Lucretia — Volume 04

Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron, 1803-1873Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.2

Word count: 176K words
Chapters: 18

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. Lucretia — Volume 04 by Baron Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton. Author: Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron, 1803-1873. Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Mar 1, 2005

Editor's review

This is the fourth and concluding volume of Bulwer-Lytton's four-volume Lucretia, a public-domain English literary eBook released by Project Gutenberg. This volume closes the plot and resolves the characters' fates, and is essential to understanding the novel's moral theme and narrative closure. Compared with the middle volumes, a closing volume tends to be more concentrated in pacing, and is best appreciated by readers who have read the earlier volumes and want to see how the author brings the conflict to an end. The electronic edition is convenient for checking against the original text, close reading, and quotation, making it suitable for literature courses and research. Note that it has no Chinese annotations or introduction; the barrier to reading lies in English proficiency and familiarity with the earlier story. Reading only this volume makes a complete reading experience difficult to achieve.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English-literature readers who have finished the first three volumes and want to complete the book
Course students studying ending narrative and moral themes in Victorian fiction
Researchers who need a public-domain English source text for close reading or quotation
Nineteenth-century fiction enthusiasts who like to search and annotate in e-books

Not a good fit for

General readers who have not read the earlier volumes and want to start from the ending volume
Readers who need a Chinese translation or detailed notes to read smoothly
People who prefer self-contained stories and do not want to commit to a long serial read

Reading tips

Be sure to finish the first three volumes before starting this one; otherwise the characters' fates and the resolution of the conflict will be hard to understand
As you read, note how the author resolves the main characters' fates and compare this with foreshadowing in earlier volumes
Record key passages related to the ending as you read, to support reading reports or paper citations
If English reading is difficult, read chapter summaries first and then return to the original text to keep the overall picture

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 the fourth volume the ending of the whole novel?

Yes. The fourth volume is the closing volume of the four-volume Lucretia, mainly resolving the plot and the characters' fates. It helps readers understand the novel's narrative closure, but it must be read together with the first three volumes for a complete grasp.

What if there are no Chinese notes?

The Gutenberg edition provides only the English original, with no Chinese notes or introduction. Readers can use literary histories, background introductions, or an English-Chinese dictionary alongside it, or first learn the earlier plot summary before entering the original text.

Is it suitable for academic citation?

It can be used as a public-domain English source text for course assignments or paper citations, but version information should be noted and the author, title, volume, and Gutenberg release information should be cited properly. If comparing translations, a corresponding Chinese translation should also be found.

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About the author

Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron, 1803-1873 Author

Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron Lytton (1803–1873) was an English novelist, playwright and politician. The library holds 220 of his works, spanning a wide range of subjects: the historical novel The Last Days of Pompeii, set against the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79; Rienzi, the Last of the Roman Tribunes, on the Roman tribune Cola di Rienzo; and Eugene Aram, a narrative drawn from a criminal case. He also wrote society novels such as Pelham, the family portrait The Caxtons, and the historical study Athens: Its Rise and Fall; the short tale The Haunted and the Haunters, or The House and the Brain reflects his interest in the supernatural. His style is ornate and his plots elaborate, combining romantic colouring with social satire. Public information is limited, and systematic Chinese-language appraisal of his life and work remains scarce.