The History of Henry Esmond, Esq., a Colonel in the Service of Her Majesty Queen
Thackeray, William Makepeace, 1811-1863Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019
Rating 4.2- Word count
- 1M words
- Chapters
- 105
Tags
English Originals Historical Fiction Historical ReappraisalPortrait GalleryLove EntanglementsComplex HumanityGrowing UpMoral CultivationSummary
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 History of Henry Esmond, Esq., a Colonel in the Service of Her Majesty QueenAuthor: Thackeray, William Makepeace, 1811-1863,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: May 18, 2006Editor's review
The History of Henry Esmond, Esq. is an important later work in Thackeray's career, unfolding in memoir form as the protagonist looks back on social and political change in England from the late seventeenth to the early eighteenth century. Within the framework of historical fiction, the novel develops subtle psychological portraiture and family narrative; the narrator's scrutiny of his own experience carries a clear introspective and ironic edge, giving the reading considerable depth. Thackeray is skilled at recreating the atmosphere of the age, aristocratic life, and political turmoil, and both dialogue and scene details show careful research. As a public-domain ebook, this edition is convenient for searching and excerpting at any time, and is suitable as extended reading for readers interested in English literature and historical fiction. The work is long, however, and its pacing relatively unhurried, so the opening requires some patience. Reading it alongside the historical background of the Glorious Revolution and its aftermath will make it easier to follow.Who it's for
A good fit for
- Readers who enjoy nineteenth-century English literature and want to expand their reading of Thackeray
- Those interested in English historical fiction and the tradition of family narrative
- Literature students who wish to study memoir-style narration and unreliable narration
- Researchers who need a public-domain English text for close reading or excerpting
Not a good fit for
- General readers who prefer fast-paced plots and strong dramatic conflict
- Those unfamiliar with modern English history who are unwilling to consult background materials
- Beginners with limited stamina for English reading who want short, light reading
Reading tips
- Read the introduction or preface first to understand English politics around the Glorious Revolution before entering the main text
- Proceed chapter by chapter and note character relationships as you go to avoid confusing the family genealogy
- Pay attention to the irony and self-justification in the narrator's tone and appreciate the layered narration
- Read alongside Thackeray's Vanity Fair to compare the similarities and differences in their satirical methods
About the publisher
Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971Project 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
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- 20
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24
- 25
- 26
- 27
- 28
- 29
- 30
- 31
- 32
- 33
- 34
- 35
- 36
- 37
- 38
- 39
- 40
- 41
- 42
- 43
- 44
- 45
- 46
- 47
- 48
- 49
- 50
- 51
- 52
- 53
- 54
- 55
- 56
- 57
- 58
- 59
- 60
- 61
- 62
- 63
- 64
- 65
- 66
- 67
- 68
- 69
- 70
- 71
- 72
- 73
- 74
- 75
- 76
- 77
- 78
- 79
- 80
- 81
- 82
- 83
- 84
- 85
- 86
- 87
- 88
- 89
- 90
- 91
- 92
- 93
- 94
- 95
- 96
- 97
- 98
- 99
- 100
- 101
- 102
- 103
- 104
- 105
FAQ
Is this book suitable as an introduction to Thackeray?
Not really as a first book. Vanity Fair is more often recommended as an introduction to Thackeray, since its satire is more overt and its pacing brisker; this book unfolds in memoir form, with dense historical background and family relationships, making it somewhat harder to enter. If you have already read one or two of Thackeray's works, this book will make it easier to appreciate his narrative experimentation and historical concerns.What historical background should I know before reading?
The story is set roughly in England from the late seventeenth to the early eighteenth century, including the Glorious Revolution, Jacobite activity, and the political situation during Queen Anne's reign. If readers first understand the basic outline of these events and the circumstances of the aristocracy and gentry, they will be better able to grasp the characters' political positions and family fortunes, and the difficulty of reading will be noticeably reduced.This is a public-domain ebook. What should I pay attention to when reading it?
Public-domain ebooks are usually provided as scans or transcriptions of the original text and may have plain formatting and few annotations. It is advisable to use reading software that supports dictionary lookup and annotation, and to look up unfamiliar historical names and places promptly; also check the edition information and, if necessary, compare it with other authoritative editions to ensure the text is accurate.This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.
About the author
Thackeray, William Makepeace, 1811-1863 AuthorWilliam Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863) was a nineteenth-century British novelist. Publicly available details of his life are limited, so this entry relies mainly on the 42 works held in the collection and their representative titles. Among them, Vanity Fair is the best known, offering a satirical portrait of society; Barry Lyndon, The History of Pendennis and Henry Esmond are also representative works. Thackeray is known for depicting human weaknesses and social manners in a humorous yet coolly observant tone, with unhurried narration and understated irony. The collection includes novels as well as essays and lectures, giving readers a sense of his writing and of the style of Victorian fiction.