Blind Policy

Fenn, George Manville, 1831-1909Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 389K words
Chapters: 39

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Blind Policy by George Manville FennAuthor: Fenn, George Manville, 1831-1909,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Jun 18, 2010

Editor's review

Blind Policy comes from the pen of the prolific nineteenth-century British writer George Manville Fenn and is available for free reading through Project Gutenberg digitization. Fenn's works were often aimed at young readers and are known for adventure, school, or domestic-ethics stories, with relatively plain language and brisk plotting. In the title Blind Policy, "policy" can mean strategy or course of action and also implies something blind or short-sighted; the story very likely revolves around troubles caused by characters' errors of judgment or stubbornness. As a late-Victorian English novel, the book offers a window onto the social ideas, educational methods, and narrative tastes of the time. While reading, note how the author conveys moral lessons through dialogue and how he handles the resolution of misunderstandings and conflicts. For readers studying the history of children's literature or the evolution of English, the work also has some textual reference value. Overall, it is a classic public-domain novel suitable for relaxed reading, with length and difficulty fairly friendly to readers with some English foundation.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who like Victorian English novels and want to experience classic narrative style.
Readers and researchers interested in children's literature or youth coming-of-age stories.
Learners with intermediate English who want to try public-domain original novels.
Teachers and students who need free English e-books for classroom extensive reading or reading groups.

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer fast-paced modern fiction and lack patience for slow narrative.
Beginners with limited English vocabulary who need a Chinese translation or sentence-by-sentence notes.
Readers expecting complex suspense or strong dramatic conflict; this book's style is more traditional.

Reading tips

First learn the common structure of nineteenth-century English novels before reading, to grasp the author's narrative rhythm more easily.
After each chapter, summarize the plot and character motives in one or two sentences to help track the consequences of "policy."
When encountering long descriptive passages, skim first for the main thread, and focus on dialogue to understand character relationships.
Read alongside other works by the author or youth novels of the same period to observe genre features.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

How difficult is the language of this book?

This is a nineteenth-century English original, with fairly long sentences and some wording that differs from modern English. Readers at or above high-school English level can finish it with a dictionary, but need some patience to adapt to the classical narrative rhythm.

What does the title Blind Policy mean?

Literally it can be understood as "blind strategy" or "short-sighted policy." Combined with the novel's common theme of moral lessons, the title suggests that characters may fall into difficulty because of stubbornness or misjudgment. The specific plot must be confirmed by reading the text; it is unwise to speculate excessively apart from it.

Is this book suitable for children?

The author Fenn often wrote for young people, and the story overall leans toward growth and adventure, but it is, after all, a nineteenth-century text whose language and ideas are distant from contemporary children's books. Parents or teachers should judge according to the child's English level and receptiveness, or use it as parent-child reading material.

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About the author

Fenn, George Manville, 1831-1909 Author

George Manville Fenn (1831–1909) was a British author whose biographical details remain limited in publicly available sources. The library holds 127 of his works, including The Little Skipper: A Son of a Sailor, The Silver Canyon: A Tale of the Western Plains, and Sappers and Miners: The Flood beneath the Sea. Most center on youthful growth and adventure, often set at sea, in mining districts, or on the western plains. He also wrote such biographical work as George Alfred Henty: The Story of an Active Life. His writing emphasizes plot momentum and the shaping of character in young readers, and is commonly classified as inspirational coming-of-age fiction, holding a place in the tradition of juvenile adventure novels.