Grey Roses cover

Grey Roses

Rating 3.1
Word count
265K words
Chapters
27

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. Grey Roses by Henry Harland. Author: Harland, Henry, 1861-1905. Language: English. Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature. Release Date: Apr 29, 2005

Editor's review

Grey Roses is an English novel by Henry Harland, available in the free eBook library of Project Gutenberg. Harland was an aesthete novelist on the late nineteenth-century English and American literary scene, and his work is known for polished style, delicate psychological portrayal, and satirical observation of upper-class life. Grey Roses continues in this vein, advancing its narrative through atmosphere and dialogue, and will appeal to readers interested in late Victorian English literature. This is a public-domain electronic text in the original English, which makes some demands on language ability, but its moderate length makes it a suitable introduction to Harland's work. As you read, watch for the crafted quality of the phrasing and the restraint of the narrative pace, which are precisely where aestheticist fiction differs from plot-driven writing.

Who it's for

A good fit for

  • Readers who enjoy late Victorian English literature
  • Those who want to extend their reading of English originals through public-domain eBooks
  • Students and enthusiasts studying late nineteenth-century aestheticist fiction

Not a good fit for

  • Readers used to fast-paced plots and strong dramatic conflict
  • Beginners whose English reading ability is not yet sufficient for long literary sentences

Reading tips

  1. Read a chapter or two first to get a feel for the style and atmosphere before deciding whether to read the whole book
  2. Don't look up every unfamiliar word at once; grasp the overall meaning of the dialogue and scenes first
  3. Read alongside biographical material on Harland and background on aestheticism for comparison

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

FAQ

Is this book in Chinese or English?
The original is in English. This edition is an English public-domain eBook provided by Project Gutenberg and contains no Chinese translation, so some English reading ability is needed.
Is it suitable for reading on a phone or e-reader?
Project Gutenberg texts are mainly plain text and can be read on phones, tablets, or e-readers. A comfortable font size and adjustable line spacing are recommended to reduce fatigue during long reading sessions.
Do I need to know the author's background to understand it?
Systematic research is not necessary beforehand, but knowing that Harland was part of the late nineteenth-century aestheticist movement helps in understanding his preference for crafted style and atmosphere, making the reading smoother.

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About the author

Henry Harland (Harland, Henry, 1861-1905) was an English-language writer active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Little is known in China about his life and nationality, and publicly available information is limited. The collection here holds eleven of his works, including My Friend Prospero, Mademoiselle Miss, and Other Stories, Comedies and Errors, The Cardinal's Snuff-Box, As It Was Written: A Jewish Musician's Story, The Royal End: A Romance, Grey Roses, and The Lady Paramount. Judging by these titles and genres, his writing spans novels and short stories, often centering on love, social circles, and mistaken identity, with a blend of light comedy and romantic romance, and occasionally touching on culturally charged subjects such as a Jewish musician. His prose favors plotted narration and dialogue, hovering between aesthetic refinement and social satire. He found readers in his day, though later criticism and research on him remain relatively limited.

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