Big Stupe

De Vet, Charles V., 1911-1997Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.4

Word count: 22K words
Chapters: 3

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Big Stupe by Charles V. De VetAuthor: De Vet, Charles V., 1911-1997,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: May 27, 2010

Editor's review

Big Stupe is a short science fiction story in English by Charles V. De Vet (1911–1997), released as a free eBook by Project Gutenberg. De Vet was active in American science fiction magazines in the mid-twentieth century, and his work often turns on light premises and closing reversals. This story follows that vein of popular science fiction: it is short, plainly written, and suited both as an introduction to the English-language science fiction short story and as casual reading for those interested in the tastes and narrative conventions of early science fiction magazines. Note that the Project Gutenberg edition is a public-domain electronic text without a modern introduction or notes, so readers must supply the background themselves. Read it as a light English short story, focusing on how the premise unfolds and how the ending closes; for language study, keep a dictionary at hand and watch for colloquial and period expressions. Overall it works better as entertainment or English extensive reading than as a systematic source for the history of science fiction.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Intermediate English learners who want short English science fiction for extensive reading practice
Readers interested in mid-twentieth-century American popular science fiction
English teachers who need short texts for classroom reading materials
Casual science fiction readers who enjoy light premises and closing reversals

Not a good fit for

Readers looking for deep science fiction thought experiments or lengthy world-building
Beginning readers who need modern notes, an introduction, or a Chinese translation
Literary scholars uninterested in the popular style of early magazine science fiction

Reading tips

Read through once for the plot, then revisit where the premise is set out and note how the author prepares the closing reversal.
Mark period colloquial expressions as you go and look them up together afterward, so you do not interrupt the reading too often.
Read it alongside short science fiction from the same era to see common narrative conventions of popular science fiction.
For classroom use, take the opening and closing passages and discuss how the premise and the ending relate.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this a novel or a short story?

According to the Project Gutenberg entry, this is a science fiction work in English by Charles V. De Vet and is short in length, suitable for reading in one sitting or a few, not as a novel.

How difficult is the English?

The text is in the popular magazine science fiction style, with short sentences and direct narration, within reach of intermediate English readers; it does include period colloquialisms and expressions, so keep a dictionary handy.

Does the Project Gutenberg edition have notes or an introduction?

Project Gutenberg provides a public-domain electronic text; the entry gives only basic information such as author, language, and classification and generally includes no modern introduction or notes, so readers must fill in the background themselves.

Is it suitable for studying the history of science fiction?

It can serve as a sample of mid-twentieth-century American popular science fiction magazine taste, but a single short story cannot support systematic study; read it together with histories of science fiction and other works from the same era.

Comments

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About the author

De Vet, Charles V., 1911-1997 Author

Charles V. De Vet (1911–1997) is an English-language science fiction author about whom little biographical information is publicly available; the library holds nine of his works. Judging from titles such as There is a Reaper ..., Infinity's Child, Monkey On His Back, Wheels Within, Vital Ingredient, Delayed Action, Metamorphosis, and Growing up on Big Muddy, he mainly wrote short science fiction, often centering on unknown threats, unusual situations, and individual choices under pressure, with the compactness and suspense typical of mid-twentieth-century science fiction magazine stories. Though his output was modest, his bizarre premises and brisk storytelling left an impression on readers. Because public information is limited, details of his life and the full scope of his work remain to be verified; this introduction is based only on the library's holdings and confirmed public common knowledge.