Iola Leroy, or Shadows Uplifted

Frances Ellen Watkins HarperProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.0

Word count: 406K words
Chapters: 41

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.Iola Leroy; Or, Shadows Uplifted by Frances Ellen Watkins HarperAuthor: Harper, Frances Ellen Watkins, 1825-1911,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: May 1, 2004

Editor's review

Iola Leroy is the representative novel by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. Set against the backdrop of the American Civil War and its aftermath, it uses the experiences of its heroine, Iola, to portray the profound harm that slavery and racial prejudice inflict on individuals and families. The work combines social critique with moral exhortation and is an important text for the study of nineteenth-century African American literature and Reconstruction-era history. This is the public-domain electronic edition from Project Gutenberg, in the original English, convenient for researchers to search and cite. Readers should understand its narrative pacing and the formulaic quality of its characterization in light of the historical context; it is suitable as supplementary material for cross-reading between literary history and history.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Undergraduate and graduate students studying nineteenth-century African American literature
Readers interested in the history of slavery and the Reconstruction era
Teachers who need a public-domain English novel for textual analysis
Readers interested in early women writers' engagement with social issues

Not a good fit for

General readers hoping for a fast-paced modern novel
Readers with limited English proficiency who need a Chinese translation
Casual readers who want only a plot summary rather than the original text

Reading tips

Read background material on the American Civil War and Reconstruction before entering the novel's main text.
Use alongside a literary history textbook, paying attention to Harper's narrative strategies and moral argument.
Take notes on characters' shifts in status and trace the themes of race and family.
For course use, discuss slavery and the social difficulties after freedom chapter by chapter.

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 non-native English readers?

The original is in English, in a nineteenth-century written style, so non-native readers need some preparation in vocabulary and background knowledge. It is advisable to look up the historical background first, then read with notes or an introduction, and where necessary compare with Chinese scholarly materials.

Does this edition include an introduction or notes?

According to the given information, this is a public-domain electronic text provided by Project Gutenberg that states only that it is the original English text along with publication details; no introduction or notes are mentioned. Readers will need to supplement the background material themselves or consult another edition with a scholarly introduction for reference.

What historical background is needed to read this book?

It is advisable to understand the basic outlines of American slavery, the Civil War, and the Reconstruction era, as well as the education, family, and migration circumstances of nineteenth-century African Americans. This background helps in understanding the characters' identity choices and social conflicts in the novel.

Comments

Find this book

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

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Author · American · 1825–1911

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825–1911) was an African American poet, novelist, and abolitionist, born in Baltimore to a free Black family. Throughout her life she was active in the abolitionist, temperance, and women's suffrage movements, and her writing was closely intertwined with her social activism. Her poems address racial oppression, faith, and moral responsibility in plain yet powerful language. Her novel Iola Leroy, or, Shadows Uplifted centers on a mixed-race woman's origins and struggles and is an important early work of African American women's fiction. Other works, including Sowing and Reaping: A Temperance Story, Minnie's Sacrifice, and Trial and Triumph, draw on temperance, faith, and everyday life, combining moral instruction with social critique. Five of her works are held in this collection. Public information is limited, so biographical details cannot be fully recounted, but the subjects and stance of her works sufficiently show her place in nineteenth-century African American literature and reform movements.