Kept in the Dark

Trollope, Anthony, 1815-1882Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.7

Word count: 398K words
Chapters: 40

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.Kept in the Dark by Anthony TrollopeAuthor: Trollope, Anthony, 1815-1882,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Sep 10, 2007

Editor's review

Kept in the Dark is a late novel by Anthony Trollope, continuing his delicate observation of marriage, trust, and secrets. Trollope has always excelled at planting moral tension beneath seemingly calm everyday life; this book revolves around concealment and confession, with the characters' psychology advancing layer by layer, offering both narrative suspense and a cool examination of human weakness. As a free electronic edition from Project Gutenberg, it serves well as an introduction to Victorian English fiction and as a way for Trollope readers to complete the map of his late works. While reading, note the narrator's sense of measure in judging characters—Trollope rarely preaches directly, instead letting readers weigh matters for themselves through dialogue and interior monologue. The book is moderate in length, suitable for reading in segments on a commute or before bed; the English original is of medium difficulty, and readers with some grounding in English can use annotated editions or introductions to aid comprehension.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy Victorian English fiction and want to broaden their reading of Trollope
Readers interested in marriage, trust, and secrets who prefer finely drawn psychological portraiture
Literature lovers with intermediate or better English reading ability who wish to read English originals
Students or self-learners seeking free public-domain e-book resources

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer fast pacing and strong plot and lack patience for psychological development
Beginners with weak English who cannot yet independently read long nineteenth-century English sentences

Reading tips

Read a chapter of introduction or learn about Trollope's background first, then enter the main text to better grasp the narrative's measure
Read in chapter-by-chapter segments; at the end of each chapter, note changes in the characters' attitudes toward "concealment" and keep brief notes
When encountering long sentences, first grasp the main clause and then add modifiers; consult a Chinese translation if necessary

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

How difficult is the English in this book, and what background is needed?

It is a nineteenth-century English novel, with longer sentences and more formal vocabulary, but the plot moves clearly. With reading ability around CET-4 level, plus annotations or an introduction, you can finish it fairly smoothly; if it feels difficult, read a Chinese translation first and then compare it with the original.

Can I read this directly without having read other works by Trollope?

Yes. This book is a standalone story and does not depend on earlier works. However, Trollope's narrative style is fairly understated; readers new to him may find it easier to enter the context by first learning about his era and common themes.

What are the features of this edition?

This is a free electronic edition released by Project Gutenberg, a public-domain English original that is easy to obtain and search on a computer or e-reader. It does not include notes or an introduction by modern scholars; if background material is needed while reading, consult relevant literary histories or introductory materials separately.

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

Trollope, Anthony, 1815-1882 Author

Anthony Trollope (1815–1882) was a prolific English novelist of the Victorian era, with 83 works held in this collection. He is best known for the Barsetshire novels, including The Last Chronicle of Barset, Barchester Towers, and Framley Parsonage, which are set in a fictional English county and portray the daily life, social manners, and power struggles of the clergy and gentry. Other major works, such as The Way We Live Now, The Prime Minister, Orley Farm, and Can You Forgive Her?, turn to politics, business, and marriage, revealing with careful restraint and gentle irony the tension between social convention and personal ambition. Public information is limited, yet his plain narrative style, large casts of clearly drawn characters, and depiction of Victorian social structure retain lasting value for readers.