The Pacifists

Fritch, Charles E., 1927-2012Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 18K 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.The Pacifists by Charles E. FritchAuthor: Fritch, Charles E., 1927-2012,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Apr 10, 2019

Editor's review

The Pacifists is a short work by Charles E. Fritch (1927–2012), released free through Project Gutenberg and cataloged there as American literature. Fritch was active in mid-twentieth-century American genre-fiction magazines, and his work often has a speculative bent; this story likewise focuses on social ideas and individual choice. The title "The Pacifists" itself sets up a tension of position, and the story turns on that identity; it is short and can be read in one sitting on a commute or in spare moments. For readers curious about work from around the golden age of American science fiction and genre fiction, it is a low-cost, easily accessible supplementary read. Note that the book is in English and that the Gutenberg edition provides only the public-domain electronic text, with no notes or introduction, so the reading experience depends largely on the reader's own language ability and background knowledge. It is best treated as a short text for discussion rather than as an object of systematic study.

Who it's for

A good fit for

readers who want low-cost access to American short genre fiction
people with basic English reading ability who prefer complete short works
readers interested in mid-twentieth-century American debates about social ideas
English learners who want to practice close reading with a short English text

Not a good fit for

readers who need a Chinese translation or bilingual annotated edition
readers expecting a long narrative and a fully built world
researchers looking for a scholarly introduction and biographical detail on the author

Reading tips

Read through once for the plot, then read again to notice how the identity of "pacifist" is presented.
While reading, note the key statements involving conflict of position, and afterward sort out the author's apparent attitude.
If the English is hard, work through it paragraph by paragraph with a dictionary, reading one scene at a time so as not to break the rhythm.
After finishing, write a few sentences giving your own judgment, then discuss it with others to see whether the text supports different readings.

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 a novel or a short work?

According to its listing in Project Gutenberg, it is a short work of fiction by Charles E. Fritch. The text is brief enough to read in one sitting. Because the Gutenberg edition has no introduction, the exact page count and plot structure depend on the electronic text itself, and it is not advisable to plan reading time as you would for a novel.

There is no Chinese translation; can I read it if my English is poor?

The book is in English, and Project Gutenberg provides only the electronic text, without Chinese translation or notes. If your English is not yet fluent, you can read paragraph by paragraph with a dictionary, or get an outline of the story first. It suits readers with some English who are willing to read slowly, not absolute beginners.

Why does the Gutenberg edition have no introduction or notes?

Project Gutenberg exists to provide public-domain ebooks; its main work is proofreading and free distribution, and it usually does not add scholarly introductions, author chronologies, or notes. Readers must therefore look up background information themselves, which makes the experience closer to confronting the original text directly.

Do I need to know the author's life to read this work?

Not necessarily. The Gutenberg materials give only the author's dates and the attribution of the work, with no detailed biography. Readers can begin with the text itself and look up reliable sources later if the author's times and background interest them.

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About the author

Fritch, Charles E., 1927-2012 Author

Charles E. Fritch (1927-2012) is an author about whom relatively little biographical information is publicly available; his nationality, education and professional career are not clearly documented, and what can be confirmed is only his name, his dates, and the six works held in the collection. Judging from titles such as I Like Martian Music, Skin Game, The Odyssey of Sam Meecham, The Pacifists, The Big Leap and Escape Mechanism, his writing largely revolves around science fiction and fantasy, often building stories from elements such as Mars, alien civilizations, game-like situations and escape mechanisms, with titles that carry a light, slightly ironic tone. Because further biographical details are lacking, judgments about his style and literary influence should remain cautious; readers may treat these six works as the main entry point to this author and to the imaginative and narrative pleasures of mid-to-late twentieth-century popular genre fiction.