Breaking a Spell

William Wymark JacobsProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 21K 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.Breaking a Spell by W. W. JacobsAuthor: Jacobs, W. W. (William Wymark), 1863-1943,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Apr 1, 2004

Editor's review

W. W. Jacobs was a master of the British short story, known for humorous writing and surprising endings, and Breaking a Spell shows this characteristic. The story is concise, and the original English preserves the colloquial rhythm and the voices of nautical and ordinary urban characters, making it a good sample for reading short fiction. For Chinese readers, it is both a window into British short-story style in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and lightweight material for close reading practice, appreciating irony and suspense. The work is in the public domain, and e-editions are easy to obtain, suitable for fragmented reading time such as commuting or before sleep. Lacking Chinese translation and notes, it places more demands on grasp of English idiom and period background; read through first for plot, then go back to see the foreshadowing the author plants in dialogue and detail, and appreciate how a short story achieves its turn within limited space.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English learners who want to practice close reading and language sense with original short stories
Literary readers who enjoy O. Henry-style humorous twist stories
Self-learners who need lightweight English material for a reading habit
Students and enthusiasts studying narrative technique in British short fiction

Not a good fit for

Readers with weak English reading skills who need Chinese translation support
Readers who prefer long continuous plots and complex world-building
Beginners who want detailed notes and guided interpretation

Reading tips

Read through once for plot without looking up words, feeling the gap between suspense and ending.
On the second read, mark wording in dialogue and at turns to see how the author lays foreshadowing.
After reading, retell the story in your own words and write two or three sentences evaluating the ending.

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 book in Chinese or English?

Sources indicate the book is in English, a public-domain e-book from Project Gutenberg with no Chinese translation. Chinese readers need some English reading ability or should use a dictionary and supporting tools.

Is it suitable for readers with no English at all?

Not really. The original contains period colloquial and slang expressions and lacks notes or introduction, so complete beginners may struggle with dialogue. It is better for readers with some vocabulary who want to try an original short story.

Is the e-book source reliable?

The book is released by Project Gutenberg, which has long provided public-domain e-books; sources indicate it was released in April 2004. The work itself is in the public domain and free to read, though formatting and proofreading quality may vary slightly across platforms.

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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.