Veranilda cover

Veranilda

Rating 3.2
Word count
647K words
Chapters
65

Tags

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.Veranilda by George GissingAuthor: Gissing, George, 1857-1903,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Aug 1, 2003

Editor's review

Veranilda is a historical novel by George Gissing set in late antique Italy, unfolding against the turmoil of the Ostrogothic kingdom and weaving together shifts of power, conflicts of faith, and the entanglement of individual fates. Unusual among Gissing's works, it departs from his customary Victorian urban settings for a deep engagement with history, showing his attention both to grand narrative and to human predicament. The characters struggle amid war and political upheaval, their emotional threads closely tied to historical events, so the book offers the weight of historical fiction while retaining Gissing's fine psychological portraiture. This Project Gutenberg edition suits readers seeking to broaden their Gissing reading and those interested in late antiquity through the early Middle Ages. Reading alongside historical background material is recommended for a better grasp of the political and religious currents in the story.

Who it's for

A good fit for

  • Readers who have read Gissing's urban novels and wish to explore other genres in his work
  • Historical fiction fans interested in the Ostrogothic kingdom and late antique history
  • Readers who enjoy observing characters' fates and emotional choices against historical turmoil
  • Readers needing public-domain English e-books for study or research

Not a good fit for

  • General fiction readers expecting fast pacing or strong dramatic conflict
  • Readers entirely unfamiliar with late antique history who are unwilling to consult background material
  • Readers who prefer contemporary settings or light reading

Reading tips

  1. Before reading, learn the basic facts of the confrontation between the Ostrogothic kingdom and the Byzantine Empire to better understand the characters' situations.
  2. Prepare a character chart to track the correspondence between political camps and emotional threads.
  3. In the English original, note Gissing's narrative pace: read historical passages slowly and dialogue more quickly.
  4. After finishing, compare with Gissing's other works to consider similarities and differences in focus between his historical and urban fiction.

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
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65

FAQ

What format does Project Gutenberg provide for this book?
The book is a public-domain English e-book released by Project Gutenberg. Available formats depend on the options listed on its Project Gutenberg page, commonly plain text and e-book reading formats suitable for computers or e-readers.
Can I understand this book without historical background?
You can read it, but understanding will suffer. The story involves political and religious conflicts of the Ostrogothic period; without any background, grasping character motives and causal links may be difficult. It is advisable to spend a little time on a historical overview before starting the text.
How does this book differ from Gissing's usual urban novels?
Gissing often writes about the hardships of lower-middle-class life in Victorian cities, whereas Veranilda moves to the historical stage of late antiquity, focusing on war, power, and faith. Both show careful observation of psychology, but the subject matter and era differ markedly.

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About the author

George Gissing (Gissing, George, 1857-1903) was an English novelist, though public information about his life and education is limited. The library holds 24 of his works, most of which focus on the living conditions of the urban lower classes and those on the margins of the middle class, while also touching on themes of personal growth and self-discipline; they are commonly classified under inspirational growth. His representative works include New Grub Street, The Odd Women, The Nether World and Born in Exile. These works mostly present individual fates under poverty, class and professional pressure in a realistic style, with a cold and restrained tone. He also wrote By the Ionian Sea, a travelogue of southern Italy, and The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft, an essayistic work, revealing his observant and introspective side, as well as short story collections such as The House of Cobwebs and Other Stories.

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