Nightmare Abbey

Thomas Love PeacockProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.1

Word count: 158K words
Chapters: 16

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.Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love PeacockAuthor: Peacock, Thomas Love, 1785-1866,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Feb 1, 2006

Editor's review

Nightmare Abbey is a satirical novel by Thomas Love Peacock, published in the early nineteenth century. Set in a country house, it brings a series of characters steeped in metaphysics and Romantic sentiment onto the stage in turn, using dialogue and plot to poke fun at the intellectual fashions of the contemporary literary world. The book is short and dense with wit, with dialogue occupying much of its length; it reads more like a comedy of ideas dressed as a novel. Its parody of the English Romantic literary circle makes it an amusing piece of evidence for understanding the literary tastes of that period. It suits as supplementary reading for courses in English literature, and also suits readers who enjoy satirical writing and intellectual dialogue to read closely in their spare time, but one should not expect a tightly plotted story.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Students and teachers studying English Romantic literature
Literary readers who enjoy satirical novels and intellectual dialogue
Enthusiasts who want to understand the literary fashions of nineteenth-century England
Learners who need a short English public-domain book for reading practice

Not a good fit for

Readers of genre fiction seeking strong plot and fast-paced narrative
Complete beginners unfamiliar with nineteenth-century literary context and without annotations
Readers hoping for a serious philosophical treatise rather than a parody

Reading tips

First learn the basic background of Romantic writers such as Byron and Shelley; the satire will then be easier to appreciate.
Read the dense dialogue as an exchange of ideas, slow down, and note the suggestive meanings of the characters' names.
After finishing, revisit the key dialogue passages to trace the author's thread of mockery of Romantic sentiment.

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 the relationship between this book and the Gothic novel?

The title and the country-house setting carry Gothic overtones, but the work's main purpose is to parody the ideas and behaviour of Romantic literati through satire; it is not a Gothic tale aimed at horror and suspense, so expectations should be adjusted accordingly.

Can I understand it without a background in English literature?

You can read it, but you will miss much of the pleasure of the allusions and parody. It is advisable to first acquire some general knowledge of the representative writers and trends of the Romantic period, or to choose an annotated edition, for a fuller understanding.

How long is it, and is it suitable for reading in one sitting?

The book is short, but the dialogue is dense and full of wit, so reading it in one sitting makes it easy to miss details. Reading it in two or three sessions, with a brief review after each part, works better.

Comments

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About the author

Thomas Love Peacock Author · English · 1785–1866

Thomas Love Peacock (1785–1866) was a British novelist and poet, born in Weymouth, Dorset, and died in Surrey. He spent his working life at the East India Company and was a close friend of the poet Shelley. Peacock is known for his satirical "comic romances," including Nightmare Abbey, Crotchet Castle, Maid Marian, Headlong Hall, and Gryll Grange. These works use witty dialogue to poke fun at the intellectual currents of his day, placing characters and debate within a relaxed narrative frame. Five of his works are held in this collection. Public information is limited, so his biography is not elaborated here; readers may appreciate his satirical manner and conversational art through the works mentioned above.