Skilled Assistance

William Wymark JacobsProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.6

Word count: 20K words
Chapters: 2

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.Skilled Assistance by W. W. JacobsAuthor: Jacobs, W. W. (William Wymark), 1863-1943,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Jan 1, 2004

Editor's review

W. W. Jacobs was a celebrated British short-story writer known for humor and satire set in maritime and everyday urban life. "Skilled Assistance" is one of his short stories, available as a free eBook from Project Gutenberg; it is short and accessible, making it a good entry point to the author. Jacobs typically drives his narratives through dialogue, with plots that turn abruptly in ordinary settings and endings that often deliver an unexpected irony, letting readers experience the restraint of British humor in light reading. This is the original English edition; the language is generally plain but retains late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century vocabulary and colloquial usage, posing some challenge for non-native readers. It suits reading in one sitting during spare moments, or comparing with the author's other stories to observe how his habitual misunderstandings, coincidences, and characters' predicaments are organized into humor. If you enjoy brisk, short English stories with a satirical edge, this is worth a try.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers new to British humorous fiction who want to start with short stories
English learners seeking material for fragmented reading time
Readers interested in late nineteenth-century British everyday life
Self-learners looking to build up their volume of English short-story reading

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a full-length plot with character development
Beginners who need a Chinese translation or annotations
Readers who prefer serious literature and profound themes

Reading tips

Read through first to grasp the plot, then revisit the dialogue for tone and subtext
Note unfamiliar old-fashioned colloquial expressions separately and look them up together
Read alongside other Jacobs stories and watch for his habitual ending twists
Read the dialogue passages aloud to feel the rhythm and pauses of British humor

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 a novel or a short story?

It is a short story by Jacobs, concise enough to finish in one or a few short reading sessions, and a good entry point to the author's style.

Is the original English hard to read?

The language is generally plain but retains late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century vocabulary and colloquial usage, posing some challenge for non-native readers; keep a dictionary handy or read with annotations.

What are the features of the Project Gutenberg edition?

Project Gutenberg provides free eBooks; this edition is a public-domain original English text, easy to obtain and read on electronic devices, and suited to self-learners approaching the original at low cost.

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.