Bred in the Bone

Page, Thomas Nelson, 1853-1922Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 56K words
Chapters: 6

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.Bred In The Bone by Thomas Nelson PageAuthor: Page, Thomas Nelson, 1853-1922,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Nov 16, 2007

Editor's review

Bred in the Bone is one of Thomas Nelson Page's representative novels and belongs to the local-color tradition of American Southern literature. Page depicts Virginia country life with fine detail; his works often revolve around family honor, class differences, and personal choice, with plots driven by dialogue and everyday scenes and bearing strong marks of their era. As a public-domain ebook, it is prepared and released by Project Gutenberg and is easily accessible, making it a suitable introduction to late nineteenth-century Southern American narrative style. Readers may note the narrator's complex attitude toward the old order: nostalgic warmth combined with an implicit helplessness before change. For those studying Southern American literature or wishing to encounter the fiction of this period in the original English, the book offers a moderately lengthed, clearly written option. It should be noted that the work was written in a specific historical context, and some of its social views are distant from today's values; readers would do well to examine them from the perspective of literary history.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in Southern American literature and local-color fiction
Learners who wish to read late nineteenth-century American fiction in the original English
Literature students studying Page's works or the Southern narrative tradition
Readers who prefer dialogue-driven plots with a leisurely pace

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting strong suspense or fast-paced plotting
Readers sensitive to old Southern social views and unable to accept expressions limited by their era
Beginning English readers who need modern annotations and introductions

Reading tips

Read a chapter or two first to get used to Page's dialogue-based narration and dialect spellings, then move into the main plot.
Jot down family relationships and class clues as you read to help clarify characters' motives.
Read alongside an overview of Southern American literature to understand the work's historical background.
Readers of the original English may first read through for plot, then return to close-read key dialogue passages.

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

What English level is this book suitable for?

The text is mainly narration and dialogue and is generally clear, but it contains dialect spellings and period expressions. It suits readers with university-level English reading ability or those used to reading nineteenth-century English fiction; beginning learners may need a dictionary.

Is this a public-domain book, and what should readers note?

This book is released by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain ebook and is freely available. Note that the work reflects the social views of a particular historical period; readers should understand it in light of its era rather than judging it directly by contemporary standards.

What themes do Page's novels usually address?

Page's works mostly draw on Virginia country life and often involve family honor, class relations, personal choices, and the changes of the old order. This book continues such themes, presenting everyday Southern society through characters' interactions.

Comments

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About the author

Page, Thomas Nelson, 1853-1922 Author

Thomas Nelson Page (1853–1922) was an American writer. Public information about the details of his life is limited, but the twenty-four works by him held in this collection give a clear sense of his writing. His work is rooted in the American South: the novel Red Rock: A Chronicle of Reconstruction confronts the social changes that followed the Civil War, and Gordon Keith likewise unfolds Southern manners and the upheavals of the era. Short works such as The Burial of the Guns and The Spectre in the Cart often deal with memories of war, rural legends, and stories with a touch of mystery. Page's writing is often nostalgic, attentive to local scenery and human temperament, and his works are an important sample for understanding the literary tastes of the late nineteenth-century American South.