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
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)
38Chapter I. Lady Louisa Barking Traces the Finger of Providence
2Introduction
39Chapter II. Telling How Vanity Fair Made Acquaintance with Richard Calmady
3Synopsis
40Chapter III. In Which Katherine Tries to Nail Up the Weatherglass to Set Fair
4Historical Context
41Chapter IV. A Lesson Upon the Eleventh Commandment—"Parents Obey Your Children"
5Book I. The Clown
42Chapter V. Iphigenia
Show all chaptersShow less
6Chapter I. Acquainting the Reader with a Fair Domain and the Maker Thereof
43Chapter VI. In Which Honoria St. Quentin Takes the Field
7Chapter II. Giving the Very Earliest Information Obtainable of the Hero of This Book
44Chapter VII. Recording the Astonishing Valour Displayed by a Certain Small Mouse in a Corner
8Chapter III. Touching Matters Clerical and Controversial
45Chapter VIII. A Manifestation of the Spirit
9Chapter IV. Raising Problems Which It is the Purpose of This History to Resolve
46Chapter IX. In Which Dickie Shakes Hands with the Devil
10Chapter V. In Which Julius March Beholds the Vision of the New Life
47Book V. Rake's Progress
11Chapter VI. Accident or Destiny, According to Your Humour
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
12Chapter VII. Mrs. William Ormiston Sacrifices a Wine-glass to Fate
49Chapter II. Wherein Time is Discovered to Have Worked Changes
13Chapter VIII. Enter a Child of Promise
50Chapter III. Helen De Vallorbes Apprehends Vexatious Complications
14Chapter IX. In Which Katherine Calmady Looks on Her Son
51Chapter IV. "Mater Admirabilis"
15Chapter X. The Birds of the Air Take Their Breakfast
52Chapter V. Exit Camp
16Book II. The Breaking of Dreams
53Chapter VI. In Which M. Paul Destournelle has the Bad Taste to Threaten to Upset the Apple-cart
17Chapter I. Recording Some Aspects of a Small Pilgrim's Progress
54Chapter VII. Splendide Mendax
18Chapter II. In Which Our Hero Improves His Acquaintance with Many Things—Himself Included
55Chapter VIII. In Which Helen De Vallorbes Learns Her Rival's Name
19Chapter III. Concerning That Which, Thank God, Happens Almost Every Day
56Chapter IX. Concerning that Daughter of Cupid and Psyche Whom Men Call Voluptas
20Chapter IV. Which Smells Very Vilely of the Stable
57Chapter X. The Abomination of Desolation
21Chapter V. In Which Dickie is Introduced to a Little Dancer with Blush-roses in Her Hat
58Chapter XI. In Which Dickie Goes to the End of the World and Looks Over the Wall
22Chapter VI. Dealing with a Physician of the Body and a Physician of the Soul
59Book VI. The New Heaven and the New Earth
23Chapter VII. An Attempt to Make the Best of It
60Chapter I. In Which Miss St. Quentin Bears Witness to the Faith that is in Her
24Chapter VIII. Telling, Incidentally, of a Broken-down Postboy and a Country Fair
61Chapter II. Telling How, Once Again, Katherine Calmady Looked on Her Son
25Book III. La Belle Dame Sans Merci
62Chapter III. Concerning a Spirit in Prison
26Chapter I. In Which Our Hero's World Grows Sensibly Wider
63Chapter IV. Dealing with Matters of Hearsay and Matters of Sport
27Chapter II. Telling How Dickie's Soul was Somewhat Sick, and How He Met Fair Women on the Confines of a Wood
64Chapter V. Telling How Dickie Came to Untie a Certain Tag of Rusty, Black Ribbon
28Chapter III. In Which Richard Confirms One Judgment and Reverses Another
65Chapter VI. A Litany of the Sacred Heart
29Chapter IV. Julius March Bears Testimony
66Chapter VII. Wherein Two Enemies are Seen to Cry Quits
30Chapter V. Telling How Queen Mary's Crystal Ball Came to Fall on the Gallery Floor
67Chapter VIII. Concerning the Brotherhood Founded by Richard Calmady, and Other Matters of Some Interest
31Chapter VI. In Which Dickie Tries to Ride Away from His Own Shadow, with Such Success as Might Have Been Anticipated
68Chapter IX. Telling How Ludovic Quayle and Honoria St. Quentin Watched the Trout Rise in the Long Water
32Chapter VII. Wherein the Reader is Courteously Invited to Improve His Acquaintance with Certain Persons of Quality
69Chapter X. Concerning a Day of Honest Warfare and a Sunset Harbinger Not of the Night But of the Dawn
33Chapter VIII. Richard Puts His Hand to a Plough from Which There is No Turning Back
70Chapter XI. In Which Richard Calmady Bids the Long-suffering Reader Farewell
34Chapter IX. Which Touches Incidentally on Matters of Finance
71Analysis
35Chapter X. Mr. Ludovic Quayle Among the Prophets
72Reflection
36Chapter XI. Containing Samples Both of Earthly and Heavenly Love
73Memorable Quotes
37Book IV. A Slip Betwixt Cup and Lip
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