It is a standalone adventure novel that can be read without prior background. Readers need not worry about missing earlier installments and can start right at the beginning. If you like the style, seek out the author's other works, but the books need not be read in order.

What historical information can I learn from this book?

Mainly literary-historical information: the thematic interests, narrative pacing, and reader expectations of early twentieth-century American popular adventure fiction. Its social descriptions serve the plot and should not be used as historical sources. For historical background, pair it with dedicated histories and avoid mistaking the novel's setting for fact.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

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.