Backwater: Pilgrimage, Volume 2

Richardson, Dorothy M. (Dorothy Miller), 1873-1957Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.1

Word count: 335K words
Chapters: 34

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.Backwater: Pilgrimage, Volume 2 by Dorothy M. RichardsonAuthor: Richardson, Dorothy M. (Dorothy Miller), 1873-1957,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Dec 22, 2017

Editor's review

Backwater is the second volume of Dorothy Richardson's long series Pilgrimage and one of the early important experiments in stream-of-consciousness writing in English literature. This volume continues the growth of the protagonist Miriam, focusing on the narrow spaces of boarding school and family life and, through minute sensory impressions and inner fragments, presenting a young woman's acute perception of self, others, and her everyday surroundings. Richardson's language relies not on dramatic events but on syntactic experiment and shifting perspective, reading like a photograph slowly developing in the mind. For readers interested in modernist fiction, women's writing, and the evolution of narrative form, it offers an irreplaceable specimen; for readers used to strong plot, it poses a barrier. As a public-domain electronic text, it is best read in series order and also suits close reading for research on stream-of-consciousness writing.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Students and scholars of modernist fiction and stream-of-consciousness narrative
Literary readers interested in women's writing and themes of female growth
Readers who enjoy experimental fiction with delicate psychological description and a slow pace
Students needing texts for close reading in English literature courses

Not a good fit for

Readers of popular fiction who prefer strong plots and fast pacing
Readers who want to read independently without following earlier volumes in the series
Readers with limited English reading experience who struggle with long sentences and shifting perspective

Reading tips

Try to read the first volume of Pilgrimage before this one to grasp the continuity of character and narrative method.
Slow down and read chapter by chapter, noting how sensory details and inner fragments accumulate into the character's consciousness.
Keep pen and paper to mark recurring images and shifts in perspective, then review how these threads echo after finishing.
Read alongside introductory essays on modernist fiction or women's writing to lower the formal barrier.

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

Can I read this without having read the first volume?

You can, but you will lose some continuity of character and narrative method. Backwater is the second volume of Pilgrimage, and the protagonist's growth and the writing method were already developed in the previous volume. If time allows, read in order; if you are only studying form, a close reading of this volume alone can stand on its own.

Why does the book feel so weak in plot?

This is the author's deliberate method. Richardson replaces traditional plot progression with minute sensory impressions and inner fragments, bringing the narrative close to the flow of the character's consciousness. If readers adjust their expectations and focus on the texture of the language and psychological detail, they will find it easier to enter the text than by looking for turning points in events.

What is this book's place in literary history?

It is one of the early experiments in stream-of-consciousness writing in English literature, echoing the modernist exploration of narrative form in the same period. Its value lies mainly in narrative technique and the presentation of a female perspective, and it is best understood within the development of modernist fiction rather than read as a plot-driven classic.

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About the author

Richardson, Dorothy M. (Dorothy Miller), 1873-1957 Author

Dorothy M. Richardson (1873–1957) was a British modernist novelist best known for the long series Pilgrimage. The library holds volumes 1 to 6 of the series—Pointed Roofs, Backwater, Honeycomb, The Tunnel, Interim, and Deadlock—which follow the consciousness of the heroine Miriam Henderson through delicate interior monologue and fragmentary narrative that break with conventional plot structure, marking her as an early practitioner of stream-of-consciousness fiction. The library also includes Gleanings from the Works of George Fox and The Quakers, Past and Present, reflecting her interest in religious history and the Quaker tradition. Public information is limited, and biographical details lie beyond the scope of this note.