The History of Sir Richard Calmady (Annotated)
Enriched Edition. Queer ClassicBy Lucas Malet
Length30h 39m
About this audiobook
Published in 1901, The History of Sir Richard Calmady is an ambitious fin-de-siècle novel of inheritance, bodily difference, desire, and spiritual trial. Its hero, born physically disabled into an aristocratic lineage, becomes the center of a searching meditation on masculinity, pity, pride, and social judgment. Lucas Malet blends Victorian realism with romance, melodrama, psychological introspection, and traces of Gothic intensity, placing the novel among the period's most provocative examinations of degeneration, sexuality, and moral endurance. Lucas Malet was the pen name of Mary St Leger Kingsley Harrison, daughter of the clergyman, novelist, and social thinker Charles Kingsley. Her intellectual inheritance, religious seriousness, and keen awareness of gendered constraint shaped her fiction's moral complexity. Writing as a woman within a literary marketplace often suspicious of female authority, Malet adopted a masculine pseudonym while producing work notable for its bold treatment of unconventional bodies, emotional repression, and social hypocrisy. This novel is recommended to readers interested in late-Victorian and Edwardian fiction that challenges easy sentiment. It rewards those drawn to richly textured prose, ethical ambiguity, and studies of character under pressure. Both disturbing and compassionate, it remains a significant work for understanding disability, identity, and desire in modern literary history.
This enriched edition has been carefully crafted to add value to your reading experience.
- A succinct Introduction situates the work's timeless appeal and themes.
- The Synopsis outlines the central plot, highlighting key developments without spoiling critical twists.
- A detailed Historical Context immerses you in the era's events and influences that shaped the writing.
- A thorough Analysis dissects symbols, motifs, and character arcs to unearth underlying meanings.
- Reflection questions prompt you to engage personally with the work's messages, connecting them to modern life.
- Hand‐picked Memorable Quotes shine a spotlight on moments of literary brilliance.
- Interactive footnotes clarify unusual references, historical allusions, and archaic phrases for an effortless, more informed read.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 3.5 (23)
Includes Goodreads
GenreGeneral Fiction, Literary Classics
Length30 hrs 39 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateJun 14, 2021
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1The Green Dwarf (Annotated)
2Introduction
3Synopsis
4Historical Context
5Book I. The Clown
Show all chaptersShow less
6Chapter I. Acquainting the Reader with a Fair Domain and the Maker Thereof
7Chapter II. Giving the Very Earliest Information Obtainable of the Hero of This Book
8Chapter III. Touching Matters Clerical and Controversial
9Chapter IV. Raising Problems Which It is the Purpose of This History to Resolve
10Chapter V. In Which Julius March Beholds the Vision of the New Life
11Chapter VI. Accident or Destiny, According to Your Humour
12Chapter VII. Mrs. William Ormiston Sacrifices a Wine-glass to Fate
13Chapter VIII. Enter a Child of Promise
14Chapter IX. In Which Katherine Calmady Looks on Her Son
15Chapter X. The Birds of the Air Take Their Breakfast
16Book II. The Breaking of Dreams
17Chapter I. Recording Some Aspects of a Small Pilgrim's Progress
18Chapter II. In Which Our Hero Improves His Acquaintance with Many Things—Himself Included
19Chapter III. Concerning That Which, Thank God, Happens Almost Every Day
20Chapter IV. Which Smells Very Vilely of the Stable
21Chapter V. In Which Dickie is Introduced to a Little Dancer with Blush-roses in Her Hat
22Chapter VI. Dealing with a Physician of the Body and a Physician of the Soul
23Chapter VII. An Attempt to Make the Best of It
24Chapter VIII. Telling, Incidentally, of a Broken-down Postboy and a Country Fair
25Book III. La Belle Dame Sans Merci
26Chapter I. In Which Our Hero's World Grows Sensibly Wider
27Chapter II. Telling How Dickie's Soul was Somewhat Sick, and How He Met Fair Women on the Confines of a Wood
28Chapter III. In Which Richard Confirms One Judgment and Reverses Another
29Chapter IV. Julius March Bears Testimony
30Chapter V. Telling How Queen Mary's Crystal Ball Came to Fall on the Gallery Floor
31Chapter VI. In Which Dickie Tries to Ride Away from His Own Shadow, with Such Success as Might Have Been Anticipated
32Chapter VII. Wherein the Reader is Courteously Invited to Improve His Acquaintance with Certain Persons of Quality
33Chapter VIII. Richard Puts His Hand to a Plough from Which There is No Turning Back
34Chapter IX. Which Touches Incidentally on Matters of Finance
35Chapter X. Mr. Ludovic Quayle Among the Prophets
36Chapter XI. Containing Samples Both of Earthly and Heavenly Love
37Book IV. A Slip Betwixt Cup and Lip
38Chapter I. Lady Louisa Barking Traces the Finger of Providence
39Chapter II. Telling How Vanity Fair Made Acquaintance with Richard Calmady
40Chapter III. In Which Katherine Tries to Nail Up the Weatherglass to Set Fair
41Chapter IV. A Lesson Upon the Eleventh Commandment—"Parents Obey Your Children"
42Chapter V. Iphigenia
43Chapter VI. In Which Honoria St. Quentin Takes the Field
44Chapter VII. Recording the Astonishing Valour Displayed by a Certain Small Mouse in a Corner
45Chapter VIII. A Manifestation of the Spirit
46Chapter IX. In Which Dickie Shakes Hands with the Devil
47Book V. Rake's Progress
48Chapter I. In Which the Reader is Courteously Entreated to Grow Older by the Space of Some Four Years, and to Sail Southward Ho! Away
49Chapter II. Wherein Time is Discovered to Have Worked Changes
50Chapter III. Helen De Vallorbes Apprehends Vexatious Complications
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