The Pretty Lady

Bennett, Arnold, 1867-1931Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.9

Word count: 459K words
Chapters: 46

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 Pretty Lady by Arnold Bennett. Author: Bennett, Arnold, 1867-1931. Language: English. Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature. Release Date: Jun 1, 2004

Editor's review

The Pretty Lady is a social novel within Arnold Bennett's narrative of wartime London, centered on a courtesan-like woman and her relations with those around her, weaving together desire, respectability, and the pressures of survival in the wartime city. Bennett excels at writing people through dense material detail: room furnishings, clothing, bills, and street scenes are never mere backdrop but direct evidence of a character's circumstances. His narrative tone is cool and restrained, yet frequently reveals irony and compassion in unexpected places, letting readers see how "respectability" is split open by money and war. For readers familiar with Bennett's "Five Towns" novels, this book offers a more urban, more adult perspective; for those studying British social mores and gender relations during the First World War, it also has documentary value. While reading, note the probing and evasion in the characters' dialogue—that is precisely where Bennett exerts his craft in portraying class and desire.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in British social life and urban experience during the First World War
Readers who enjoy Bennett's dense realist style and are willing to read a novel of personal relationships
Students studying gender and class issues in early twentieth-century British fiction
Literary readers accustomed to long English novels and patient with slow exposition

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer strong plotting, fast pacing, or suspenseful twists
Readers hoping for frontline battle scenes and military detail
Readers uncomfortable with adult relationships and the courtesan subject matter

Reading tips

Familiarize yourself with the social background of London during the First World War before entering the character relationships; it will make for smoother reading.
Pay attention to Bennett's descriptions of objects, bills, and dwellings, and treat them as annotations to his characters' circumstances.
In dialogue, notice how characters avoid direct answers; this is a clue to understanding class psychology.
Read alongside other British social novels of the First World War to compare differences in narrative perspective.

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

Do I need to read other works by Bennett first?

No. It is a standalone story and does not depend on prior knowledge of the "Five Towns" series. If you have read other Bennett novels, you will more easily recognize his dense realist technique and restrained ironic tone.

What does "Pretty Lady" in the title refer to?

It points to the central female character and the situation in which she is watched and talked about. The title itself carries an ironic edge, and readers will gradually see the social costs and survival calculations behind "prettiness."

Does this electronic edition include annotations?

This is a public-domain English eBook from Project Gutenberg and typically contains no modern annotations or introduction. When encountering period background, place names, or cultural allusions, it is advisable to consult relevant materials to aid your reading.

Comments

Find this book

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

Bennett, Arnold, 1867-1931 Author

Arnold Bennett (1867–1931) was an English novelist, essayist and playwright. Publicly available information is limited, so his early life and education cannot be described in detail, but his work is clearly recognisable. He often set his writing in the five pottery towns of Staffordshire, his home region, portraying the daily livelihoods and emotional ups and downs of ordinary people in a meticulous, restrained style, and revealing character and circumstance through everyday detail. The collection here holds 45 of his works, including The Old Wives' Tale, Riceyman Steps, Clayhanger and several Five Towns story collections, as well as essays such as The Author's Craft and How to Live on 24 Hours a Day. His writing thus spans fiction and essays on life and the craft of writing, drawing its material from ordinary life with a plain style and close observation.