Ladies Must Live

Alice Duer MillerProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 227K 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.Ladies Must Live by Alice Duer MillerAuthor: Miller, Alice Duer, 1874-1942,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Jun 30, 2004

Editor's review

Ladies Must Live is a novel by Alice Duer Miller and a public-domain work of American literature. Judging by the title and the author's identity, it continues Miller's habit of observing and satirizing social conventions and gender roles, and it is best read in the context of early twentieth-century American popular fiction and women's writing. As a Project Gutenberg electronic text, its value lies first in accessibility: readers can encounter an early American novel rarely found on bestseller lists at very low cost and observe the narrative pacing, dialogue style, and social scenes of the period. As you read, watch how the characters navigate between the pressures of having to "live" and the demands of respectability, and note the narrator's subtle attitude toward marriage, class, and women's circumstances. It works best as a combination of literary-historical document and leisure reading, not as a tightly plotted modern genre novel.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in early twentieth-century American fiction and women's writing
Casual readers who enjoy social-mores fiction and themes of marriage and class
English learners who need public-domain English texts for reading practice or textual analysis
Scholars of early American popular literature looking to expand their corpus of texts

Not a good fit for

Readers of modern genre fiction who want strong plots, fast pacing, or suspenseful twists
Beginners who need detailed annotation, introductions, or facing translations
Readers with little patience for early English narrative pacing and social description

Reading tips

Read the first few chapters to gauge the pacing and character relationships before deciding whether to read straight through or selectively.
Jot down as you read the "musts" and "choices" the female characters face, mapping out the thematic threads.
Read it alongside other American women's writing of the same period, noting the ironic tone of the narration.
English learners can close-read dialogue passages chapter by chapter and imitate their expression in social scenes.

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

What kind of novel is this book?

Judging by the author and title, it is an early twentieth-century American novel of social manners, concerned with women's circumstances, marriage, and social conventions, with a narrative weighted toward relationships and dialogue rather than strong adventure plotting. For specific plot details, consult the original text, and don't expect it to read like a modern genre novel.

Can I understand it without annotations?

Readers with intermediate English proficiency can attempt it, but social idiom, euphemism, and period background in early fiction may pose obstacles. Keep a dictionary at hand, and when you encounter unfamiliar social customs, read on and focus on character relationships and the main conflicts.

Why is the author Alice Duer Miller worth noting?

Miller was an early twentieth-century American writer known for fiction and poetry, and her work often engages with women's issues and social conventions. Reading this novel helps understand how she handles gender and class in everyday life, but any assessment should return to the text itself.

Is this ebook suitable for scholarly citation?

It can serve as reading and preliminary research material for a public-domain text, but the Project Gutenberg edition is text-focused and lacks modern scholarly annotation. For formal citation in academic papers, check the print or other collated editions and cite the electronic text's source.

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About the author

Alice Duer Miller Author · American · 1874–1942

Alice Duer Miller (1874–1942) was an American poet, novelist, and suffragist. Born on Staten Island, New York, and a graduate of Barnard College, she is best known for her 1915 book of satirical verse Are Women People?, which supported women's suffrage and gave the movement a phrase that became a popular slogan. Her writing spanned poetry and popular fiction, often addressing marriage, family, and social manners in a witty, briskly satirical style; several of her works, including Ladies Must Live and Manslaughter, were adapted into films. Seven of her works are included in this collection, commonly categorized under inspirational and personal growth.