A Romantic Young Lady

Grant, Robert, 1852-1940Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.1

Word count: 412K words
Chapters: 42

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.A Romantic Young Lady by Robert GrantAuthor: Grant, Robert, 1852-1940,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Mar 1, 2009

Editor's review

This novel by the American writer Robert Grant belongs to the late nineteenth-century tradition of American domestic fiction. It centers on a romantic young woman, written in a light, gently satirical tone, and uses social scenes and courtship choices to portray character psychology. As a free electronic text from Project Gutenberg, it preserves the public-domain book as originally published and suits readers curious about upper-middle-class social life and women's development around the American Gilded Age. While reading, note the narrator's teasing attitude toward the trait of being "romantic," and the class and gender assumptions revealed in the characters' dialogue. Of moderate length, it works well as a transitional text for reading English originals and for close reading by those studying the evolution of female images in American literature. As an early electronic edition, the typesetting may be plain; reading with a guide or notes is recommended.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English-language readers who enjoy late nineteenth-century American domestic fiction and light satire
Students who want to understand American women's development and marriage views through the original text
Teachers who need public-domain English e-books for classroom selections or book-club materials
Readers interested in Project Gutenberg public-domain books who want to build up their reading of originals

Not a good fit for

Contemporary genre-fiction readers expecting strong plots and fast pacing
Beginners unfamiliar with nineteenth-century English syntax and social description who need modern annotations

Reading tips

Read the opening chapters first, noting the narrator's teasing tone toward the heroine's "romantic" character, then decide your reading pace.
Excerpt the dialogue from social occasions and analyze the characters' views on marriage and class consciousness against their social positions.
If reading in English is difficult, start with a Chinese translation or plot summary, then return to the original for close reading of key chapters.

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 suitable for English beginners to read directly?

Not really for zero-beginner or elementary readers. The original is late nineteenth-century English with long sentences and dense social description, and the e-edition lacks modern annotations. Upper-intermediate English ability is suggested, or read a Chinese translation first to understand the plot before trying the original.

How is it different from an ordinary romance novel?

It is closer to domestic fiction than to a pure love story. The focus is not on a twisting romance but on satirically presenting upper-middle-class American social life, marriage views, and women's circumstances through the heroine's romantic tendencies—an easy read with social observation.

What are the features of the Project Gutenberg edition?

This edition is a free public-domain e-book that preserves the original text, with plain typesetting and no modern introduction or annotations. Its advantages are easy access and free quoting; its drawback is a basic reading experience that requires readers to supply background knowledge themselves.

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About the author

Grant, Robert, 1852-1940 Author

Robert Grant (1852–1940) was an American writer about whom few details of his life and education are publicly available; eight of his works are held in this collection. Taken together, they show a broad range. Novels such as Unleavened Bread, The Undercurrent and The Orchid turn largely to social questions—marriage, gender roles and social mobility—with a tone of moral observation and irony. The Art of Living, The Opinions of a Philosopher and Search-Light Letters lean toward essays and reflection, plain in style and clear in argument, while The Law-Breakers and Other Stories and A Romantic Young Lady show that he also wrote short fiction and character sketches. His work is marked by realistic subjects and gentle satire.