mamalbh Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 "The Gentle Hand" in McGuffey's 5th Reader has a traveler headed to "G___" The town is referred to several times that way. What in the world is that? Anyone know? It's driving me nuts, can you tell :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mergath Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 It's common in older books. Many novels do it too. Couldn't tell you why, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyJoy Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 I've noticed this a lot in older stories, like Les Miserables which I'm reading right now. I always figured it was in fictional stories when the author wanted to make it seem like a real place without referring to an actual city or making up a name. That way astute readers wouldn't fixate on details that might not match that actual city and the author woudn't have to be geographically accurate. Or if the author wanted the story to transcend a specific location so it would be more applicable or accessible to the reader in some way. Now I want to go look it up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyJoy Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 This link also gives reasons like the give an illusion of reality or to thinly veil criticisms of real figures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaners Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 My daughter asked the same thing when we read that story. I like that one. :) There's a poem by Jean Ingelow in a few lessons. I downloaded Mopsa the Fairy onto my Kindle after my daughter asked about it in the author description. It was one of my favorite read-alouds that we've done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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