The Magnetic North

Elizabeth RobinsProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.5
Word count
853K words
Chapters
86

Tags

English Originals Foreign Literature Arctic ExplorationScientific ExpeditionSurvival ChallengesFaith and VowAdventure SpiritReverence for NatureDocumentary NarrativeSnow ImageryExotic CultureArctic Landscape

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.The Magnetic North by Elizabeth RobinsAuthor: Robins, Elizabeth, 1862-1952,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Nov 1, 2003

Editor's review

The Magnetic North is a novel by Elizabeth Robins, available in the Project Gutenberg public-domain collection and classified under American and Canadian literature. Writing as both playwright and novelist, Robins sets the book in a northern landscape and shows a close attention to her characters' circumstances and to the regional atmosphere. For readers interested in northern themes and in writing by women in English literature of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, this work offers an accessible sample. As a public-domain e-book, it is easy to search and cite, making it suitable for supplementary reading in literature courses and for general readers drawn to the fiction of the period. Readers should keep the work's historical context and narrative pace in mind and need not judge it by the tighter pacing of contemporary novels. It is advisable to learn something of the author's life and background before turning to the text, which makes it easier to grasp her character design and narrative intent.

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Reading tips

  1. Begin by looking into Robins's background as playwright and novelist, and learn about the period in which she wrote and the concerns that shaped her work.
  2. While reading, note the relationships among the main characters and how their circumstances change, which helps in following the narrative threads.
  3. Place the book in the context of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century English fiction, and read it alongside works from the same period.
  4. If using it for a course, select key chapters for close reading and discuss the relationship between regional writing and character development.

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.

Contents

  1. 1
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FAQ

What kind of work is The Magnetic North? It is a novel by Elizabeth Robins, classified under American and Canadian literature in the Project Gutenberg collection. It features a northern regional setting and a focus on its characters' circumstances, and belongs to late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century English fiction. It is not a work of historical research; read it as a novel, attending to character, atmosphere, and narrative pace.
Can I read it without knowing the author? You can read it directly, but since Robins was both playwright and novelist, knowing the period in which she wrote and the concerns that shaped her work helps in understanding the character design and narrative manner. If time is limited, at least read a brief author biography and the publication background before starting the text; this reduces the difficulty caused by an unfamiliar historical context.
Is this book suitable for classroom use? It is suitable as supplementary or selected reading in English literature courses, especially when discussing late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century fiction, regional writing, and women authors. Teachers can select key chapters for close reading, with explanation of the author's background and the historical context. Because it is a public-domain e-book, it is easy to search and cite, though attention should be paid to edition information and differences in pagination.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Elizabeth Robins Author · American · 1862–1952

Elizabeth Robins (1862–1952) was an American-born actress, playwright, novelist and suffragist, who often wrote under the pen name C. E. Raimond. She brought Ibsen's plays to the British stage and became widely known for starring in Hedda Gabler, gaining significant standing in the theatre. Her writing spans fiction and drama: her novels include The Magnetic North, The Convert, The Messenger, My Little Sister, The Open Question: A Tale of Two Temperaments and Under the Southern Cross, often focusing on social realities and women's circumstances with a nuanced, critical touch; in drama, her suffrage play Votes for Women: A Play in Three Acts is especially pioneering, directly echoing the contemporary movement for women's right to vote. Seven of her works are held in the collection; public information is limited and no more detailed biographical record is available.