Old Kensington

Ritchie, Anne Thackeray, 1837-1919Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.4

Word count: 850K words
Chapters: 86

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.Old Kensington by Anne Thackeray RitchieAuthor: Ritchie, Anne Thackeray, 1837-1919,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: May 27, 2011

Editor's review

Old Kensington is a novel by Anne Thackeray Ritchie, daughter of the English novelist William Makepeace Thackeray, and her writing carries the delicate touch of a Victorian literary family. Set in London's old Kensington, the novel unfolds a panorama of social manners through the daily interactions of characters and families, with themes of class, memory, and generational relationships. Ritchie's narrative is gentle and restrained, excelling in detail and atmosphere; it will appeal to readers interested in Victorian social fiction, London local history, and the tradition of women's writing. This Project Gutenberg English ebook edition is easy to search and excerpt. Readers may compare it with Thackeray or other contemporary English novels to appreciate the similarities and differences in style across a literary family, or read it as a literary text for the atmosphere of 19th-century London neighborhood life.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy Victorian English social novels
Readers interested in London local history and old Kensington neighborhood culture
Researchers interested in women writers and the tradition of literary-family writing
Literature students who wish to close-read the original English ebook

Not a good fit for

Readers of popular fiction who prefer fast plots and strong dramatic conflict
Readers who need a Chinese translation and are unaccustomed to reading English originals
Readers with no interest in 19th-century English social background

Reading tips

Learn about Victorian London's social classes and neighborhood layout before entering the narrative.
Read alongside Thackeray's works to observe the continuity and differences in style between father and daughter.
Use a character relationship chart to keep track of the multiple narrative threads.
Read slowly and savor environmental description and dialogue details rather than rushing through.

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 this book written by Thackeray, the author of Vanity Fair?

No. The author, Anne Thackeray Ritchie, was William Makepeace Thackeray's daughter and a writer in her own right. This is a novel she wrote independently, with its own themes and style; readers should not treat it directly as Thackeray's work, though they may compare the literary interests of father and daughter.

What level of English is needed to read this book?

This is a 19th-century English novel with long sentences and formal diction. A good command of English is recommended, or an annotated edition and a dictionary. Readers with basic English can first learn the background and character relationships and then read closely in sections to avoid losing momentum over long sentences.

Is this book suitable for learning about London history?

Set in old Kensington, the book offers literary depictions of local customs and social life and can serve as supplementary reading for the atmosphere of 19th-century London neighborhoods. But it is a novel, not a history; readers seeking accurate historical information should consult works of London local history alongside it.

Comments

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About the author

Ritchie, Anne Thackeray, 1837-1919 Author · British · 1837–1919

Anne Thackeray Ritchie (1837–1919) was a British novelist and essayist, and the daughter of the celebrated writer William Makepeace Thackeray. Growing up amid the literary atmosphere of the Victorian age, she wrote in a style that combines the narrative drive of fiction with the discursive charm of the essay. Two of her works are held here: A Book of Sibyls, a collection of essays on Miss Barbauld, Miss Edgeworth, Mrs Opie and Miss Austen, reflects her interest in the tradition of women's writing and her delicate critical appreciation; Old Kensington, set in the old district of Kensington in London, is steeped in local memory and nostalgia. Her prose is gentle and unhurried, skilled in the close rendering of character and scene, and she held a recognized place in the British literary world of the late nineteenth century. Public information is limited, and the details of her life and the full range of her work await further study.