Here Lies

Wandrei, Howard, 1909-1956Project Gutenberg · United StatesMar 2023

3.2

Word count: 10K words
Chapters: 1

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.Here Lies by Howard WandreiAuthor: Wandrei, Howard, 1909-1956,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: May 21, 2010

Editor's review

Here Lies is a mid-twentieth-century work by Howard Wandrei, a page in the American popular literature tradition, now reissued as a free ebook by Project Gutenberg. Its value lies first on the documentary level: readers can observe the tastes, pacing, and linguistic habits of genre writing of that era, and feel how early fantasy and thriller stories built suspense and atmosphere within limited space. The Project Gutenberg edition preserves the original text, is in English, and is short enough to finish in one sitting, making it convenient for researchers doing close reading or comparative reading. As a public-domain ebook, it has no modern annotations or introduction, so it is better read in the spirit of returning to the historical scene than for the intensity of contemporary thrillers. Suitable settings are a quiet afternoon or a commute, as a short genre piece for diversion, or as supplementary material for discussing popular genres in an English literature course. Readers interested in twentieth-century American genre-magazine culture will find in this small book a concrete sample.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in twentieth-century American popular literature and genre-magazine culture
English learners who need public-domain short English texts for close-reading practice
Casual readers who enjoy the atmosphere of old-style thriller and weird tales
Documentary enthusiasts studying the textual appearance of public-domain ebooks

Not a good fit for

Contemporary thriller readers expecting modern pacing and complex characterization
Beginning readers who need a Chinese translation or detailed annotations and introduction
Readers impatient with old-fashioned English expressions and genre conventions

Reading tips

Read through once for atmosphere, then revisit the opening to see how suspense is planted, noting the syntactic habits of old-fashioned English.
Read alongside other similar short pieces from Project Gutenberg to compare common techniques of genre writing from the same period.
Mark unfamiliar words without looking them up first, then deal with them after finishing, to avoid interrupting the narrative flow.
For study, excerpt one or two passages for imitation writing or translation practice to appreciate the texture of the language.

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? How difficult is it to read?

The original is in English; Project Gutenberg provides an untranslated public-domain electronic text. The language is mid-twentieth-century popular-literary expression, with syntax that is not complex but includes some old-fashioned vocabulary and period background. Intermediate and above English readers can generally read it smoothly; beginning readers may need a dictionary.

Does the Project Gutenberg edition have annotations or an introduction?

Project Gutenberg aims to provide free public-domain ebooks and usually preserves the original text without adding modern scholarly annotations, introductions, or appreciation. Readers therefore get a relatively “bare” text and need to supply background knowledge themselves, or read and study it as primary material.

Is it suitable as English-learning material?

It can serve as supplementary material for extensive or intensive reading. It is short and narratively complete, suitable for practicing continuous reading; but because it is old popular literature, its vocabulary and expressions are not necessarily close to contemporary everyday English, so it is best used alongside modern texts for a more balanced effect.

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About the author

Wandrei, Howard, 1909-1956 Author · American · 1909–1956

Howard Wandrei (1909–1956) was an American poet and writer of weird fiction. Born in 1909 and deceased in 1956, he left limited public records of his life, and his creative work centered on poetry and weird fiction, leaving its mark on the American pulp literary circles of the early twentieth century. Together with writer August Derleth, he co-founded Arkham House, a publishing house later known for collecting and publishing weird and fantasy literature, which helped preserve and circulate such fiction. His representative work is Here Lies. One of his works is held in this collection and is commonly categorized under inspirational growth, though in subject matter his writing is closer to the weird and fantastic.