Ringfield: A Novel

Harrison, S. Frances (Susie Frances), 1859-1935Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.9

Word count: 549K words
Chapters: 55

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.Ringfield: A Novel by S. Frances HarrisonAuthor: Harrison, S. Frances (Susie Frances), 1859-1935,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Oct 3, 2008

Editor's review

*Ringfield: A Novel* is a novel by the Canadian writer Susie Frances Harrison and belongs to the late nineteenth-century tradition of Canadian English literature. Harrison was herself a poet, novelist, and musician whose works often concern women's circumstances and social customs, and this novel continues such concerns: with the place name "Ringfield" as its pivot, it unfolds the networks of relationships and turns of fate among characters in a local community, carrying themes common to late Victorian fiction—marriage and love, class, and moral choice. For Chinese readers, its value lies not in strong dramatic plotting but in offering a sample for observing the imagination of local society in Canada shortly after Confederation, which can be compared with British and American novels of the same period to see how frontier communities were narrated. The Project Gutenberg public-domain electronic edition makes this hard-to-find work accessible again, suitable for literary history enthusiasts, comparative literature readers, and learners studying regional writing in English literature as a primary text. Read it slowly and pay attention to the narrator's tone in evaluating characters' words and deeds, for that is often the key to understanding the author's standpoint.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers studying or taking courses in Canadian English literature who need primary texts
Literature enthusiasts interested in late nineteenth-century women writers and regional fiction
Readers doing comparative literature who want to compare British, American, and Canadian narratives
Advanced English majors expanding their reading of public-domain novels

Not a good fit for

Contemporary genre-fiction readers seeking strong plots and fast-paced narrative
Beginners who are not yet proficient in English reading and need detailed annotations and introductions
Researchers seeking modern scholarly collation and biographical documentation of the author
Readers uninterested in Victorian-style marriage and moral themes

Reading tips

Read the first two chapters to clarify the relationships among characters, then make a character list to keep in the book for reference.
Pay attention to the words the narrator uses to evaluate female characters; take notes as you read and revisit these passages afterward.
Read one British or American novel from the same period alongside it and compare how local communities are portrayed.
There are many long English sentences; read one chapter at a time and retell the gist to avoid confusing the plot threads.

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 background of the author, Harrison?

Susie Frances Harrison (1859–1935) was a Canadian poet and novelist who also worked in music and often published under the pen name Seranus. Her writing includes poetry, fiction, and music criticism, and concerns women's experience and Canadian local life. This book is one of her novels; specific biographical details should be based on reliable biographical sources.

Is the novel suitable as English learning material?

It can be used as extended reading, but it is not an ideal introductory text. It is a late nineteenth-century English novel with long syntax and period vocabulary, and it lacks modern annotations. Advanced English majors or readers who have already read several Victorian novels will adapt more easily; beginners are advised to start with graded readers or modern novels of moderate difficulty.

Does the electronic edition have annotations and an introduction?

The Project Gutenberg edition is mainly the public-domain original text and usually does not include modern scholarly annotations, an author chronology, or an introduction. Readers who need background information should consult Canadian literary history materials or related research literature themselves. The advantage of the electronic edition is that the full text is searchable, making it easy to locate passages where characters and place names appear.

What are the main highlights of this novel?

The highlights lie mainly in how the everyday relationships of a local community are narrated and in the author's handling of women's circumstances and moral choices. It does not rely on suspense or strong conflict but advances through characters' conversation and details of setting. For readers of literary history, it is also a sample for observing how early Canadian English fiction borrowed British and American conventions while presenting local experience.

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About the author

Harrison, S. Frances (Susie Frances), 1859-1935 Author · Canadian · 1859–1935

Susie Frances Harrison (1859–1935), usually published as S. Frances Harrison, was a Canadian poet, novelist and music teacher. Public information about her life is limited, and what is known centers mainly on her literary work. She was known for her poetry collection Pine and Maple and for the novel Ringfield: A Novel, and also wrote the prose collection Crowded Out! and Other Sketches. Her writing combines the lyricism of poetry with the narrative drive of fiction, drawing on Canadian life and natural scenery, in a clear and quietly expressive style. She holds a place in Canadian English-language literature of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and her work in both poetry and fiction continues to interest scholars of early Canadian literature.