Captain Rogers

William Wymark JacobsProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.4

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.Captain Rogers 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

Captain Rogers is a short work by the British writer W. W. Jacobs, made available as a free e-book by Project Gutenberg. Jacobs is known for humorous, satirical short stories with unexpected twists, often about ordinary people's embarrassment and self-mockery in everyday situations. The book is short, suitable as an introduction to his narrative style and for reading in one sitting during a commute or lunch break. As a public-domain e-book, it can be opened at any time on a phone or tablet; readers can treat it as light practice material for reading English short stories, paying attention to colloquial expressions in dialogue, narrative rhythm, and the twist at the end. Note that the introduction on the Project Gutenberg page is mainly a platform description, not a summary of the work's content; readers need not treat it as a plot guide and can go straight to the text.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Office workers and students who want to read English short stories in spare moments
Readers who enjoy humorous satire and stories with unexpected endings
People who want to practice English reading with public-domain e-books
Beginning readers interested in the British short story tradition

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting long plots and complex character arcs
Beginners who need detailed annotations or bilingual texts
Readers who prefer in-depth analysis of serious social issues

Reading tips

Read the whole text first to grasp the direction of the story, then look up unfamiliar words and colloquial expressions on a second pass.
Read it in one sitting during a commute or lunch break, then retell the ending's twist in your own words.
Read it alongside other Jacobs stories to compare the similarities and differences in his narrative patterns.

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 suitable for English beginners?

The original is in English and, though short, contains some colloquial and period language, which may be difficult for complete beginners. Those with basic reading ability who are willing to look up words can try it; it is advisable to use a dictionary or translation tool, first getting the gist and then examining the language points.

Why doesn't the Project Gutenberg introduction read like a content description?

The introduction mainly explains the platform's history and the book's metadata, such as author, language, and category; it is not a plot summary. Readers need not rely on it to understand the story and can go straight to the text, or first read the opening paragraphs to see whether it suits their taste.

Does this book need to be read in order?

As a standalone short story, it does not involve chapter order and can be read on its own. If reading other short stories by the same author at the same time, choose any in whatever order you like; there is no fixed sequence.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

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.