The Castaway

William Wymark JacobsProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.4

Word count: 25K 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.The Castaway 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

The Castaway is a short story by the English writer W. W. Jacobs, included in the free ebook library Project Gutenberg. Jacobs is known for humor, satire, and unexpected endings, often narrating around the lives of wharves, sailors, and ordinary citizens, and this work belongs to his short-story canon. As a public-domain ebook, it has a low barrier to access and is easy to obtain, making it a suitable entry point for understanding late nineteenth- to early twentieth-century British short fiction. It is short enough to read in one sitting during fragmented time such as commuting or lunch breaks, and is also convenient as short-story analysis material in literature classes. When reading, pay attention to the narrator's tone and the irony in dialogue, and you will often appreciate Jacobs's light touch at the ending. Note that this edition is the original English text, and the Project Gutenberg page information is mainly bibliographic metadata; readers should regard it as a convenient base text for reading the original rather than an annotated scholarly edition.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who want to read English short stories in fragmented time
General readers interested in British humorous and satirical literature
English teachers and students who need short texts for classroom analysis
People who habitually use public-domain ebooks and prefer free reading resources

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking long-form complete narratives or complex character arcs
Literary researchers who need detailed annotations and scholarly introductions
Readers who are not used to reading original English texts and rely on Chinese translations

Reading tips

Read through first to grasp the plot, then revisit the irony in dialogue and narrative tone.
Read in comparison with other Jacobs short stories to appreciate his habitual use of endings with a twist.
After reading, retell the story and ending in a few sentences to check whether you have understood the implicit 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 long or short?

According to the Project Gutenberg bibliographic information, this is a short story by W. W. Jacobs, relatively short and suitable for reading in one sitting or over several sessions. The exact page count and word count vary with the layout of the electronic edition, so please refer to the actual file you open.

What English level is needed to read it?

The work is in original English, in the style of late nineteenth- to early twentieth-century British short prose; sentences are not long but include colloquial dialogue and period expressions. Readers with intermediate English reading ability who are willing to look up a few unfamiliar words can usually finish it smoothly.

Does this edition have annotations or an introduction?

Project Gutenberg provides public-domain electronic texts, and the page information is mainly bibliographic metadata such as author, language, category, and release date, generally without scholarly annotations or introductions. For background information, consult public introductions to the author and British short fiction separately.

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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.