Robert Orange

Hobbes, John Oliver, 1867-1906Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 573K words
Chapters: 58

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 Orange by John Oliver HobbesAuthor: Hobbes, John Oliver, 1867-1906,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Feb 4, 2009

Editor's review

Robert Orange is a novel by John Oliver Hobbes, a work of late Victorian English literature that explores faith, conscience, and social identity. The author is known for delicate psychological portraiture and witty dialogue; her characters waver between religious conviction, political allegiance, and private feeling, forming a social panorama with a speculative bent. The book's value lies in its rendering of the intellectual atmosphere of late nineteenth-century England: the tension between Catholicism and Protestantism, the etiquette and calculation of upper-class social circles, and how personal belief is worn down by reality. The narrative pace is slow, weighted toward dialogue and inner life; the plot advances not through sharp conflict but through shifts in relationships. For readers studying the English novel of this period or interested in questions of religion and morality, it offers a sample worth close reading; those expecting a fast-paced story should adjust their expectations.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in late Victorian English fiction and questions of religion and morality
Literary readers who enjoy psychological portraiture and witty dialogue and can accept a slow narrative pace
Students of history and literature researching the social and intellectual atmosphere of late nineteenth-century England
Advanced readers hoping to broaden their reading of English classics

Not a good fit for

Readers of popular fiction who prefer strong plots and fast pacing
Readers with little interest in religious and political debate
Beginners whose English reading is not yet proficient enough for long sentences and dense dialogue

Reading tips

Familiarize yourself with the religious and political background of late nineteenth-century England before entering the characters' dialogue.
Read the dialogue passages slowly, noting subtext and shifts in position.
Use a character relationship chart to keep the social circle straight and avoid confusion among the many secondary figures.
After finishing, revisit the key turning points to appreciate how the author handles belief and compromise.

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 are the main attractions of this book?

The main attractions are the psychological portraiture and the dialogue. The author excels at revealing her characters' positions and contradictions in social settings, where religious views, political attitudes, and private feelings intertwine; readers can sense the intellectual atmosphere of late nineteenth-century England rather than relying on plot suspense.

Do I need to know the author's background first?

No special research is required, but knowing that the author wrote under a pen name and worked within the context of late Victorian English literature will make the religious debates and social satire easier to understand. General readers can go straight to the text and look things up only when background gets in the way.

How difficult is the original English edition?

It is a late nineteenth-century English novel with many long sentences and dense dialogue and a rather literary vocabulary. Readers with some experience of English fiction can proceed with an annotated edition or a dictionary; beginners are advised to start with an introduction or choose a fully annotated edition.

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About the author

Hobbes, John Oliver, 1867-1906 Author · British · 1867–1906

John Oliver Hobbes (Hobbes, John Oliver, 1867–1906) was the pen name used by the British novelist and playwright Pearl Craigie. Writing under a masculine pseudonym, she made her mark on the British literary scene from the late Victorian to the Edwardian era, focusing on social themes and on how her characters navigate class, marriage, and moral norms. Her representative work is Robert Orange, a novel that reflects her observation and satirical treatment of upper-class life. The library currently holds only one of her works, and public information on the details of her life and the full range of her writing is limited and awaits further compilation. Overall, the writing represented by the Hobbes pen name offers a useful case for studying late nineteenth-century British women's writing and the phenomenon of pseudonyms.