The Trap

Curtis, Betsy, 1917-2002Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.3

Word count: 28K 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 Trap by Betsy CurtisAuthor: Curtis, Betsy, 1917-2002,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Jun 6, 2010

Editor's review

The Trap is a short work by Bessie Curtis (1917–2002) published in the mid-twentieth century, now freely digitized by Project Gutenberg, allowing contemporary readers to rediscover this easily forgotten American genre-fiction author. Curtis wrote science fiction and suspense short stories over a long period, and was skilled at using spare scenes and a single pivotal turn to create a sense of pressure; this piece is not long, yet fully displays her typical method: an everyday situation gradually tightens, reader and character alike realize something is wrong, and the mystery is finally revealed. Its value lies not in a grand premise but in its control of pacing and the clean economy of its twist, making it a suitable sample for understanding short-story writing in the pulp-magazine era. The English original uses plain vocabulary and short sentences, and is relatively friendly to non-native readers as well. It can be finished on a commute or in the half hour before sleep; after reading, one might look back at the opening paragraphs and find that the author had planted clues all along. As a public-domain e-book, it is better tasted as a sample of the short story than expected to be a full-length work.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English readers who enjoy short suspense stories with twist endings
Learners who want to practice reading with short English originals
Enthusiasts studying mid-twentieth-century American genre short stories
Readers who want to finish a story quickly on a commute or before sleep

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a long, complex world and character arcs
Readers unaccustomed to reading English originals and needing a Chinese translation
Readers who prefer literary description over plot twists

Reading tips

Read it through in one go first, then look back at the opening paragraphs to find the foreshadowing the author planted.
Mark unfamiliar expressions as you go, and look them up together after finishing the whole piece to avoid breaking the rhythm.
Read it alongside other public-domain short stories of the same period and compare how their twists differ.
After reading, retell the plot in three to five sentences to check whether you have grasped the key turn.

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?

This is a short work by Bessie Curtis. It is not long and can usually be finished in about half an hour, suitable for reading in one sitting rather than for long-form reading spread over many days.

How difficult is the English, and what level of reader is it suitable for?

The original uses fairly short sentences and plain vocabulary, making it a moderately easy English short story that readers with basic vocabulary can complete with the help of a dictionary; beginning readers can first read the e-book and use look-up tools.

Why can it be read for free on Project Gutenberg?

The work has entered the public domain, and Project Gutenberg has digitized it and offers it free. Project Gutenberg is the earliest provider of free e-books, founded by Michael Hart in 1971.

Do I need to know the author's background before reading?

No. The story stands on its own and can be read directly; if you become interested afterward, learning about the mid-twentieth-century American genre short-story environment in which Curtis worked will be more rewarding.

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About the author

Curtis, Betsy, 1917-2002 Author · American · 1917–2002

Betsy Curtis (1917–2002) was an American science fiction fan and writer active in the science fiction circles of the mid-twentieth century. Public information about her is limited, and few details of her life survive; the library currently holds two of her works, The Protector and The Trap. These works suggest that she belonged to the type of writer who moved between the fan community and the creative scene of her era: she took part as a reader and enthusiast in shaping science fiction culture, and she also contributed short fiction to the magazine-centered science fiction publishing of the time. Her subjects bear the typical marks of mid-twentieth-century science fiction, modest in length and attentive to premise and twist. On the whole, she is not a widely known name, yet she is a figure worth noting for understanding the fan ecology of that period and the participation of women writers, and further research remains to be done.