Hours in a Library, Volume 2

Stephen, Leslie, 1832-1904Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 4.0

Word count: 671K words
Chapters: 68

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.Hours in a Library, Volume 2 by Leslie StephenAuthor: Stephen, Leslie, 1832-1904,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Oct 25, 2009

Editor's review

Hours in a Library, Volume 2 is a collection of essays by the British critic and philosopher Leslie Stephen. With the erudition and ease of a Victorian man of letters, the author unfolds close readings of writers, works, and the pleasures of reading; his prose combines critical sharpness with the affability of the essay. Its value lies not in offering a systematic literary history but in modeling an attitude that treats reading as a way of life: starting from specific texts, he discusses characters, style, and the spirit of the age, as well as the prejudices and pleasures of the reader. The discussions are mostly grounded in the English literary tradition and are suited to readers interested in classical English essays and the history of literary criticism, to be savored slowly. Because the original is in English and was written in the nineteenth century, the syntax is dense and the allusions frequent, so reading requires some patience; precisely for this reason, it is better suited as a slow book for the bedside or desk, to be dipped into and set aside at will, without haste.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who love English literature and the Victorian essay tradition
Literature students who want to understand the style of nineteenth-century literary criticism
Readers accustomed to slow reading who take pleasure in close textual reading
Researchers interested in Leslie Stephen and his critical method

Not a good fit for

Beginners seeking a systematic literary history textbook or introductory guide
Readers who prefer fast-paced narrative and lack patience for the essay form
Readers who struggle with English reading and are unwilling to use notes and reference works

Reading tips

Start with chapters on writers you already know rather than reading from the beginning in order.
After each piece, jot down the critical angle the author uses to build a feel for literary criticism.
When you encounter allusions and biographical details, consult reference works or notes, digesting one piece at a time.
Best read one or two pieces a day, as light reading before bed or on the commute, avoiding the pressure to keep pace.

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 an English original or a Chinese translation?

According to the information provided, the book is in English and was released as an electronic edition by Project Gutenberg; it is a public-domain English essay collection, not a Chinese translation. Reading it requires some English proficiency, with a dictionary and background materials as needed.

Can I read it without a background in literary criticism?

Yes, but it is best to start with chapters on writers you know, treating it as essays rather than a theoretical work. The author's prose has the ease and allusiveness of nineteenth-century essays, so reading will be slower without background knowledge; notes and reference works can help.

Is this book better for reading straight through or selectively?

It is better suited to selective and slow reading. The pieces are relatively independent, each centered on different writers and works, so readers can skip around by interest or read one or two a day. Reading straight through can be tiring because of the dense allusions; selective reading better captures the author's pleasure in close reading.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Stephen, Leslie, 1832-1904 Author

Leslie Stephen (1832–1904) was a Victorian-era English author and literary critic; details of his life and education are limited in publicly available sources. Twelve of his works are held here, spanning literary criticism and intellectual history. The three volumes of Hours in a Library discuss books and reading in an essayistic style that is unhurried yet incisive, while his biographical studies Samuel Johnson and Alexander Pope combine accounts of the subjects' lives with analysis of their writings. The two volumes of The English Utilitarians trace the development of British utilitarian thought in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and English Literature and Society in the Eighteenth Century examines changes in literary taste and fashion against their social background. His writing is known for solid scholarship and clear prose, and is often grouped among inspirational and personal-growth titles; it has had some influence on later English literary criticism and intellectual history.