Robert Elsmere

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

4.0

Word count: 1.6M words
Chapters: 163

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.Robert Elsmere by Mrs. Humphry WardAuthor: Ward, Humphry, Mrs., 1851-1920,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Aug 1, 2005

Editor's review

Robert Elsmere is a late nineteenth-century novel by the British writer Mrs. Humphry Ward, centered on an Anglican clergyman's spiritual struggle between faith and reason. Its value lies not in dramatic plotting but in its fine-grained portrayal of the Victorian religious crisis, intellectual change, and individual conscience. Readers see how a well-educated intellectual makes a difficult choice between traditional doctrine and emerging ideas, and how that choice ripples through marriage, family, and community. The Project Gutenberg edition is a public-domain English ebook with clear formatting and easy searching, making it a useful introduction to late nineteenth-century British social thought and the religious novel. Reading it against the backdrop of Victorian debates over faith will be more rewarding than treating it as merely a love story or family saga.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in Victorian English literature and the history of religious thought
Readers who like serious novels driven by inner conflict
Students studying the late nineteenth-century crisis of faith and the intellectual temperament
Learners who wish to read public-domain classics in the original English

Not a good fit for

Genre-fiction readers who prefer fast pacing, strong plots, or action scenes
Readers with no interest in religious doctrinal debate who want only light stories
Beginners with weak English reading skills who need Chinese annotations

Reading tips

Learn the basic background of nineteenth-century British religious debate before entering the text; the characters' choices will be easier to understand.
Read it as a novel of ideas, noting how each shift in the protagonist's views corresponds to the reactions of those around him.
Use reading notes to track changes in the main characters' religious positions, so that lengthy discussion does not slow your pace.
When reading the English original, do not look up every word; grasp the main point of each chapter first, then return to key passages.

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 in Chinese or English?

This entry is a public-domain English ebook released by Project Gutenberg, in English, containing the original text without Chinese translation or annotations.

Can I understand it without background knowledge of religion?

Yes, but depth of understanding will be affected. The novel involves debates within the Church of England and the intellectual currents of the time; it is advisable to consult a brief introduction to the Victorian religious crisis before reading the text.

Is this book suitable as English-learning material?

It suits intermediate and advanced English readers. The text is late nineteenth-century literary language, with long sentences, much discussion, and fairly formal vocabulary; beginners may find it difficult, and it is better attempted after some experience with reading originals.

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.