Pelham — Volume 06

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

3.1

Word count: 117K words
Chapters: 12

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.Pelham — Volume 06 by Baron Edward Bulwer Lytton LyttonAuthor: Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron, 1803-1873,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Mar 1, 2005

Editor's review

This volume is the final installment of the six-part serialized Pelham, tasked with resolving the fates of its characters and closing the narrative threads. Set against the upper-class society of the Victorian era, Bulwer-Lytton's style blends satire, social observation, and plot suspense; this volume, building on the groundwork of the first five, drives more concentratedly toward the conclusion and is best appreciated by readers who have read the earlier installments, who can gauge the structural completeness of the whole novel. As a public-domain electronic text from Project Gutenberg, it preserves the original volume divisions, making it useful for studying the pacing of serialized fiction and nineteenth-century English narrative conventions. Its value lies not in standing alone but in its position as the closing segment of a whole: if the six volumes are seen as a complete arc, this is the key chapter for testing whether the characters' transformations hold and whether the themes cohere. For English literature students, it serves as a sample of Victorian serial publication; for general readers, it is better suited as extended reading in classic English fiction than as a first entry point.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who have finished the first five volumes of Pelham and want to see the ending
English literature students studying the structure of Victorian serialized fiction
Readers interested in satirical narratives of nineteenth-century British upper-class society
Those who wish to practice reading long English novels through public-domain electronic texts

Not a good fit for

First-time readers who have not read the earlier volumes and want to start with a single volume
Readers who prefer strongly plotted standalone works and dislike serial formats
English beginners who need modern annotations or introductory guides

Reading tips

Confirm that you have read the first five volumes, then read this one continuously to grasp the characters' fates.
As you read, note the turning points of the main characters and look back at earlier volumes to check whether they feel natural.
When encountering long social dialogues, skim for plot first, then return to read the satirical passages closely.
Use the search function of the electronic text to track recurring keywords and character names.

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

Can I read this volume directly without having read the first five?

Not really recommended. This volume is the closing part of a six-volume serial, and the character relationships and plot suspense are built on the first five; reading it alone would lack necessary background and make it hard to appreciate the weight of the ending. If you only want a sense of the author's style, start with Volume One or choose a standalone work.

Is this a complete novel or a volume excerpt?

This is the sixth volume of Pelham as divided by volume, a component of the whole novel rather than an independent complete story. Project Gutenberg preserves the original volume divisions in public-domain electronic form; readers need all six volumes together for the complete work.

What is the best way to read the electronic edition?

Use reading software that supports search and annotation, making it easier to find character names and recurring keywords in the divided text. Since it is the original English with no modern annotations, read alongside a dictionary tool to reduce the obstacles posed by long sentences and period language.

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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.