Online Literature, Beyond Amazon
by
Sandhya Ramashwar
An electronic classic. The term may seem oxymoronic. However,
free e-texts on the web have become a cost-effective, convenient
alternative for many book-lovers. Those who are wary of the
lack of quality control can get the best of both worlds with
online libraries organized by trustworthy organizations.
One great starting place is Literary
Resources on the Web,
maintained by English professor Jack Lynch, which is recommended
for those who like having obscure texts at their fingertips.
There are links to ancient classics and to the Bible Gateway,
where users can search the text of the Bible in ten different
languages. Victorian literature enthusiasts can enjoy Jane
Eyre, while Austen fans can find her most popular novels,
like Emma, and her lesser-known works, like Lady
Susan.
If an academically vetted text is a must, university-maintained
e-text collections will probably fit the bill. Here are just
a few of the choices out there.
Tufts University runs the Perseus
Digital Library.
One highlight is a classics collection encompassing the works
of every author from Aeschylus to Xenophon in English translations
and the original Greek and Latin. Perseus also groups literature
by geographic region: the California section gives readers
the chance to dive into real-life accounts like The Adventures
of a forty-niner.
The
University of Virginia's Electronic Text Center is
populated by the likes of Shakespeare, Poe and many others.
These e-texts are available on the web, and are also downloadable
in Palm Pilot and Microsoft Reader format for readers who
don't need a hefty laptop or PC cramping their style.
Readers in the mood for a modern master need look no further
than The F. Scott
Fitzgerald Centenary, run by the University
of South Carolina.
Visitors to this site can enjoy some of Fitzgerald's short
stories, like Jellybean and Bernice Bobs her
Hair , along with This Side of Paradise .
Readers looking for books both famous and infamous can try
The
University of Pennsylvania's Banned Books Online Page.
Some texts offered here include English-class staples like
James Joyce's Ulysses and Walt Whitman's Leaves
of Grass, as well as recently banned books, like E
is for Ecstasy.
The Banned Books Page is part of the University
of Pennsylvania's Online Books Page,
which links to more than 20,000 free texts. This page isn't
limited to literary works, so users can read up on yoga or
get lost in an 18th-century travel guide to "Arabia."
Of course, everyone has to leave the scholastic world sometime,
and what better way to make the transition than to try out
some of the non-university sites offering literature on the
web?
Bartleby.com offers
a variety of literary texts, but the fiction section in particular
gives users a chance to relax with some lighter fare, such
as Agatha Christie's first mystery, The Mysterious Affair
at Styles, or Pygmalion by George Bernard
Shaw. Two of the site's special features are "The Harvard
Classics" and "the Shelf of Fiction," offering dozens of
classic novels, plays, and biographies.
The
Alex Catalogue of Electronic Texts,
is good for readers who previously relied on large-print
editions of books, because it allows them to customize the
text's appearance for easy reading. It's even more valuable
to serious researchers, who can search the content of multiple
books at once by using the "concordance" feature.
Booklovers who take advantage of texts online have libraries
at their disposal that never close on Sundays or charge late
fees. Readers can expand their literary horizons by going wherever
and whenever they choose with just a click of the mouse. In
short, there's nothing to lose (except possibly an unwieldy
tome), and a world of literature to gain. |