Classics Without All the Class discussion

Hey all, I got my version of this from Project Gutenberg for my Kindle, so it's an older version and translation, and every now and then a phrase or clause, sometimes in the middle of a sentence, is ALL CAPS. For example, (and I don't think it spoils anything):

"He has seen the ghost behind the Persian, THE GHOST WITH THE DEATH'S HEAD just like Joseph Buquet's description!"
(location 174, about 5% in).

Anyone who's reading another version, does it have this idiosyncratic little feature? I guess it could be in the original and not in every version of it, so I'm wondering.

In my head it sounded like Taylor Mali reciting I'll Fight You For the Library, where he acts like he's reading a letter and you can almost hear the CAPS. :-) (youtube it - it's incredible). I'm not sure if I find this jarring or charming. What do you all think? Some odd convention from 100 years ago? Cute technique? What the ____? :-)

I am reading on kindle, and mine has this as well, and all my physical copies are at home, but I'm pretty sure it's in there as well. It is for emphasis.

thE emPHAsis is on the wrong sylLABle

My version uses italics. I think the Project Gutenberg editions use caps instead of italics because they're plain text and you can't do italics with a plain text file.

The footnote says:
Gaston Leroux's idiosyncratic use of italics has excited considerable critical comment. They usually serve the narrative in the way that film music serves movie plots -- that is, they point to feelings or signal coming shifts in the action.
The italics frequently have considerable lyric resonance. So much so that the poet Jean Rogeul has made a poetic collage of italicized lines selected from a wide range of Leroux's fiction.

Ah, that's probably it - thanks, Melanti. :-) I have the ePub version but they probably just copied into whatever program makes that and let it go.

I think italics were a "thing" back in the day... I just remember reading Rilla of Ingleside and her talking about writing in italics.

I've been reading the caps sections as italics; I noticed that titles of operas and songs are also in caps, and those being italicized seems to fit.

I'm reading the Alexander Teixeira Matos translation, and he uses italics also. I am enjoying this book.