Dixon's Return

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.Dixon's Return 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

Dixon's Return is a short story by the British writer W. W. Jacobs, made available as a public-domain e-book by Project Gutenberg. Jacobs is known for humorous stories about seafaring, dockside life, and ordinary townspeople, and he excels at creating comedy through light dialogue and unexpected twists. The book is short and serves as a good introductory sample for getting to know this popular writer of the late Victorian and Edwardian eras. The e-book is in the original English with no Chinese notes, so some English proficiency is needed to read it. Its value lies not in grand narrative but in presenting the everyday predicaments and comic moments of ordinary people of that era; it is friendly to readers studying British humorous short fiction or doing extensive English reading. It can be finished in fragmented time such as a commute or before bed, and is also suitable as supplementary short-story material for English classes.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English learners who want to practice extensive reading with original short stories in English
Readers interested in late Victorian British humorous short stories
Office workers who need fragmented reading material for the commute
Readers studying W. W. Jacobs's works or public-domain e-books

Not a good fit for

Readers hoping for a long novel with a complete plot
Beginners with weak English who need Chinese facing text
Readers who prefer serious, profound themes or contemporary subject matter

Reading tips

Read through once to grasp the plot, then go back over the jokes and twists in the dialogue.
When encountering dock or nautical slang, guess the meaning first and look it up after finishing the story.
Read in comparison with other Jacobs short stories and observe his narrative patterns.
After reading, retell the story outline in your notes to check your English comprehension.

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 the Chinese version or the English original?

This is an English-original e-book released by Project Gutenberg, with no Chinese translation or notes in the text. Readers with a good English foundation can read it directly; beginners are advised to have a dictionary ready, or first find a Chinese translation to understand the plot before reading the original.

How long does it roughly take to read this book?

This is a short work; readers fluent in English can usually finish it in half an hour to an hour. If reading while looking up words, it may take longer. It is suitable for occasions with limited continuous time, such as a commute or lunch break.

What are the typical features of Jacobs's short stories?

His short stories are mostly set against seafaring, dockside, and ordinary citizens' lives, with colloquial language; he excels at advancing the plot through dialogue, and the endings often bring unexpected twists or deadpan humor. When reading his work, pay attention to the hints and misunderstandings in the characters' dialogue.

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.