Bob's Redemption

William Wymark JacobsProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 25K 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.Bob's Redemption by W. W. JacobsAuthor: Jacobs, W. W. (William Wymark), 1863-1943,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Feb 1, 2004

Editor's review

W. W. Jacobs was a celebrated late nineteenth-century British short-story writer, best known for his maritime subjects and comic touch. As one of his short works, Bob's Redemption continues his customary narrative rhythm: it opens with an everyday scene, advances through dialogue, and plants a turn beneath an apparently ordinary situation. The value of this work lies not in grand narrative but in sketching ordinary people's circumstances and choices within a concise span; the title's "redemption" prompts readers to watch for the character's psychological shifts and moral turn as the story unfolds. Jacobs's language is plain and colloquial, with a distinct period flavor, making this a suitable introductory text for understanding the late Victorian British short story. In reading, attention should go to the subtext in dialogue and the narrator's restrained stance, which are key to appreciating the humor and irony. As a public-domain ebook, this edition is easy to search and cite, and suits classroom teaching, reading-group selections, or research reading.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literature enthusiasts wanting a sense of the late Victorian British short story
Teachers and organizers needing a short public-domain English text for class or reading groups
Readers who prefer dialogue-driven, concise narratives
Beginners studying Jacobs's maritime and humorous writing

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a full-length plot and complex character arcs
Readers unaccustomed to nineteenth-century English usage and period vocabulary
Beginners hoping for detailed notes or an introduction

Reading tips

Read through once to grasp the plot, then revisit key dialogue to catch the implications.
Mark sentences showing shifts in characters' attitudes and trace where the title's "redemption" lands.
Read alongside other Jacobs stories to observe repetition and variation in his narrative devices.
For classroom use, select the turning-point passage for reading aloud and discuss the narrator's restrained stance.

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 work suitable for English beginners?

The language is generally plain, but it contains late nineteenth-century colloquial expressions and nautical vocabulary, posing some difficulty for beginners. A moderate reading level is advisable, or use with notes and a dictionary; if you only want the gist, read a Chinese introduction first and then compare it with the original.

How should "Redemption" in the title be understood?

The title directs readers to the character's changed circumstances and moral reversal in the story, but the precise reference must be judged from the character's choices and the ending. Read the story first and then return to the title, avoiding a preconceived religious reading.

What are the features of this edition?

This edition comes from Project Gutenberg and is a public-domain electronic text, freely available, searchable, and citable. It usually has no modern editorial notes or introduction, so readers should supply their own background material; it suits those with some reading experience.

Comments

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About the author

William Wymark Jacobs Author · British · 1863–1943

William Wymark Jacobs (1863–1943) was a British short-story writer, born in London in 1863 and died there in 1943. In his early years he lived around the Thames docks and was familiar with the lives of sailors and dockworkers, which led him to write a great many humorous sea stories, often in a light and witty tone. His best-known work, The Monkey's Paw, is a classic horror short story included in The Lady of the Barge (1902); noted for its tight suspense and sudden twists, it is still widely anthologized in horror collections. The library holds 109 of his works, including The Lady of the Barge and Others, Ship's Company, A Tiger's Skin, Captains All, and Night Watches; his common category is inspirational growth. Public information is limited and details of his life are largely unavailable, yet his fiction is distinctive in subject, blending humor with horror, and has had a lasting influence on later short-story writing.