Blue-Stocking Hall

Scargill, William Pitt, 1787-1836Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.5

Word count: 342K words
Chapters: 35

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.Blue-Stocking Hall, (Vol. 1 of 3) by William Pitt ScargillAuthor: Scargill, William Pitt, 1787-1836,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Oct 8, 2012

Editor's review

Blue-Stocking Hall is the first volume of a three-volume novel by the English writer William Pitt Scargill and belongs to the nineteenth-century English literary vein concerned with women's education and intellectual life. The "blue-stocking" in the title refers to the period term for learned women, and the work uses it to observe social circles, family education, and gender ideas, bearing the period features of epistolary or satirical narrative. As a Project Gutenberg public-domain eBook, it offers a reference text for studying female figures in nineteenth-century English fiction and is also suitable for readers interested in social customs around the Victorian era. Note that this is the first of three volumes; plot and character relationships unfold gradually in later volumes, so reading it alone will feel heavy on setup. It is best read as a slice of its era, with attention to the clashes of ideas revealed in dialogue rather than to tight plot momentum.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers studying nineteenth-century English women's writing and education
Readers interested in classic English fiction and social customs
English majors looking for public-domain texts for course reference
Readers who enjoy slow-paced dialogue-driven narrative and are willing to read the first volume of a series

Not a good fit for

General fiction readers seeking strong plot and fast pacing
Readers who want to finish the complete story at once, since this is only the first of three volumes
Readers with little patience for nineteenth-century English expression and long dialogue

Reading tips

Learn the historical meaning of "blue-stocking" first, then enter the text to understand the characters' positions
Map the main characters' relationships and views as you read to prepare for later volumes
Read alongside background material on nineteenth-century English women's education to strengthen contextual understanding
If time is limited, prioritize dialogue-heavy chapters to grasp the clashes of ideas

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

Can this book be read on its own?

This is the first volume of a three-volume novel. Character relationships and the main plot continue in later volumes, so reading it alone leaves many unresolved threads; it is better as the starting point of a series read.

What does "blue-stocking" mean?

"Blue-stocking" is a historical term for a learned woman, often used with a teasing tone. The title uses it to signal the work's attention to women's intellectual life and social ideas; readers can use this background to understand the characters' words and actions.

Is it suitable for academic reference?

As a public-domain electronic text, it can be used for reading in courses or research on nineteenth-century English fiction, female figures, and social customs, but it is best used together with edition information and background materials.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Scargill, William Pitt, 1787-1836 Author

William Pitt Scargill (1787–1836) was a British novelist about whom public information is limited. Eight of his works are held in the collection, including Volume 2 of Penelope: or, Love's Labour Lost, Blue-Stocking Hall, Volumes 1–3 of Rank and Talent: A Novel, and Volume 1 of Tales of My Time. These works show him writing mainly fiction centred on love, marriage, social class and personal ambition, with attention to domestic life and manners. His style tends toward realism and moral instruction, with a sentimental strain. His works are classified as inspirational coming-of-age fiction, suggesting a concern with youthful character and life choices. He died relatively young, and his multi-volume novels are little read today, yet they remain of some value to students of early nineteenth-century British fiction.