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About 4 h 10 min to read.A chi è rivolto
Readers who love fast comic plots, tall tales and sly jokes about city life will enjoy this book. It suits anyone who likes Chicago history, trickster stories, mock adventure and a young hero who stumbles from one windfall to the next.
Che cos’è questo libro
A young law clerk ducks into a dark Chicago shop to escape the rain and walks out with a gift that changes his week. The Strange Adventures of Mr. Middleton is a comic novel by Wardon Allan Curtis, built as a chain of tales inside a larger story. A young Arab who calls himself an emir tells tales during their visits, then hands over presents. The presents bring Mr. Middleton windfalls and new scrapes among con men, quacks, crooks and tycoons.
In questo riassunto
- 1A rainy night and a mysterious emirFree
- 2Tales of schemers who meet their match
- 3The gifts begin to work on Mr. Middleton
- 4Tall tales of science and fear
- 5Disguises, heirs and a dangerous good deed
- 6Suspended animation and a rescued lawyer
- 7The emir's own story and a last odd gift
- 8What the book is about
- 9How the tales are told
Punto chiave 1 di 9
A rainy night and a mysterious emir
Mr. Edward Middleton, twenty-three, hurries along Clark Street with a rented evening suit to return. When the rain pours down, he rushes into the first shop he sees. It is black and silent, and it smells of strange perfumes.
A gigantic man in crimson and gold greets him in Arabic. Behind him sits Achmed Ben Daoud, hereditary emir of the tribe of Al-Yam. His brother Ismail, a storyteller, is locked in a tower for running out of tales. To free him, Achmed must collect new adventures, and he needs a friend to hear them.
Mr. Middleton agrees to return in a week. The emir's first gift is a sacred book, which sells for five hundred dollars. So begins the pattern of the book.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Go deeper: the whole of Le strane avventure del signor Middleton
About 4 h 10 min to read.Questions about Le strane avventure del signor Middleton
What is The Strange Adventures of Mr. Middleton about?
It follows a young Chicago law clerk who befriends an Arab emir. The emir tells a tale each week and gives a gift, and each gift sends Mr. Middleton into a comic adventure in the city.
Who is the emir Achmed Ben Daoud?
He is a young Arab prince from the tribe of Al-Yam who runs a small shop on Clark Street. He is collecting adventure stories so that his imprisoned brother Ismail can be freed from a vermilion tower.
Is The Strange Adventures of Mr. Middleton a true story?
No, it is a work of comic fiction set in Chicago early in the twentieth century. It parodies popular tale forms, such as swindler stories, detective tales and the Arabian Nights.
Is the book easy to follow with so many tales?
Yes, the structure is clear. A frame story ties the tales together, and each follows the same rhythm of tale, gift and adventure. The short episodes and lively humour make it easy to read.
What is the main idea of the book?
It shows a city full of costumes, schemes and lucky breaks, and a young man who learns to get by on nerve and wit. The humour pokes at snobbery, quackery and easy ethics.
Cite this edition
Curtis, Wardon Allan. The Strange Adventures of Mr. Middleton. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-strange-adventures-of-mr-middleton.
Curtis, W. A. (2026). The strange adventures of Mr. Middleton. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-strange-adventures-of-mr-middleton (Original work published 1903)
Curtis, Wardon Allan. The Strange Adventures of Mr. Middleton. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-strange-adventures-of-mr-middleton.
@book{curtis2026strange,
author = {Curtis, Wardon Allan},
title = {The Strange Adventures of Mr. Middleton},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-strange-adventures-of-mr-middleton},
note = {First published 1903}
}
