Going to Maynooth

William CarletonProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.4

Word count: 282K words
Chapters: 29

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.Going to Maynooth by William CarletonAuthor: Carleton, William, 1794-1869,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Jun 7, 2005

Editor's review

Going to Maynooth is William Carleton's narrative set against Irish Catholic priestly formation, centering on a young man's choice to study at Maynooth and unfolding the tension among family expectations, religious vocation, and rural social opinion. Carleton's writing shows a clear moral observation and local color; the dialogue and scene details preserve the texture of nineteenth-century Irish grassroots life. Its value lies not in dramatic adventure but in showing how personal vocational choice is shaped by family, faith, and community ties. When reading, note the narrator's layered revelation of motives and the social commentary behind the humorous tone. As a public-domain electronic text, it suits reading in sections alongside background material on Irish religious history, which makes the work's underlying concerns clearer.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in Irish religion and education
Literary readers who enjoy nineteenth-century realist narrative and character observation
Students studying themes of family and vocational choice
Readers who need a public-domain English text for close reading

Not a good fit for

Novel readers expecting tight plotting and strong suspense
Beginners wholly unfamiliar with religious institutions and historical background
Casual readers looking only for light, humorous short pieces

Reading tips

Learn first about Maynooth as a place of priestly formation; this makes the conflicts easier to grasp.
While reading, map the protagonist's family relationships and outside public pressure to form a picture of his motives.
Read alongside other Irish rural works and compare how writers treat themes of faith.
For the English original, read section by section; with dialect dialogue, read through once before going back.

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 is this book mainly about?

At its core is the tension among family expectations, religious vocation, and community opinion aroused by a young man's choice to receive priestly formation at Maynooth; it also presents the social landscape and psychology of nineteenth-century rural Ireland.

Can I read it without background knowledge of religion?

You can, but understanding the social meaning of the characters' choices will be reduced. It is advisable to first learn the basic background of priestly formation at Maynooth and Irish Catholic community life; the reading experience will then be fuller.

Is the text a complete long work or an excerpt?

This is a public-domain electronic text; its length and structure follow the original and it is not a modern editor's excerpt. Before reading, browse the contents or opening to judge whether its narrative pace suits you.

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About the author

William Carleton Author · Irish · 1794–1869

William Carleton (1794–1869) was an Irish novelist born to a farming family in Prillisk, County Tyrone. He made his name with Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry, and Irish rural life remained the core of his writing. Novels such as Fardorougha the Miser and The Black Prophet depict poverty, land issues and famine in the Irish countryside with realistic detail and a critical eye. Drawing on the conflicts among peasants, landlords and local agents, his works combine folk observation with moral instruction and are often classed as inspirational and coming-of-age literature. He is a representative figure of nineteenth-century Irish regional fiction, and 20 of his works are held in this collection.