Greene Ferne Farm

Jefferies, Richard, 1848-1887Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 226K words
Chapters: 23

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.Greene Ferne Farm by Richard JefferiesAuthor: Jefferies, Richard, 1848-1887,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Aug 12, 2011

Editor's review

Richard Jefferies was a major nineteenth-century English writer of nature literature and rural fiction. Set in the English countryside, this novel continues the author's close observation of fields, farming, and village life; its prose combines novelistic narrative with essayistic nature description, letting readers feel the breath and rhythm of rural society in the late Victorian era. For readers familiar with nature essays such as Field and Hedgerow, this work offers a way into Jefferies's world through fictional narrative; for those studying nineteenth-century English rural literature and the writing of local landscape, it is also a text worth including in view. Note that this is the original English edition, so Chinese readers need some English reading ability; its narrative pace is also rather slow, with plot progression less tight than in modern fiction, making it better suited to a mindset of savoring language and atmosphere.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English-language readers who enjoy English nature writing and rural subjects
Literature enthusiasts studying nineteenth-century English countryside and local writing
Readers who wish to encounter Jefferies's work in the original English
Readers of classic fiction who prefer slow pacing and atmosphere-rich description

Not a good fit for

Readers with limited English reading ability who need a Chinese translation
General fiction readers seeking strong plot and fast-paced narrative
Readers uninterested in Victorian rural subjects

Reading tips

Read a few pages first to feel the rhythm of the language, then decide whether to read it through; there is no need to finish it in one sitting
Read alongside Jefferies's nature essays to appreciate the consistency of his observational perspective
Look up farming and local landscape terms as you go; do not let unfamiliar words interrupt your reading
Read in sections, concentrating on savoring one scene or one passage of landscape description at a time

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 the Chinese version or the original English edition?

This is the original English e-book released by Project Gutenberg, with the main text in English. Chinese readers need some English reading ability; the book contains no Chinese translation or notes.

Can I read this without having read other works by Jefferies?

Yes. This is a standalone novel that does not depend on prior events from other works. Still, knowing Jefferies's style in his nature essays beforehand will make it easier to enter its slow, atmosphere-rich narrative pace.

Is this book suitable for studying the nineteenth-century English countryside?

It can serve as supplementary material. It presents literary descriptions of rural life and the natural environment, but it is fiction rather than historical source material; in research it should be used alongside local gazetteers, agricultural history, and other sources, and should not be relied on alone as historical evidence.

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About the author

Jefferies, Richard, 1848-1887 Author

Richard Jefferies (1848–1887) was an English essayist and novelist of the Victorian era. Public information about him is limited, and many details of his life remain uncertain. He was a prolific writer, with twenty works held in this collection, centred on natural history, rural life and personal reflection. Representative works such as The Life of the Fields, The Open Air and Wild Life in a Southern County record plants, animals and the rhythms of farming life with delicate precision, while The Story of My Heart turns to autobiographical spiritual meditation. The novel Bevis: The Story of a Boy follows a boy's growth, and After London; or, Wild England imagines the wilderness that follows the collapse of civilisation, showing a vision beyond pastoral essays. His writing is exact in observation and clear in style, often conveying a deep care for life and the land, and he is regarded as an important voice bridging the tradition of English nature writing.