Under the Redwoods

Harte, Bret, 1836-1902Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 363K 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.Under the Redwoods by Bret HarteAuthor: Harte, Bret, 1836-1902,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: May 18, 2006

Editor's review

As a collection of Bret Harte's works, Under the Redwoods continues his style of depicting the California Gold Rush era and frontier life in the American West, with humor, sentiment, and restrained social observation. Harte excels at short-form portraits of ordinary people caught in the currents of a larger era; his language is concise and his scenes vivid. This electronic edition, released by Project Gutenberg, is a public-domain English original, suitable as an entry point for understanding nineteenth-century American Western literature and the art of the short story. Readers need not seek dramatic plotting; it is better to appreciate the author's gentle irony toward human nature and his delicate rendering of the natural world. For those studying American local-color literature, or wishing to experience the rhythm of short narrative in English, the book has reference and appreciation value; but it is an English original, and an early one, so its prose is somewhat distant from present-day English.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy nineteenth-century American Western subjects and local-color literature
Self-learners who wish to improve literary reading through English short stories
Literature enthusiasts studying the history of the American short story and Harte's work
General readers who enjoy gentle irony and character-sketch narrative

Not a good fit for

Beginners who need a Chinese translation or sentence-by-sentence annotation
Readers who prefer strongly plotted, fast-paced novels
Readers wholly unfamiliar with the historical background of the American West who are unwilling to consult reference materials

Reading tips

Read one piece through first to feel the rhythm of the language, then return to look up unfamiliar words and period background.
Treat each piece as an independent character sketch and note how the author handles detail and dialogue.
Supplement with background on the California Gold Rush to understand the social situations in the stories.
After reading, try writing a short review of one piece, noting narrative perspective and the use of irony.

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 an English original or a Chinese translation?

According to the information, this is an English e-book released by Project Gutenberg, written by Bret Harte, language English, and in the public domain. Readers need some English reading ability; the book contains no Chinese translation or notes.

What background knowledge is helpful before reading?

Some knowledge of the nineteenth-century American West, the Gold Rush, and frontier town life is helpful, since Harte often sets his work in these scenes. A basic sense of the social classes, immigrants, and local customs of the time makes the humor and sentiment easier to appreciate.

How is the electronic edition best read?

It is a public-domain e-book that can be read in sections on a computer or e-reader, making it easy to look up words as you go. It is best to read one or two short pieces at a time to keep a steady pace, noting character relationships and period expressions as you go, rather than reading too much at once and becoming fatigued.

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About the author

Harte, Bret, 1836-1902 Author

Bret Harte (1836-1902) was an American writer best known for his stories of life during the California Gold Rush. He portrayed the varied characters of mining towns with a style that blends humor, sentiment, and realism, often using unexpected turns to reveal both the warmth and the absurdity of human nature. The collection here includes sixty-three of his works, among them The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales, Tennessee's Partner, Frontier Stories, Selected Stories of Bret Harte, East and West: Poems, Salomy Jane, and the Complete Poetical Works, covering both short fiction and poetry. These works draw largely on the everyday life and legends of the western frontier and have influenced later American Western literature. Public information on his life and education is limited, so no conjecture is offered here.