Marcella

Ward, Humphry, Mrs., 1851-1920Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.7

Word count: 1.4M words
Chapters: 139

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.Marcella by Mrs. Humphry WardAuthor: Ward, Humphry, Mrs., 1851-1920,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Oct 12, 2004

Editor's review

Marcella is a novel by the English writer Mrs. Humphry Ward, belonging to the late Victorian social-problem novel tradition. Centered on the life choices of its heroine, Marcella, the work explores the tensions between class, marriage, social responsibility, and personal ideals, showing a strong awareness of the issues of its time. Ward herself was concerned with social reform and the situation of women, and this concern is reflected in the novel's characterization and plot development. As a free Project Gutenberg eBook, it is easily accessible on electronic devices and serves as useful supplementary reading for understanding late nineteenth-century English fiction and social thought. Readers may wish to note how the author uses dialogue and narrative perspective to present social debates, and how the female characters waver between family expectations and self-fulfillment. For readers studying Victorian literature, women's writing, or the social novel, this book offers a text worth close reading; general readers may also enjoy it as a classical novel with intellectual density.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in Victorian English fiction who wish to expand their reading list
Literature lovers concerned with women's situations and issues of marriage and class
Literature students studying late nineteenth-century social-problem fiction and women's writing
Readers accustomed to English public-domain eBooks who enjoy slow reading of long novels

Not a good fit for

Casual readers looking for fast-paced plots or strongly suspenseful stories
Beginners with little patience for Victorian social context and long-sentence narration
Readers who only want Chinese translations and are not used to English originals

Reading tips

First learn about the background of late nineteenth-century British social reform and the women's movement; the main text will then be easier to follow.
As you read, note the changes in circumstances surrounding each major choice the heroine makes, and trace the evolution of her character and views.
Read alongside Victorian women's novels (such as works from the same period) for comparison, and compare how themes are handled.
The English sentences are often long; set a fixed daily portion for close reading, and slow down at passages dealing with social issues.

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 kind of work is this book?

Marcella is a novel by Mrs. Humphry Ward, belonging to the late Victorian social-problem novel tradition. It revolves around the heroine's life choices and deals with issues such as class, marriage, and social responsibility.

Can I understand it without a background in Victorian literature?

Yes, but it is advisable to first acquire some background knowledge about late nineteenth-century British society and the situation of women. The social issues discussed bear the marks of their time, and understanding the background makes it easier to grasp the characters' motives and the narrative's intent.

What are the features of this edition?

This is an English public-domain eBook released by Project Gutenberg, easy to obtain free of charge and to read on electronic devices. It is the original text, without modern annotations or an introduction, so readers need to supply background materials themselves.

Is it suitable as course reading?

It is suitable as supplementary reading for courses on Victorian fiction or women's writing, especially for discussing how social-problem novels present women's choices. However, teachers need to provide background introductions and annotation support.

Comments

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About the author

Ward, Humphry, Mrs., 1851-1920 Author

Mrs. Humphry Ward (1851–1920) was a British novelist of the late Victorian era, born Mary Augusta Arnold and known after marriage by her husband's surname. Her fiction often centres on conflicts between religious belief and moral conviction, while also touching on social reform, women's circumstances and family ethics. Her style is realistic, with finely drawn psychological portraits, and her work reached a wide readership in the English-speaking world of her day. The novel Robert Elsmere, her best-known work, stirred public debate by addressing a crisis of faith, while Marcella, The History of David Grieve and The Marriage of William Ashe likewise explore personal conviction and social responsibility. Thirty-three of her works are held in this collection. Public information is limited, so details of her life and career are not elaborated here.