The Elevator

Howells, William Dean, 1837-1920Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.9

Word count: 50K words
Chapters: 5

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 Elevator by William Dean HowellsAuthor: Howells, William Dean, 1837-1920,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Sep 1, 2002

Editor's review

The Elevator is a short work by William Dean Howells, released by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain electronic text. Howells is known for American realism, capturing social psychology through everyday scenes and personal encounters. The elevator, a modern urban fixture of the late nineteenth century, was both a novelty and a naturally enclosed, subtle social space, well suited to observant narrative. The piece is brief and its language relatively plain, making it a light entry point into Howells's short fiction. Readers may place it within the tradition of American realist short stories, noting how the author uses everyday settings to advance plot and portray character. Note that this is an English public-domain electronic text with limited editorial work, and available materials provide no detailed plot summary; readers should not approach it with too many预设 expectations.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who want a brief introduction to Howells's style
Literature enthusiasts interested in American realist short stories and urban everyday subjects
Teachers needing an English public-domain short story for classroom or book-club materials
Intermediate learners with some English proficiency who prefer short reads

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking a long, complete narrative or complex plot
Beginners with weak English reading skills who rely on Chinese translations
Researchers needing detailed author biography and work analysis

Reading tips

Read through once to grasp the scene and character relationships, then revisit key dialogue.
Note how the elevator as a space constrains and drives character interaction; keep brief notes.
Read alongside other American realist short stories to compare subjects and techniques.
For long English sentences, grasp the main structure first rather than pondering every word.

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

What is this work roughly about?

Available materials only identify it as a short work by Howells whose title points to an elevator scene; no detailed plot summary is provided. Read the original to learn the specifics, and avoid inferring too much plot from the title.

Is this a Chinese translation or the English original?

This is an English public-domain electronic text released by Project Gutenberg, not a Chinese translation. Some English proficiency is needed; beginners may use a dictionary or supplementary materials.

Is it suitable for book-club discussion?

Its brevity makes it suitable as light book-club material. Discussion questions can focus on narrative tension in everyday scenes, character relationships, and realist technique, but participants need basic English reading ability.

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About the author

Howells, William Dean, 1837-1920 Author

William Dean Howells (1837–1920) was an American author and literary editor, with 107 works held in the collection. His writing spans novels, travel books, memoirs, and literary essays, and his representative works include My Mark Twain, Indian Summer, A Boy's Town, A Modern Instance, and A Hazard of New Fortunes. Howells drew on close observation of everyday life, writing in a plain style with gentle irony and attending to moral questions and human situations amid social change; his travel book Venetian Life and his memoir Literary Friends and Acquaintance record his journeys and personal recollections of American literary figures. Public information is limited, so biographical details are not elaborated here; readers may turn to the works above to learn about his subjects and style.