Wired Love

Thayer, Ella Cheever, 1849-1925Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.2

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.Wired Love by Ella Cheever ThayerAuthor: Thayer, Ella Cheever, 1849-1925,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Jan 18, 2008

Editor's review

Wired Love is an early American novel set against the backdrop of telegraph communication, centering on relationships formed and deepened over the wires, with a light comic and romantic tone. Its distinctive value lies in capturing the theme of "emotional exchange within a new technological medium": among telegraph operators, written messages serve as both work and social life, giving rise to misunderstandings and imaginings. Seen today, it reads like an early parable of online romance—entertaining, and also a prompt for thinking about how media shape intimacy. As a free Project Gutenberg e-book, it is short and briskly plotted, suitable as a casual sample of nineteenth-century American popular fiction or as supplementary reading for discussions of communication technology and social change. Note that it is popular fiction, not a work of social research; its period attitudes and narrative techniques have clear limitations, and readers should approach it primarily out of literary and historical interest.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in nineteenth-century American popular fiction and romantic comedy
Cultural history enthusiasts concerned with changes in communication technology and social interaction
Learners with fairly proficient English who want a light read from the public domain
Readers needing a sample of popular fiction for classroom discussion or book clubs

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking profound social critique or serious literary analysis
Readers who prefer contemporary narrative pacing and have little patience for old-fashioned plots
Beginners with weak English who want simple reading material

Reading tips

Familiarize yourself first with the working conditions of nineteenth-century telegraph operators; the characters' exchanges will then be easier to follow.
Treat it as light leisure reading, a few chapters at a time, without rushing.
While reading, note the descriptions of the communication medium and compare them with today's online socializing.
For book clubs, frame the discussion around "media and emotion" for best results.

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

What is this book mainly about?

It is a popular novel set against the backdrop of telegraph communication, telling of characters who meet and grow close through written messages over the wires, with misunderstandings and emotional developments along the way. The focus is not on the technology itself but on human relationships and romance within a communication medium, making for a light and entertaining read.

Why is it called an early parable of online romance?

The characters form impressions and attachments solely through written communication, imagining each other—much like online socializing today. Readers can use it to observe how media influence the formation of intimate relationships, but it is a novel, not a research work, so conclusions must be weighed by the reader.

Is this book suitable for classroom use?

It can serve as supplementary material for topics in nineteenth-century American popular fiction or communication culture; it is short with a clear plot, convenient for discussing selected passages. Teachers should, however, supply historical background and remind students of its period attitudes and narrative limitations.

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About the author

Thayer, Ella Cheever, 1849-1925 Author · American · 1849–1925

Ella Cheever Thayer (1849–1925) was an American author. Public information about her life is limited, and what can be confirmed mainly concerns her writing. She wrote novels and children's literature, works that addressed the everyday reading tastes of American readers of her time, yet they did not circulate widely and never entered the mainstream literary canon. Her representative work is Wired Love, a title often understood in Chinese contexts as a story connected with communication or affection, reflecting her interest in human interaction and emotional relationships. On the whole, Thayer belongs among the many nineteenth-century American writers who were industrious yet little known; her output was modest and her influence limited, but Wired Love remains a useful sample for studying popular literature and women's writing of the period.