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CONTENTS:
Historical "Faction"
Recently we have posted a few historical novels by
Marjorie Bowenhttp://gutenberg.net.au/plusfifty-a-m.html#bowen
Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marjorie_Bowen
and
Helen Simpson http://gutenberg.net.au/plusfifty-n-z.html#simpsonh
Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_de_Guerry_Simpson.
These authors write of notable personalities of the past in a way
which makes it easy to understand them and the times in which they
lived.
Both authors are very accomplished writers. Bowen's first novel, "The
Viper of Milan" http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800181h.html
drew praise from English author Graham Greene who wrote "I think it was
Miss Bowen's apparent zest that made me want to write. One could not read
her without believing that to write was to live and enjoy."
Bowen's subjects include Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800641.txt;
and Emma (Lady Hamilton) and Lord Nelson http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800711h.html.
Simpson was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction for
"Boomerang" http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800611h.html,
which the Wikipedia article on her describes as "a long rambling novel
beginning in Paris at the end of the eighteenth century, wandering all
over the world, including Australia, and ending in the trenches in France
during the 1914-18 war." Historical characters treated in her other works
include Henry VIII (a forthcoming title at PGA); Mary and Philip II of
Spain http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800681h.html;
and Sophia Dorothea of Hanover http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800831h.html
Wikipedia has an interesting article on historical novels at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_novel.
The works of many authors are mentioned. And, (hang it, I WILL start this
sentence with a conjunction) Project Gutenberg in the US has an ebook
written in 1902, "Best Historical Novels and Tales" by Jonathan Nield
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext98/bhnat10.txt.
The Anchorage Public Library has a page "HISTORICAL FICTION: An annotated
list of historical novels for children and teens" at
http://lexicon.ci.anchorage.ak.us/guides/kids/booklists/historicalfiction/.
Many of the titles mentioned seem to be modern works about past
times.
Banned Books
The Online Books Page, a wonderful online resource which catalogues
more than 30,000 ebooks available on the internet http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/
has a page on "banned books" at http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/banned-books.html.
This is a very interesting article, long and detailed, so I won't repeat
it here, except to quote the first sentence:
"Welcome to this special exhibit of books that have been the objects of
censorship or censorship attempts. The books featured here, ranging from
"Ulysses" to "Little Red Riding Hood" have been selected from the indexes
of The Online Books Page.
I have had my share of email from people wanting me to remove ebooks from
the PGA site, including Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200601.txt
to Katherine Mayo's "Mother India." http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0300811h.html
I can only tell the correspondents that I don't play the part of
censor.
I noticed, when looking at the ebook of "Mother India" that it could do
with some reformatting. It has page numbers and we usually don't retain
page numbers in our ebooks. I will place it on my "to-do" list and give
it some attention some time.
Another ebook which at one time needed some reformatting is "Ulysses" by
James Joyce, mentioned above in the quotation from the Banned Books
article at the Online Books Page. I, myself, placed this ebook at Project
Gutenberg (US) some years ago, after finding an online copy at a web site
which no longer exists. The ebook file needed quite a bit of work, to
meet PG's formatting standards, and I must confess that I became "burned
out" with it and just sent it along to PG in a less than perfect state. I
told myself that it was preferable for the book to be available rather
than not.
Coincidentally, only a few weeks ago I had need to refer to that ebook of
"Ulysses" to check a quotation. I noticed that a great deal of work had
been done on it by one or more volunteers. A html version, complete with
words italicised, as in the original, is now available. Furthermore, the
text version, which originally represented italicised words in upper
case, has been reformatted to represent italicised words between
underscores, as is the present practice at Project Gutenberg. One is
reluctant to mention volunteers by name, but David Widger is one
volunteer who has done amazing work at PG (see http://www.gutenberg.net.au/widger/home.html
and it is he who has recently done a final check and renumbered it and
posted the book to the updated file directory system at PG. This checking
and renumbering is an ongoing process. (See http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/4300
This is a diversion from the subject of banned books. However, the Online
Books Page article covers the topic comprehensively. It is worthwhile, I
believe, to provide an insight into what goes on behind the scenes at PGA
and PG. The ebooks don't magically appear. They are produced and
maintained by a dedicated group of (mostly anonymous) volunteers. As Eric
Gibson said, in The Wall Street Journal, "Anonymity is the truest
expression of altruism."
First Paragraphs
Here are the first paragraphs from two works at PGA. They might whet
your appetite to read the ebooks.
* * *
A swirl of wet leaves from the night-hidden trees decorating the little
station beat against the closed doors of the carriages. The porter
hurried along holding his blear-eyed lantern to the different windows,
and calling the name of the township in language peculiar to porters.
There was only one ticket to collect.
--Bush Studies by Barbara Baynton http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100141.txt
* * * * *
There was once a South Sea Island supercargo named Denison who had a
Kanaka father and mother. This was when Denison was a young man. His
father's name was Kusis; his mother's Tulpé. Also, he had
several brown-skinned, lithe-limbed, and big-eyed brothers and sisters,
who made much of their new white brother, and petted and caressed and
wept over him as if he were an ailing child of six instead of a tough
young fellow of two-and-twenty who had nothing wrong with him but a
stove-in rib and a heart that ached for home, which made him cross and
fretful.
--Pacific Tales by Louis Becke http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks05/0500671h.html
A list of all the books we provide is available from http://gutenberg.net.au/plusfifty.html
Check there to see if there are other works by the authors listed
below
-- AUGUST POSTINGS -- Aug 2008 Poetical Works, James Thomson (1700-1748) [080095xx.xxx] 1677A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800951.txt or .zip Aug 2008 The Twister, Edgar Wallace [080094xx.xxx] 1676A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800941.txtor .zip Aug 2008 A Man's Life, Arthur Henry Adams [080093xx.xxx] 1675A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800931.txtor .zip Aug 2008 She Faded into Air, Ethel Lina White [080092xx.xxx] 1674A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800921.txtor .zip Aug 2008 Collected Ghost Stories, M R James [080091xx.xxx] 1673A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800911.txtor .zip (A Project Gutenberg Australia compilation) Aug 2008 A Shilling for Candles, Josephine Tey [080090xx.xxx] 1672A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800901.txtor .zip Aug 2008 Tommy Cornstalk, J H M Abbott [080089xx.xxx] 1671A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800891.txtor .zip Aug 2008 Fiction Fields of Australia, Frederick Sinnett [080088xx.xxx] 1670A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800881.txtor .zip Aug 2008 The Pet, Ellis Parker Butler [080087xx.xxx] 1669A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800871.txtor .zip Aug 2008 The Iron Grip, Edgar Wallace [080086xx.xxx] 1668A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800861.txtor .zip Aug 2008 The Spectre Bride, William Harrison Ainsworth [080085xx.xxx] 1667A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800851.txtor .zip Aug 2008 Flat 2, Edgar Wallace [080084xx.xxx] 1666A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800841.txtor .zip Aug 2008 Saraband for Dead Lovers, Helen Simpson [080083xx.xxx] 1665A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800831.txtor .zip http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800831h.html Aug 2008 Et in Sempiternum Pereant, Charles Williams [080082xx.xxx] 1664A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800821.txtor .zip Aug 2008 The Story of Mary Ancel,Wm Makepeace Thackeray [080081xx.xxx] 1663A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800811.txtor .zip http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800811h.html Aug 2008 The Woman on the Beast, Helen Simpson [080080xx.xxx] 1662A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800801.txtor .zip http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800801h.html Aug 2008 The Man of Science, Jerome K Jerome [080079xx.xxx] 1661A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800791.txtor .zip Aug 2008 When the Gangs Came to London, Edgar Wallace [080078xx.xxx] 1660A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800781.txtor .zip Aug 2008 The Judge's House, Bram Stoker [080077xx.xxx] 1659A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800771.txtor .zip Aug 2008 Again the Ringer, Edgar Wallace [080076xx.xxx] 1658A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800761.txtor .zip Aug 2008 To be Taken with a Grain of Salt, Charles Dickens [080075xx.xxx] 1657A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800751.txtor .zip Aug 2008 The Drift Fence, Zane Grey [080074xx.xxx] 1656A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800741.txtor .zip
Newsletter Editor: Colin Choat.
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