The Ingoldsby Country: Literary Landmarks of the Ingoldsby Legends

Harper, Charles G. (Charles George), 1863-1943Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.9
Word count
367K words
Chapters
37

Tags

English Originals Literary Appreciation Human GeographyHistorical ReappraisalSlow ReadingIllustrated Guide19th CenturyExotic CultureCultural ChangeFolk CustomsVictorian Era

Summary

This book explores the regions and literary landmarks associated with the Ingoldsby Legends, a work that sets literature alongside real places. Charles G. Harper uses descriptive prose and an investigative eye to link the locations, buildings, and local lore of the legends, showing how a literary work connects to a particular countryside. Its appeal lies in combining a literary tour with the pleasures of local history: it discusses both the work and the places, and will suit readers interested in English literary geography, regional narrative, and travel writing. It should be read not as strict literary criticism or historical scholarship but as a themed cultural ramble, best enjoyed alongside the original legends or a map. Readers unfamiliar with the Ingoldsby Legends may find the many references hard going, and the English text and local expressions raise the bar further.

Editor's review

This book explores the places and literary landmarks associated with The Ingoldsby Legends, a work that cross-references literature with the actual landscapes that inspired it. Charles G. Harper links the locations, buildings and local lore of the legends, showing how a literary work connects to a particular countryside. Its strength lies in combining a literary tour with the appeal of local history: it discusses both the work and the places, and will suit readers interested in the literary geography of Britain, regional storytelling and travel writing. It is best read not as strict literary criticism or historical scholarship but as a themed cultural ramble, ideally alongside the original or a map. Readers unfamiliar with The Ingoldsby Legends may find the many references hard going; the English text and local expressions also raise the bar.

Who it's for

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Reading tips

  1. Learn the basics of The Ingoldsby Legends and its author first; the book will then read much more smoothly.
  2. Keep a map of Britain at hand and follow the places as you read to turn the literary tour into a journey on paper.
  3. Dip in by place or chapter rather than reading straight through; treat it as a themed rambling guide.
  4. Mark unfamiliar local allusions and look them up afterwards, so the reading rhythm is not constantly broken.

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

FAQ

Can I read this book without having read The Ingoldsby Legends? Yes, but the experience will suffer. Much of the book turns on the places, characters and allusions of the original; without that background it can feel remote. Read a synopsis or a few of the legends first.
Is this literary criticism or a travel guide? Strictly speaking, neither. It is closer to a local cultural ramble guided by literary landmarks, part tour and part lore; literary analysis and historical scholarship are not its main aims.
How difficult is the English? The original is in English, with place names, personal names and local expressions in a somewhat old-fashioned register. Strong readers will cope; frequent dictionary use will slow the pace.
Is it suitable reading before a trip to Britain? It suits travellers with an interest in literary landmarks as background reading, but it is not a practical travel handbook; transport and accommodation need a current guide.

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About the author

Harper, Charles G. (Charles George), 1863-1943 Author

Charles G. Harper (1863–1943) was an English writer and illustrator known for his accounts of England's old roads, coaching inns, and country inns. The library holds 34 of his works, including the two-volume The Old Inns of Old England, road narratives such as The Great North Road, The Holyhead Road, The Exeter Road, and The Manchester and Glasgow Road, as well as Cycle Rides Round London. He often travelled the old mail-coach routes by bicycle or on foot, weaving together geography, historical anecdote, and observations of inns along the way. His writing is both documentary and literary, preserving a valuable record of English roads and rural life in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Public information about his life is limited, and biographical details remain largely unknown, yet his work, focused in subject and plain and genial in style, has a modest influence among readers of local history and travel literature.