Ladies in the Field: Sketches of Sport

Project GutenbergProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.0

Word count: 260K words
Chapters: 27

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. Ladies in the Field: Sketches of Sport by Lady Violet Greville. Author: , Language: English. Class: SK: Agriculture: Hunting sports. Release Date: Mar 1, 2012

Editor's review

Written by Lady Violet Greville, this book is a collection of sketch-style essays on women's participation in field sports and belongs to the literature of hunting sports. From the dual perspective of participant and observer, the author depicts women's posture, equipment, and social scenes in equestrianism, hunting, and other outdoor activities; the tone is light and the details vivid, preserving the flavor of aristocratic outdoor life in a particular era. Its value lies not in technical instruction but in presenting a social slice from a transitional period: how women entered sports traditionally dominated by men, and how contemporary opinion viewed this with ambivalence. Readers interested in sports history, gender history, and late Victorian social history will find meaning beyond sport itself. As a public-domain ebook, it is easy to search and cite. It should be read as a period document, noting the differences between the hunting attitudes and animal-ethics expressions in the book and those of today, and maintaining critical understanding.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in late Victorian women's social history
Enthusiasts of sports history and the evolution of hunting culture
Readers who enjoy sketch essays and period scenery writing
Students needing public-domain English sources for gender studies

Not a good fit for

Practitioners seeking systematic sports technique tutorials
Readers sensitive to hunting subjects and animal-ethics issues
Readers who prefer contemporary fiction or fast-paced nonfiction

Reading tips

Choose sketches by theme rather than insisting on reading from beginning to end.
Note how women participated in sports and how public opinion reacted, tracing lines of period attitudes.
Compare hunting scenes with contemporary animal ethics, distinguishing documentary value from value judgment.
Read alongside late nineteenth-century British social history to understand the context of aristocratic outdoor life.

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 a sports technique guide?

No. It is a collection of sketch essays focused on describing scenes, deportment, and social atmosphere of women participating in field sports, not on teaching riding or hunting skills. Readers seeking specific techniques should find professional tutorials; this book is better suited as period writing and gender history.

Will the hunting descriptions make modern readers uncomfortable?

Possibly. The book was written in an era when hunting was regarded as an aristocratic outdoor tradition, and the descriptions carry the attitudes of the time. Modern readers should read it as a historical document, focus on its social and gender implications, and remain aware of the significant differences between contemporary animal ethics and hunting attitudes.

What background knowledge is needed to read this book?

A basic understanding of late nineteenth-century British aristocratic outdoor life and gender roles helps. Terms related to equestrianism and hunting can be understood with notes or reference works; even without familiarity, the light sketch style allows readers to grasp the overall atmosphere.

Is it suitable for academic citation?

It can be cited as primary or quasi-primary material for discussing the historical discourse and period attitudes around women's participation in outdoor sports. When citing, note the source and edition, and be aware of the author's class and period limitations, avoiding treating the descriptions as universal social reality.

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About the author

Project Gutenberg Author

Project Gutenberg is not a single author but a nonprofit digital library founded by Michael Hart in 1971 and one of the world's earliest free ebook platforms. It relies on volunteers to digitize, proofread, and freely distribute public-domain works and is now operated by the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Its collection contains 2,692 works, mainly religious texts, epics, and story collections, including the King James Bible and the Douay-Rheims volumes, the epic Mahabharata, a literal translation of the Arabian Nights, and Danish editions of the Old and New Testaments. Public information is limited, and its nature is closer to a public-interest compiling and dissemination body; these texts are open to the public, easy to consult and circulate, and have had a profound influence on the spread of ebooks and the preservation of public-domain resources.