Rough-Hewn cover

Rough-Hewn

Rating 3.5
Word count
956K words
Chapters
96

Tags

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.Rough-Hewn by Dorothy Canfield FisherAuthor: Fisher, Dorothy Canfield, 1879-1958,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Sep 18, 2011

Editor's review

Rough-Hewn is a novel by Dorothy Canfield Fisher whose title itself signals its theme of growth "rough-hewn." With fine brushwork the book depicts how characters form themselves within family, education, and marriage, attending to how individuals gradually discern their own temperament and place through the friction of daily life. Fisher's narrative does not rely on violent conflict for momentum but on patient layering of domestic atmosphere, conversational detail, and inner change; it reads gently yet leaves an aftertaste. For readers wanting to understand early twentieth-century American women's writing and the bildungsroman, this work offers a path different from the adventure type: growth is not an accumulation of events but a shape slowly chiseled out within relationships. Read it slowly, noting the tact in characters' dialogue and the author's observation of everyday ethics.

Who it's for

A good fit for

  • Readers who enjoy early twentieth-century American bildungsromans and domestic narratives
  • Literary readers interested in women's writing and themes of self-formation
  • Readers willing to read slowly and appreciate everyday detail and conversational tact
  • Upper-intermediate English learners using it for extensive long-form reading

Not a good fit for

  • Readers who prefer strong plots and fast-paced narrative
  • Readers expecting explicit social critique or intense conflict
  • Beginning readers who need extensive plot summaries to follow along

Reading tips

  1. Read the first few chapters to build a map of character relationships, then proceed steadily to avoid stalling on the gentle pace.
  2. After each section, note in two or three sentences how relationships and self-understanding change.
  3. Use the title Rough-Hewn as a clue, watching how the image of "rough hewing" corresponds to the characters' growth.
  4. English learners can excerpt passages of family dialogue to feel the tact of early American written English.

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.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67
  68. 68
  69. 69
  70. 70
  71. 71
  72. 72
  73. 73
  74. 74
  75. 75
  76. 76
  77. 77
  78. 78
  79. 79
  80. 80
  81. 81
  82. 82
  83. 83
  84. 84
  85. 85
  86. 86
  87. 87
  88. 88
  89. 89
  90. 90
  91. 91
  92. 92
  93. 93
  94. 94
  95. 95
  96. 96

FAQ

How should the title Rough-Hewn be understood?
It can be understood as "rough-hewn," pointing to the process by which characters take shape through friction in family and relationships. It invites readers to attend to slow, unpolished self-formation rather than dramatic moments of epiphany.
What is the narrative pace of this novel?
It is generally gentle, driven by domestic atmosphere, conversational detail, and inner change rather than strong plot conflict. It suits readers willing to read slowly and appreciate observations of everyday ethics.
Do I need to know the author's biography to read it?
Not necessarily. The work can be read on its own, but knowing the context of early twentieth-century American women's writing and discussions of family education makes it easier to understand the book's attention to relationships and self-formation.

Comments

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About the author

Dorothy Canfield Fisher (1879–1958) was an American writer. Public information about her is limited, yet the nine works held in this collection show considerable variety in subject and genre. They include Understood Betsy, The Bent Twig, The Brimming Cup, Hillsboro People, Home Fires in France, The Squirrel-Cage, Rough-Hewn, and What Shall We Do Now?: Five Hundred Games and Pastimes. Judging from these titles, she wrote children's literature and coming-of-age stories as well as adult fiction, local character sketches, and domestic life, and also compiled practical books on games and pastimes. Her works often concern childhood education, family relationships, and everyday ethics, with a gentle, delicate style that attends to character psychology and the details of daily life; her children's fiction is especially natural and warm. Spanning both fiction and practical writing, she holds a place in early twentieth-century American popular literature and children's reading.

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