Gigolo

Ferber, Edna, 1885-1968Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.4

Word count: 364K words
Chapters: 37

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.Gigolo by Edna FerberAuthor: Ferber, Edna, 1885-1968,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Jan 22, 2007

Editor's review

Gigolo is a short work by Edna Ferber, classified under American and Canadian literature. Ferber was known for observing urban life and working people, and here too she turns her lens on a character who makes a living through socializing and maneuvering, using his situation to expose questions of gender, money, and respectability in early twentieth-century American cities. The piece is brief and tightly structured, with crisp dialogue and scene changes; it reads with a light ironic touch, but beneath the irony lies a cool-eyed understanding of how hard it is to get by. Its strength is the vividness of the character's voice: the author does not rush to moral judgment, letting readers draw their own conclusions from the details. It serves well as an entry point into Ferber's short fiction and as a sample for studying popular literature and urban writing. It fits flexible reading schedules, can be finished in an evening or two, and invites discussion afterward about whether the character's choices were worth it.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literary readers who want a quick taste of Ferber's short fiction style
Students studying early twentieth-century American urban writing
General readers who enjoy ironic tone and character dialogue
English learners who need short samples for extensive reading practice

Not a good fit for

Readers of novels expecting long plots and complex structures
Readers with no interest in old-era gender and social issues
Beginners who need detailed historical background notes

Reading tips

Read it in one sitting to sustain the feel of the character's voice and the scene changes, then go back and mark key dialogue.
While reading, note how money and respectability drive the character's choices; afterward, write a short analysis of the character's motives.
Read it alongside other Ferber short stories and compare what she satirizes and how the narrative perspective differs.
English learners can read it through once, then choose two or three scenes for close reading and retelling practice.

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 a novel or a short story?

According to the source, this is a short work, brief enough to finish in an evening or two. For exact page and chapter counts, refer to the electronic text. Readers should not approach it expecting a novel; the focus is on the character's voice and scene fragments rather than a fully developed long plot.

Do I need to know Ferber's other works first?

No. This piece can be read independently and does not depend on prior knowledge of the author's other works. If you become interested in her style afterward, expanding to her other short stories or novels will make it easier to see her consistent perspective on observing urban working people.

Could the title mislead readers about the content?

The title points to a character who makes a living through social maneuvering, which may lead readers to expect something sensational or morally judgmental. What is more worth noticing in the actual reading is how the character weighs respectability against making a living, and the narrator's restrained irony, rather than a single label-like judgment.

What is the reading experience like as a public-domain ebook?

This book is released by Project Gutenberg as a plain-text public-domain ebook, convenient for searching and excerpting but lacking modern formatting, notes, and introductions. It is advisable to supplement your own background information on the author and era, and to look up old-fashioned expressions as you go so as not to misread the character's tone.

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About the author

Ferber, Edna, 1885-1968 Author

Edna Ferber (1885–1968) was an American writer. Public information about her life and education is limited, but the eleven works held in this collection show the main outlines of her writing. Her work combines a light, humorous tone of urban life with close observation of ordinary people's circumstances. Representative titles such as One Basket, Cheerful—By Request, Half Portions and Buttered Side Down: Stories are mostly short stories and sketches that present warmth and irony in everyday life. Her Emma McChesney series, including Roast Beef, Medium, Emma McChesney and Co. and Personality Plus, follows a woman making her way in business and her family, and was notably fresh for its time. Overall, her writing is brisk and her characters vivid, leaving a lively record of early twentieth-century American popular literature.