Madonna Mary

Margaret Oliphant Wilson OliphantProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 1.1M words
Chapters: 106

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.Madonna Mary by Mrs. OliphantAuthor: Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret), 1828-1897,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Oct 31, 2013

Editor's review

Madonna Mary is an English novel by Margaret Oliphant in the Victorian novel tradition. Oliphant is known for her depictions of domestic life, women's circumstances, and small-town social relations; her touch is gentle and her observation meticulous, and she excels at presenting moral dilemmas and emotional entanglements within everyday scenes. The book centers on a woman given the name "Madonna Mary," and the title itself hints at the expectations and judgments of those around her. Readers may note the tension between the social gaze implied by this name and the character's self-perception. The narrative is built around personal relationships and family ethics, and it suits readers who prefer slow reading and attention to inner life and social norms. As a public-domain e-book, the text is easy to search and cite and can be used for Victorian fiction research or English literature reading practice. While reading, pay attention to the narrator's attitude toward female characters and to how domestic space carries social judgment.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literary readers who enjoy Victorian British fiction
Researchers interested in images of women and themes of family ethics
Advanced learners who want to improve their English reading through original texts
Those interested in Oliphant's works or depictions of nineteenth-century small-town society

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer modern fast-paced narratives with strong suspense
Readers impatient with the slow unfolding and long dialogue of Victorian novels
Beginners with weak English who are not yet able to read nineteenth-century English originals directly

Reading tips

Learn the basics of Victorian domestic ideals and women's roles before reading the main text
While reading, note the contexts and speakers associated with the name "Madonna Mary"
After each section, map the character relationships and note differences between social judgment and self-perception
Read alongside other works by Oliphant to compare her common techniques in domestic narrative

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 should the title "Madonna Mary" be understood?

The name in the title carries the expectations and judgments surrounding the heroine, like a "Madonna"-style label. While reading, note who uses this name, on what occasions it appears, and whether there is a gap between it and the character's actual circumstances.

What are the typical features of Oliphant's novels?

Oliphant often writes about domestic life, small-town society, and women's circumstances. Her narrative is gentle and subtle, with emphasis on personal relationships and moral situations. Her works are slow-paced and strong in emotional portrayal within everyday scenes, suiting slow, attentive reading.

What should I do if the English original is difficult to read?

Start with an annotated edition or read alongside a translation, focusing on understanding character dialogue and the narrator's evaluative tone. For long sentences, first identify the main structure, then review the modifiers, gradually adapting to nineteenth-century English syntax and vocabulary.

Comments

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About the author

Margaret Oliphant Wilson Oliphant Author · British (Scottish) · 1828–1897

Mrs. Oliphant (Margaret Oliphant Wilson Oliphant, 1828–1897) was a prolific Scottish novelist, historical writer and biographer of the Victorian era. Born in Wallyford, she gained fame in 1849 with Passages in the Life of Mrs. Margaret Maitland. In 1852 she married her cousin Frank Oliphant; widowed in 1859, she supported her children by her pen and published more than a hundred works in her lifetime. The library holds 90 of her works, including the Carlingford Chronicles, Salem Chapel, Miss Marjoribanks, supernatural tales, Hester, Kirsteen and the autobiography The Days of My Life. She is known for her delicate, humorous portrayals of small-town life and for her historical and biographical writing, and stands as a representative professional woman writer of the Victorian period.