How Long to Read Presence of the Present

How Long Does it Take to Read Presence of the Present?

It takes the average reader 14 hours and 37 minutes to read Presence of the Present by Richard D. Altick

Assuming a reading speed of 250 words per minute. Learn more

Description

"The Presence of the Present: Topics of the Day in the Victorian Novel" is the first comprehensive study of Victorian novelists' use of the era's everyday culture and common knowledge in their writings. Victorian novelists knew that the men and women who bought and borrowed their books had an insatiable appetite for reading books about people like themselves in the instantly recognizable world in which they lived. They catered to this appetite by, among other devices, scattering through their pages allusions to people, places, and events in the news at the moment a novel was published, as well as to objects, scenes, and fashions that were particularly characteristic of the present-day setting. References to this body of common knowledge helped, in addition, to strengthen the intimate rapport with their readers that authors so much prized in the period, and they also contributed to the realistic effect that authenticated characters and scenes and thus encouraged readers' imaginative assent to the fiction. "The Presence of the Present" has been derived from approximately 150 novels of the era, from Pickwick Papers to Trollope's last novels and "The Mayor of Casterbridge." All the "great names" of Victorian fiction are here-Dickens, Thackeray, Disraeli, George Eliot, Charlotte Bronte, Trollope, Wilkie Collins, Elizabeth Gaskell, Hardy, Meredith-as well as a representative selection of the less-than-great-Charles Reade, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Samuel Warren, and the unjustly neglected Robert Smith Surtees. The many illustrations, drawn principally form the "Illustrated London News" and "Punch" and from the novels themselves, re-create for a reader at the end of the twentieth century the same images that were evoked in the minds of the novels' first readers. The book, therefore, surveys that manner in which Victorian fiction draws upon the observations and experiences of the readers for whom the novelists wrote-not "posterity," but readers of the daily press and riders on the new railways. Here we meet the half-legendary figure of Stultz the fashionable tailor; learn about the messages conveyed at different times and on different social levels by cigar smoking and the wearing of gloves; discover the jokey career of the crinoline, the humors and corrupt practices of parliamentary elections, and scores of other topics that, when fully explained, help us to read with better understanding the living book of Victorian fiction. Richard D. Altick is Regents' Professor Emeritus of English at The Ohio State University. He is the author of numerous books, including "The English Common Reader, The Scholar Adventures, Victorian People and Ideas, The Shows of London, Paintings from Books, " and "Writers, Readers, and Occasions.""

How long is Presence of the Present?

Presence of the Present by Richard D. Altick is 864 pages long, and a total of 219,456 words.

This makes it 292% the length of the average book. It also has 268% more words than the average book.

How Long Does it Take to Read Presence of the Present Aloud?

The average oral reading speed is 183 words per minute. This means it takes 19 hours and 59 minutes to read Presence of the Present aloud.

What Reading Level is Presence of the Present?

Presence of the Present is suitable for students ages 12 and up.

Note that there may be other factors that effect this rating besides length that are not factored in on this page. This may include things like complex language or sensitive topics not suitable for students of certain ages.

When deciding what to show young students always use your best judgement and consult a professional.

Where Can I Buy Presence of the Present?

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