Esther Waters
1st Edition
Published on 11. October 2012
Book
Paperback/Softback
384 pages
978-0-19-958301-0 (ISBN)
Description
'I daresay I shall get through my trouble somehow.'
Esther Waters is a young, working-class woman with strong religious beliefs who takes a position as a kitchen-maid at a horse-racing estate. She is seduced and abandoned, and forced to support herself and her illegitimate child in any way that she can. The novel depicts with extraordinary candour Esther's struggles against prejudice and injustice, and the growth of her character as she determines to protect her son. Her moving story is set against the backdrop of a world of horse racing, betting, and public houses, whose vivid depiction led James Joyce to call Esther Waters 'the best novel of modern English life'.
Controversial and influential on its first appearance in 1894, the book opened up a new direction for the English realist tradition. Unflinching in its depiction of the dark and sordid side of Victorian culture, it remains one of the great novels of London life and labour in the 1890s.
ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
Esther Waters is a young, working-class woman with strong religious beliefs who takes a position as a kitchen-maid at a horse-racing estate. She is seduced and abandoned, and forced to support herself and her illegitimate child in any way that she can. The novel depicts with extraordinary candour Esther's struggles against prejudice and injustice, and the growth of her character as she determines to protect her son. Her moving story is set against the backdrop of a world of horse racing, betting, and public houses, whose vivid depiction led James Joyce to call Esther Waters 'the best novel of modern English life'.
Controversial and influential on its first appearance in 1894, the book opened up a new direction for the English realist tradition. Unflinching in its depiction of the dark and sordid side of Victorian culture, it remains one of the great novels of London life and labour in the 1890s.
ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
Reviews / Votes
'a really wonderful book...exciting, interesting, engrossing' * Colm Toibin, Radio 4 'Open Book' *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Readers of Victorian fiction and modern literature, including Irish literature, those interested in the representation of women and of London life and labour in the nineteenth century, and in the history of horse racing and gambling; students of Victorian literature, fin-de-siècle literature, Irish studies, women's studies, cultural studies.
Dimensions
Height: 195 mm
Width: 128 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
266 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-958301-0 (9780199583010)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Persons
Stephen Regan is the editor of Irish Writing: An Anthology of Irish Literature in English 1789-1939 in OWC. He is a Visiting Scholar in the Department of English at Harvard University (2011-12).