The Cloister and the Hearth: A Tale of the Middle Ages (Complete Writings of Charles Reade (17 Volumes)) (Library Binding)

~ Charles Reade (Author) "NOT a day passes over the earth, but men and women of no note do great deeds, speak great words, and suffer noble sorrows..." (more)
Key Phrases: diable est mort, saints forbid, haunted tower, Margaret Brandt, Margaret Van Eyck, Reicht Heynes (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Picaresque historical novel by Charles Reade, published in 1861. Critically acclaimed as one of the greatest historical novels in English, The Cloister and the Hearth contains a meticulous recreation of 15th-century European life. Mingled with its cast of vividly drawn characters are various historical personages. The plot concerns Gerard Eliason, a young Dutch artist who abandons thought of the priesthood when he falls in love with Margaret Brandt. Gerard's father opposes their engagement and arranges to have his son kidnapped. The young lovers find each other, but Gerard is soon forced to flee. While they are separated, Margaret gives birth to their son, of whose existence Gerard is unaware. Indeed, his enemies inform Gerard that Margaret is dead. Wild with grief, he eventually becomes a monk. Later, the lovers are reunited and Gerard meets his son. Bound by his vows of celibacy, Gerard simply lives near Margaret, and both lead pious, charitable lives. Eventually Margaret dies from the plague and Gerard dies soon after. Their son is revealed to be the illustrious scholar and theologian Erasmus. -- The Merriam-Webster Encylopedia of Literature --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

THE CLOISTER AND THE HEARTH - Charles Reade - Abridged, with Introduction and Notes - 1929. - CONTENTS CHAPTER I. - CHAPTER 11. - CHAPTER 111. - CHAPTER IV. - C H A P T V . - CHAPTER VI. - CHAPTER VII. - CHAPTER VIII. - CHAPTER IX. - CHAPTER X. - CHAPTER XI. - CHAPTER XII. - CHAPTER XIII. - CHAPTER XIV. - CHAPTER XV. - CHAPTER XVI. - CHAPTER XVII. CHAPTER XVIII. CHAPTER XIX. - CHAPTER XX. - CHAPTER XXI. CHAPTER XXII. - - - m - . - - - - - - . - - - - - m - - - - - - - . - - m - - . . - - - - - . - - - - - - . S - - - - - - . - - - - - . m - - - - - . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . - - m - - - . - - - - - - - - - - - m - - - - - . . - - - - - - - - m - - - - - - vii PAQB X1 xiii ... vm THE CLOISTER AND THE HEARTH CHAPTER XXIII. CHAPTERX XIV. CHAPTERX XV. CHAPTERX XVI. CHAPTERX XVII. CHAPTER XXVIII. CHAPTERX XIX. CHAPTERX XX. CHAPTERX XXI. CHAPTER XXXII. CHAPTERX XXIII. CHAPTERX XXIV. CHAPTERX XXV. C H A P T X XXVI. NOTES - - - PAQE 115 120 121 127 130 136 140 143 147 152 160 165 171 174 SUBJECTS B OR SHORTE SSAYS - - - - - 183 HELPS TO FURTHE S R TU DY - - - - - - 184 ILLUSTRATIONS DESIDERIUSE RASMUSb, y A. DWER - - - Frontispiece The light at the nape of his neck made a glow-PAGE wormofhim - - - - - - 41 Martin drew the bolt very slowly, and in rushed Dierich and four more - - - - - 49 The text of this edition has been reduced by omissions, but is otherwise faithful to the original. The illustrations are reproductions of drawings made by Charles Keene for the first version of the story when it appeared in Once a Week. - INTRODUCTION - The Cbister and the Hearth is one of the most famous stories produced in an age of great story-tellers. Charles Reade was a contemporary of Thackeray and Dickens, Kingsley and George Eliot, novelists whose works are more justly renowned than any of his own, with one exception. Of this one Swinburne, a poet and critic of the next generation, said, A story better conceived or better composed, better constructed or better related, than The Cloister and the Hearth it would be mcult to h d anywhere. And on the merit of this story he ranks him high among the novelists. Reade had the gifts and the experience we should expect to find in the writer of such a novel. He was a scholar, a wide and u n t i i g reader he was a lawyer by profession and therefore a keen observer of human nature a musician, with an artists sympathy and imagination and a dramatist, with training and skiU in the construction of a plot. The novelists of his time had nearly always a motive behind their tales they were trying to rouse the sympathy of their readers to attack Lome social evil. When Kingsley wrote The Water-Babies, he was revealing the horrors of the life of a child chimney-sweq p. Dickem condemned the schools of the day in Nicholas Nickleby, and the evils of workhouses in 02iver Twist. Reade himself wrote It is Never Too Late to Mend to stir up indignation against the prisons of the time. We can sometimes feel his caustic criticism behind the incidents in The Cloister and the Hearth, his scorn of hypocrisy, fraud and superstition, his rage against the tyranny of great rulers. But he did not write this novel with the motive of reform. He wrote it because he waa keenly interested in the life of the Renaissance and because he had found a story he loved. The story was intensely real to him, and therefore it grips us too... --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Library Binding
• Publisher: Classic Books (1861)
• ISBN-10: 0742637379
• ISBN-13: 978-0742637375
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,738,535 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Sublime Evocation of a Distant Era, July 29, 2001

By	G. McCarter "billmccarter" (Rumson, NJ USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Cloister and the Hearth (Hardcover)

The Cloister and the Hearth is one of the most powerful reading experiences I have had. It is a great pity, but no surprise, that this masterpiece is not familiar even to lovers of Victorian literature, and has not had a fashion in recent times like the works of, say, Austen or Trollope. I say no surprise because Cloister is challenging in ways that those authors are not. First, it is long, 750 pages, far longer than anything by the Great Jane, and most of Trollope. Second, the dialogue is written in a deliberately archaic style intended to evoke the Middle Ages, an ersatz 15th century English in the mouths of characters who are Dutch, German, French, Italian, but none English. To my ear, it was tremendously effective, but it will not come easily to modern readers who find Shakespeare and the King James Bible difficult. Third, it takes the values of the era it describes seriously, rather than looking back from an arch, "modern" 19th century perspective. That third point is the most important. As the title suggests, the theme of the work is the tension between domestic private life and the spiritual domain of the Church. Most of the dramatic conflict arises from the demands of priestly celibacy, which Reade reveals as a "vile heresy" only three pages from the end. Such is his skill that, despite their lives having been devastated by it, neither of the two lover/ protagonists ever questions the rule's propriety or justice, and both honor it absolutely. (Perhaps the female utters a doubt or two somewhere, but if so, they are feebly stated and soon forgotten.) The two main characters are not subtle, but are medieval virtue personified. Yet they work, especially Gerard, the male. Unlike Dickens's goody-two shoes heroes (think David Copperfield or Esther Summerson), the extraordinary virtues of Gerard and Margaret never made this reader roll his eyes. Reade considered himself a dramatist, not a novelist, and the reconciliation scenes in this book are as emotionally driven as anything you will see on the stage. It is shorter than War and Peace, and once you get the hang of it, the pages turn much faster than Tolstoy's. I've only read an abridged W&P, years ago, but I'd put Cloister up there on the same level, as historical literature, not just historical fiction, of the very highest order.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Cloister and the Hearth, March 8, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Cloister and the Hearth: A Tale of the Middle Ages (Hardcover)

My first year at university it was a required reading. Back then reading wasn't my favourite hobby; However when I started to the novel, I just couldn't put it down. It was very exciting and a pleasure to read. Highly recommended. I lost my book and I'm hoping that Amazon.com will locate a copy for me,please!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A literary must! A heart-wrenching, illustrious tale., August 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Cloister and the Hearth. (Everyman's Library) (Hardcover)

Love, hate, hope, fear, faith, despair, poverty, wealth, life, death.....Charles Reade left no stone unturned. Gerard, surprisingly not as naive as he first appears, emerges as the major character of this saga. Coming of age in a hurried fashion, he encounters all life has to offer to a young man during the mid to late 15th century in Europe. The road he is forced to take, however, is guided by his love for Margaret Brandt, the unconditional friendship found in Denys, and many emotional and physical battles -his will alone can not withstand.

Charles Reade offers no in-depth descriptions of characters, places or even emotions, but rather allows just enough to provide the reader with a sense of these. For instance, in a few mere words, his characters perform simple meaningful jestures rather then boring the reader with endless pages that hamper the imagination -the joy of a life-long friend is portrayed when Denys and Gerard walk hand-in-hand and nothing else for the moment matters.

This is a book you will remember for the rest of your life. Though I never expected to ever read it, surely I was familiar with the title. Just another old book I bought at a tag sale to re-sell in the antique shop. And when I was working there, and it was slow one day, I picked it up and read a chapter. And this happened every week for a few weeks until I finally brought it home. And now, rather then sell it for $8.00, I am going to have it at home for family and friends to read.