Mary Lamb

Gilchrist, Anne (Anne Burrows), 1828-1885Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 426K words
Chapters: 43

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.Mary Lamb by Anne GilchristAuthor: Gilchrist, Anne (Anne Burrows), 1828-1885,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Dec 12, 2014

Editor's review

This book is a biography of Mary Lamb by Anne Gilchrist, a public-domain ebook from Project Gutenberg. Mary Lamb is known to readers for co-authoring Tales from Shakespeare with her brother Charles Lamb, and her life was made especially complex by family tragedy and caregiving responsibilities. Written from the perspective of a contemporary, this biography traces her life, writing, and family relationships, presenting both the background of her literary work and the issues of mental health and family care in nineteenth-century English society. Its value lies in restoring a woman writer often treated as an appendage to her brother's name to independent individual status, offering biographical support for understanding the literary collaboration of the Lamb siblings. It suits readers interested in literary history, biography, and women's writing. Note that biography writing is shaped by its era and the author's standpoint, and the narrative carries Victorian moral judgments that readers should assess critically.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in English Romantic literature and the Lamb siblings
Readers who enjoy literary biography and care about the lives of women writers
Students and teachers studying the background of Tales from Shakespeare
General readers interested in nineteenth-century English society and family history

Not a good fit for

Young children who only want the stories of Tales from Shakespeare themselves
Readers expecting novel-like dramatic conflict and fictional plots
Readers impatient with the biographical genre and historical narrative

Reading tips

First learn about the background of the Lamb siblings' co-authored Tales from Shakespeare, then move on to the biography proper.
While reading, pay attention to the author's tact in narrating Mary's family tragedy, and distinguish historical fact from period judgments.
Read alongside Charles Lamb's letters and essays for comparison, forming a more well-rounded understanding.

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

Who was Mary Lamb?

Mary Lamb was a nineteenth-century English writer who collaborated with her brother Charles Lamb on Tales from Shakespeare, adapting Shakespeare's plays into prose stories. She also experienced family tragedy and long bore caregiving responsibilities, and is a woman writer who deserves attention in her own right in literary history.

Is this book suitable for children?

Not very suitable for young children. The biography involves family tragedy and mental health issues, and its narrative style is aimed more at adults. If a child wants to encounter the Lamb siblings, they can start with the adapted stories in Tales from Shakespeare, leaving the biography for teenagers or adult readers with some capacity for understanding.

Do I need to read Lamb's works before reading this biography?

You don't need to read all the works first, but knowing the basics of Tales from Shakespeare will help you understand the creative background in the biography. It is suggested to leaf through at least a few pieces from the story collection before reading the biography, so you can better appreciate Mary's role in the literary collaboration.

Comments

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About the author

Gilchrist, Anne (Anne Burrows), 1828-1885 Author · British · 1828–1885

Anne Burrows Gilchrist (1828–1885) was a British writer and literary critic, best known for her studies of William Blake and Walt Whitman. Her surviving output is limited, and only one work is held in this collection: the biography Mary Lamb, which recounts the life of Mary Lamb, sister of Charles Lamb. Because public information is scarce, her full life, writing career and personal connections cannot be described in detail; yet the available evidence suggests that her writing leaned toward biography and literary commentary, with attention to organizing biographical facts and presenting a writer's spiritual character. Her sustained interest in Blake and Whitman gives her criticism a distinctive quality of discovery and interpretation, and lent her a measure of influence in nineteenth-century British literary studies.