The Statue

Mari WolfProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.0

Word count: 36K words
Chapters: 4

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 Statue by Mari WolfAuthor: Wolf, Mari, 1927-,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: May 20, 2010

Editor's review

"The Statue" is a short work by the American author Mari Wolf, made available as a free ebook through Project Gutenberg. Wolf was active in the American pulp science fiction magazines of the mid-twentieth century, and this piece is brief and carries a clear magazine-SF character: the premise comes first, the story unfolds around one central idea, the narration is direct, and the ending is neat. Its value for readers lies not in character depth or polished prose but in showing how typical pulp SF of that era worked—how to throw out an intriguing idea in limited space and close with a twist or an aftertaste. For readers studying the ecology of early SF magazines, the structure of short SF, or the writing of women SF authors, it is a convenient sample. The English is not difficult, making it suitable as short reading practice or as a prompt for a themed SF discussion. Given its brevity, one should not expect a vast worldbuilding or complex character arcs; it is better treated as a short genre-reading experience. As a public-domain ebook, it is easy to obtain and also suitable for short-story analysis in classes or book clubs.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in early American pulp science fiction short stories
SF fans who want to practice English reading with short pieces
Students studying science fiction magazine writing and short-story structure
Organizers of book clubs looking for lightweight texts for discussion

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting novel-length worldbuilding and character depth
Serious literary readers uninterested in old-style pulp SF prose
Those who want a Chinese translation and prefer not to read the English original

Reading tips

Read the short story in one sitting, then look back at the opening to see how the premise and the ending twist echo each other.
After reading, list the core SF premise and narrative structure to help with book club discussion.
Read it alongside short stories from the same period's SF magazines to observe common features of the genre's writing.

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 work a novel or a short story?

It is a short story, limited in length and suitable for reading in one sitting. The focus should be on how the central idea unfolds and how the ending is handled, rather than expecting complex novel-length development.

Is the English difficult?

Overall it is not difficult; it is English written in the style of popular magazines, with shorter sentences and common vocabulary. Readers with basic English reading ability can try it, using a dictionary for unfamiliar words.

Is it suitable for SF beginners?

It can serve as a lightweight sample for understanding early pulp SF writing, but it does not represent the mainstream face of contemporary SF. For a systematic introduction to SF, it is better read alongside other works in a more complete short-story anthology.

Comments

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About the author

Mari Wolf Author · American · 1926

Mari Wolf (born August 27, 1926) was an American science fiction writer and magazine columnist, born in Laguna Beach, California. She studied mathematics at the University of California, Los Angeles, and later worked at aerospace institutions such as the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Her 1952 story "Robots of the World! Arise!" is regarded as one of the earliest works to use the term "droid" for robots. Her short fiction appeared mostly in If magazine; she also wrote The Golden Frame (1961) and long contributed the fan column "Fandora's Box" to Imagination. Six of her works are held in this collection, including The Very Secret Agent and Homo Inferior. Her stories often explore robots, future societies, and human nature, with bold imagination and a concise style, and hold a modest place among readers of early science fiction magazines.