Devereux — Complete

Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron, 1803-1873Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 1M words
Chapters: 102

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.Devereux — Complete by Baron Edward Bulwer Lytton LyttonAuthor: Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron, 1803-1873,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Nov 23, 2004

Editor's review

This is the complete public-domain electronic text of Edward Bulwer-Lytton's novel Devereux, released by Project Gutenberg. For readers studying nineteenth-century English literature, the tradition of the historical novel, or Bulwer-Lytton's style, the value of the complete edition lies in taking in the book's structure and character arcs in one go, without having to piece it together across separate volumes. The book falls under PR (English literature); its language carries Victorian rhetorical habits, and its narrative pace differs markedly from that of contemporary fiction, so reading it requires some patience and adjustment to its context. It is better suited as material for literary history or focused study than as light entertainment. For course selections or essay writing, the complete edition makes it easy to trace plot threads and thematic echoes; those who merely want a sense of the author's style can read a few chapters first and then decide whether to go through the whole book.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Students and scholars of nineteenth-century English literature and the historical novel
Literature enthusiasts interested in the full range of Bulwer-Lytton's work
Writers of essays who need the complete text for plot and thematic analysis
Dedicated readers accustomed to public-domain English classics

Not a good fit for

General readers seeking a quick, light, entertaining read
Readers with limited stamina for English who are not used to Victorian prose
Beginners who need modern annotation and introductory guidance to enter the text

Reading tips

Read the first few chapters to get a sense of the narrative pace and character relationships before deciding whether to read the whole book or selected parts.
Keep pen and paper or a digital notebook handy to record character threads and the passage of time for easy reference.
If using it for research, look up the author's biography and the background of the nineteenth-century historical novel before starting the text.
Set a daily reading quota by volume or chapter to avoid giving up midway because of long sentences and old-fashioned expression.

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

Is this book the complete edition or an excerpt?

This is the complete public-domain electronic text of Devereux, released by Project Gutenberg; it contains the whole book, not an excerpt or an abridged version.

What level of English is needed to read this book?

The text is an original nineteenth-century English work with long sentences and archaic wording; readers should have a good command of English and be able to adjust to Victorian literary expression.

Is it suitable as a textbook for a literature course?

It can serve as supplementary material for a course on nineteenth-century English literature or the historical novel, but it usually requires the instructor to provide background explanation and reading guidance; it is not ideal as an introductory textbook.

Is the content of the complete edition different from that of the volume editions?

The complete edition gathers the whole book in one place, making it easier to grasp the structure and plot as a whole; the volume editions split it by volume, with no additions or deletions of content, only a different mode of presentation.

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About the author

Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron, 1803-1873 Author

Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron Lytton (1803–1873) was an English novelist, playwright and politician. The library holds 220 of his works, spanning a wide range of subjects: the historical novel The Last Days of Pompeii, set against the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79; Rienzi, the Last of the Roman Tribunes, on the Roman tribune Cola di Rienzo; and Eugene Aram, a narrative drawn from a criminal case. He also wrote society novels such as Pelham, the family portrait The Caxtons, and the historical study Athens: Its Rise and Fall; the short tale The Haunted and the Haunters, or The House and the Brain reflects his interest in the supernatural. His style is ornate and his plots elaborate, combining romantic colouring with social satire. Public information is limited, and systematic Chinese-language appraisal of his life and work remains scarce.