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Carregando... Esther Waters (1894)de George Moore
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Registre-se no LibraryThing tpara descobrir se gostará deste livro. Ainda não há conversas na Discussão sobre este livro. This book really bowled me over. It deserves a place as one of the greatest works of Victorian fiction. I loved the way Moore was able to realistically portray not only a woman but a working-class woman. I wept at her struggle to keep her illegitimate child, shared her determination and felt the difficulty of her choices. Yet it is neither downbeat nor sentimental. A much more true to life portrait of a Victorian girl who bears an illegitimate child than Mrs Gaskell's Ruth (much as I admire and enjoy Mrs G's works). And certainly better than Tess of the D'Urbervilles (but I have never been a big Hardy fan. Thomas or Oliver...) 799. Esther Waters An English Story by George Moore (read 11 Mar 1965) I was at the time I read this book immersed in 19th century English literature and asked a friend (who subsequ ently went on to obtain a doctorate in the field) for suggestions and he named this book as the book to read by George Moore. I did and think I felt it was well worth reading.
Esther Waters is the title which George Orwell declared to be 'far and away the best' of the ten novels which make up Penguin's third series (Penguins numbered 21 to 30) in his 1936 essay Review of Penguin Books. He says of Esther Waters that it was 'written by a man whose fingers were all thumbs and who had not learned some of the most elementary tricks of the novelist...but the book's fundamental sincerity makes its surface faults almost negligible.' Continued Pertence à série publicadaEveryman's Library (933) Penguin Books (23) Rowohlt Jahrhundert (21) The World's Classics (594)
One of the great novels of London life and labour in the 1890s, 'Esther Waters' is the story of a single mother struggling against prejudice and injustice. It vividly brings to life a world of horse racing, gambling, and public houses and was groundbreaking in its approach. Não foram encontradas descrições de bibliotecas. |
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Google Books — Carregando... GênerosClassificação decimal de Dewey (CDD)823.8Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Victorian period 1837-1900Classificação da Biblioteca do Congresso dos E.U.A. (LCC)AvaliaçãoMédia:
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George Moore certainly does not rise to the top of the list of inspired writers. He is neither as descriptive nor as elegant a writer as Thomas Hardy; the telling of his tale suffers as a result. As an example, the rape scene in Tess is written with such sublime inspiration as to leave the reader in awe of the act. Moore manages to pass over the deed in a few quick sentences. Further, although Moore talks of Esther's time in the workhouse, he never adequately describes the horrors of the place. The reader can be forgiven for thinking that the hell of these workhouses was not all that bad.
The most striking difference between these two novels comes at the end. In Tess we are confronted with the image of Tess at the end of the hangman's noose after murdering her assailant, but Moore takes Ester to a completely different place. We see her at the end of the book with her former and current employer, Mrs. Barfield, working as a maid at Woodview where the story began. The closing scene is of Esther's son, Jack, coming to visit and embracing his mother. it comes as the fitting end for a woman who had endured such privation but showered such love on her son, Jack, in order to raise him. She is rewarded with his love as he embarks on his own adult life. In this way Esther is triumphant, almost redeemed. As such, George Moore's novel can be read as an uplifting book expounding the virtues of hard work and sacrifice in the service of familial devotion. ( )