The Clever Woman of the Family

Yonge, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary), 1823-1901Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.4
Word count
1M words
Chapters
101

Tags

English Originals Family Stories Social ObservationFamily BondsComplex HumanityGrowing UpMoral CultivationFemale Perspective

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.The Clever Woman of the Family by Charlotte M. YongeAuthor: Yonge, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary), 1823-1901,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Jun 1, 2002

Editor's review

The Clever Woman of the Family is a novel by Charlotte M. Yonge exploring female intellect and domestic roles, centering on a woman who considers herself clever and is eager to make her mark; through family relationships and everyday conflicts it presents the tension between ideals, duty, and self-knowledge. The work carries the moral concern and delicate observation of Victorian fiction, with dialogue and domestic scenes as its main attractions. It is not suited to readers seeking a fast-paced story, but rather to those interested in women's growth, family ethics, and shifting ideas of the era, who will enjoy savoring it slowly. As a public-domain ebook, it is inexpensive to read; understanding the characters' choices against their historical background makes it easier to appreciate the author's distinction between being "clever" and being "wise".

Who it's for

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Reading tips

  1. First clarify the relationships among the main family members, then move into the characters' conflicts and clashes of ideas.
  2. Note how the heroine's understanding of "cleverness" changes as events unfold.
  3. Try excerpting and closely reading dialogue from domestic scenes to appreciate the author's moral observation.
  4. After finishing, reflect on the work's attitude toward female intellect in light of the historical background.

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
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  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
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  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
  97. 97
  98. 98
  99. 99
  100. 100
  101. 101

FAQ

Is this book the original English edition or a Chinese translation? This is a public-domain English ebook provided by Project Gutenberg; the text is in English, not a Chinese translation. It suits readers who can read the original English or need an English version for research.
The story moves slowly—how can I stay with it more easily? Break your reading goal into smaller parts and proceed chapter by chapter; first grasp the family relationships and main conflicts rather than chasing every period detail from the start. Brief notes on dialogue and characters' psychological shifts can help you keep the thread.
Can I read it without knowing Victorian background? You can, but you may struggle to understand the characters' motives. It helps to first learn the basics of women's education, family duties, and social expectations of the time, then read the text; you will more easily grasp the author's reflection on the "clever woman."

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About the author

Yonge, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary), 1823-1901 Author

Charlotte M. Yonge (1823–1901) was a prolific nineteenth-century British novelist and writer of children's literature, with 65 works held in this collection. Public information is limited, but her representative works reveal the range of her writing: family novels such as The Heir of Redclyffe and The Daisy Chain centre on everyday life and moral growth; A Book of Golden Deeds and The Little Duke, aimed at young readers, recount historical stories and heroic character; she also wrote a life of John Coleridge Patteson, missionary bishop of the Melanesian Islands. Her works generally deal with family, faith, duty and history in a gentle, realistic style, and were influential among Victorian readers, with many long surviving as reading for young people.