The Poor Clare

Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn, 1810-1865Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.8

Word count: 123K words
Chapters: 13

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 Poor Clare by Elizabeth Cleghorn GaskellAuthor: Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn, 1810-1865,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Mar 1, 2001

Editor's review

The Poor Clare is a novella-length Gothic tale by the Victorian English writer Elizabeth Gaskell. Compared with Mary Barton and Cranford, it leans more toward the supernatural and the theme of a fateful curse. The story revolves around a curse laid upon an old family and involves generational grievances, hidden identity, and religious precepts, with a somber atmosphere and a strong vein of moral reflection. Gaskell's narration is steady and restrained; even when handling ghosts, prophecies, and other supernatural elements, she keeps to realistic psychological portrayal, so that the sense of horror arises from the characters' inner struggles rather than from mere shocks. The book is short, and the English is of moderate difficulty; it serves well as supplementary reading for understanding the range of Gaskell's work, and can also be used as course reading on the Victorian Gothic tradition, women writers, and supernatural narrative. While reading, it is worth attending to the themes of pride, guilt, and forgiveness behind the curse, and to how the narrator's perspective gradually uncovers the truth.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers of Victorian English literature who wish to broaden their knowledge of Gaskell's oeuvre
Readers interested in Gothic fiction, curses, and family secrets
English majors using it as supplementary course reading in Victorian novellas
General readers who want to experience classic supernatural narrative in a short format

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting intense horror or fast-paced modern suspense
Beginners whose English reading ability is not yet equal to nineteenth-century English sentences
Readers who prefer light humor or purely realistic social fiction

Reading tips

Read through once for the plot, then go back and sort out the origin of the curse and the generational relationships among the characters
While reading, note how the narrator comes to know the story, and consider the effect of the nested narrative on suspense and credibility
Compare it with Gaskell's Cranford and other works to appreciate her two modes, the realistic and the Gothic
Make brief notes on religious and historical terms as you go; there is no need to verify every word, lest the pace of reading be 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.

FAQ

Is this book long or short, and how long does it take to read?

The Poor Clare is a novella; the English text is not long, and readers with a fair command of English can usually finish it in a few hours. It suits reading in installments, and also reading straight through to keep the Gothic atmosphere continuous.

Do I need to know Gaskell's other works before reading this book?

No. The plot is relatively self-contained and does not depend on prior knowledge of the author's other works. If you have read Gaskell's social-realist novels first, however, it will be easier to appreciate how she maintains her attention to character psychology and realistic detail in this Gothic subject.

What are the features of the Project Gutenberg edition?

This edition is a free electronic text provided by Project Gutenberg; it is the public-domain English original, convenient for searching and annotating on a computer or e-reader. It contains no modern translation notes or introduction, so readers must look up historical and religious background themselves.

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About the author

Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn, 1810-1865 Author

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (1810–1865) was a British novelist of the Victorian era. The library holds 28 of her works, including Cranford, Wives and Daughters, North and South, Sylvia's Lovers, and The Life of Charlotte Brontë. Her writing focuses on daily life in English villages and industrial towns, with a delicate and often humorous touch, and she excels at portraying characters and circumstances across different social classes. Cranford depicts a small-town female community with gentle irony; North and South interweaves industrial conflict between employers and workers with personal feeling; and her biography of Charlotte Brontë is also an important biographical work. Public information is limited, so this note outlines her subjects and style based only on the works held here.