The Ordeal: A Mountain Romance of Tennessee

Murfree, Mary Noailles, 1850-1922Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.4

Word count: 234K words
Chapters: 24

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 Ordeal: A Mountain Romance of Tennessee by Mary Noailles MurfreeAuthor: Murfree, Mary Noailles, 1850-1922,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Nov 13, 2006

Editor's review

This novel comes from Mary Noailles Murfree, a representative writer of American Southern local-color literature, and unfolds a legendary romance set in the Tennessee mountains. Murfree excelled at delicately depicting Appalachian nature and mountain life; dialect dialogue and geographical description form the work's most distinctive texture, letting readers sense the ethics and human warmth of late nineteenth-century mountain society. As a public-domain e-book, it is highly accessible and serves as an entry point to American local-color literature and Tennessee regional culture. Read it as a genre painting rather than a tightly plotted popular novel, slowing down to absorb the period atmosphere in scenery and dialogue. For readers studying Southern American literature, mountain culture or nineteenth-century American fiction, it offers a concrete, miniature sample.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in Southern American and local-color literature
Those studying the history and culture of Tennessee or the Appalachian mountains
Students seeking low-cost access to late nineteenth-century American fiction
Literary lovers who enjoy slow-paced genre description and dialect dialogue

Not a good fit for

Popular-fiction readers seeking strong plots and fast pacing
Beginners unaccustomed to nineteenth-century English and dialect spelling
Introductory readers wanting modern scholarly notes and guides

Reading tips

Read a chapter or two first to feel the rhythm of dialect and scenery, then decide whether to read through or selectively.
Keep a map of Tennessee to understand the spatial structure against place names.
Read alongside works by contemporary Southern local-color writers to compare descriptive techniques.
Do not look up every dialect spelling; first grasp the tone of dialogue and character relationships.

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

How difficult is the English in this book?

The original is late nineteenth-century English mixed with mountain dialect spellings, making it moderately to considerably difficult. Readers used to modern English may need time to adjust; try the opening pages first before deciding how to read.

Why is it called a "mountain romance"?

The novel is set in the Tennessee mountains and centers on local characters' emotions and fates, combining regional genre description with legendary color. "Romance" in the title points to a romanticized narrative tendency, not a fantasy genre.

Does this edition have notes or an introduction?

This entry is a Project Gutenberg public-domain e-book, which typically provides only the original text without modern scholarly notes or introduction. For background, consult the author's biography and material on local-color literature separately.

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About the author

Murfree, Mary Noailles, 1850-1922 Author

Mary Noailles Murfree (1850-1922) was an American writer of local color literature, best known for her novels and short stories set in the mountain regions of Tennessee. Her works often portray the customs and people of the Great Smoky Mountains, blending realistic observation with a legendary tone. Her representative works include The Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains, The Ordeal: A Mountain Romance of Tennessee, The Mystery of Witch-Face Mountain, and Other Stories, and The Phantoms of the Foot-Bridge, and Other Stories. Twenty-six of her works are included in this collection, commonly classified under inspirational growth, with many stories focusing on mountain youths coming of age and showing resilience in hardship. Public information about the details of her life is limited, so no speculation is offered here.