Three Weeks

Glyn, Elinor, 1864-1943Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 288K words
Chapters: 29

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.Three Weeks by Elinor GlynAuthor: Glyn, Elinor, 1864-1943,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Sep 1, 2005

Editor's review

Three Weeks is a once widely controversial romance by Elinor Glyn, centered on a brief, intense encounter between a mysterious noblewoman and a young man traveling in Europe. Written in a lushly lyrical style, it depicts desire and taboo, and its bold treatment of extramarital passion drew much discussion upon publication, making it a typical sample of early twentieth-century popular romance writing. Its value lies not in plot complexity but in showing how women's desire was packaged, consumed, and contested in that era. For readers studying popular literary history, gender, and publishing censorship, it offers direct material; for general readers, it is more an emotional text marked by its time, whose ornate rhetoric and subtle implication deserve close reading. Read it with an eye to literary history, noting how the narrator uses scenery and atmosphere in place of explicit description.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in early twentieth-century popular romance and publishing controversy
Literary or cultural researchers studying gender, desire writing, and literary censorship
English literature readers who want to know Elinor Glyn's style
Readers who enjoy lyrical, atmospheric emotional narrative

Not a good fit for

Romance readers expecting modern pacing and strong plot momentum
Readers impatient with subtle, implicit erotic description
Beginner English readers who need a Chinese translation or detailed annotations

Reading tips

Treat it as a text of literary history rather than pure entertainment, noting why readers of the time disputed it and where the controversy lay.
Attend to the correspondence between natural scenery and emotional description, the book's main means of creating atmosphere.
Read it alongside background material on early twentieth-century popular fiction publishing and censorship to understand its controversial context.
The English original is not long; read it in one sitting to keep the emotional thread continuous.

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

Why was this book controversial in its day?

According to public-domain common knowledge, the book was discussed upon publication for its bold depiction of extramarital emotion and female desire. For specific details of the controversy, refer to reliable literary history sources; this e-book itself provides no commentary.

Is it serious literature or popular fiction?

It is generally regarded as early twentieth-century popular romance, but its prose style and controversial nature often bring it into discussions of popular literary history and gender studies, giving it both entertainment and research value.

How difficult is the English?

It is early twentieth-century English with lyrical, rhetorically dense sentences; vocabulary is generally not obscure. Readers with college-level English can attempt it directly; beginners may need support.

Does this edition include an introduction or annotations?

This edition is a public-domain electronic text from Project Gutenberg, usually containing only the text without introduction, annotations, or translator's notes. For background information, consult literary history sources separately.

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About the author

Glyn, Elinor, 1864-1943 Author

Elinor Glyn (1864–1943) was a British novelist known for popular fiction about love and marital entanglements in high society. The collection holds 18 of her works, including The Visits of Elizabeth, The Point of View, The Career of Katherine Bush, The Reflections of Ambrosine, The Vicissitudes of Evangeline, His Hour, Halcyone, and The Damsel and the Sage: A Woman's Whimsies. Her writing centres on romance, manners, and desire within aristocratic and social circles; her light touch and attention to women's psychology and social detail made her a representative figure in early twentieth-century popular reading. Public information is limited, so her biography is not elaborated here, but the titles and sheer number of works show a prolific author attentive to women's circumstances.