Mr. Hogarth's Will

Spence, Catherine Helen, 1825-1910Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.2

Word count: 845K words
Chapters: 85

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.Mr. Hogarth's Will by Catherine Helen SpenceAuthor: Spence, Catherine Helen, 1825-1910,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Jul 1, 2003

Editor's review

Mr. Hogarth's Will is a novel by Catherine Helen Spence, centered on the family upheaval triggered by a will and touching on themes of property, marriage, and women's circumstances. Spence herself long concerned herself with social reform, and this concern permeates the novel's plotting and characterization, giving the work a clear dimension of social observation beyond storytelling. The narrative pace is rather unhurried, with character relationships and legal disputes intertwined, and readers need to pay attention to the connection between the will's clauses and the characters' motives. As a public-domain English e-book from Project Gutenberg, it is convenient to search and free to read, suitable as supplementary reading for the study of nineteenth-century English fiction and social issues. When reading, one may note how the author handles women's economic and legal dependence and how she uses plot to express views on institutional arrangements. Readers who prefer strong plot and fast-paced genre fiction may find this book slow.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy nineteenth-century English fiction
Readers concerned with issues of women's property and marriage
Researchers studying Spence's fiction
Learners who need public-domain English novels for extensive reading

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer fast-paced, high-conflict genre fiction
Readers impatient with plots about law and family property

Reading tips

First sort out the will's clauses and character relationships, then read the main text.
Pay attention to changes in female characters' economic and legal circumstances.
Read alongside the author's autobiography to understand her social-reform concerns.
For English reading, read chapter summaries first, then closely read key dialogue.

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 is this novel mainly about?

The novel revolves around Mr. Hogarth's will and, through the family upheaval it triggers, presents issues such as property, marriage, and women's circumstances, bearing the author's characteristic social observation. The specific plot follows the main text of the electronic edition.

Do I need to read the author's autobiography first?

Not necessarily. The novel can be read independently, but if you want to understand why the author cared about women's economic and legal status, reading it alongside her autobiography is more helpful, as the two can serve as mutual references.

How difficult is the English?

It is a nineteenth-century English novel, with sentence patterns and vocabulary bearing the features of its era, and it is fairly long. Readers with intermediate or higher English reading ability can read it through with a dictionary; beginners are advised to read chapter summaries first before the main text.

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About the author

Spence, Catherine Helen, 1825-1910 Author · Australian · 1825–1910

Catherine Helen Spence (1825–1910) was an Australian writer and social reformer. Born in Scotland, she moved to Australia with her family at an early age and devoted much of her life to questions of social justice, becoming one of the leading advocates of the women's suffrage movement in Australia. Her literary work was closely bound up with her social activism, drawing on everyday life to explore women's circumstances and social responsibility. The library holds two of her works: An Autobiography and Mr. Hogarth's Will. The former records her personal experience and the life of her times, while the latter is a novel reflecting her thinking on marriage, property and women's independence. Her other notable work includes the novel Clara Morison. Public information is limited, yet her writing and reformist practice have left their mark on South Australian social history.