The Trimmed Lamp, and Other Stories of the Four Million

Henry, O., 1862-1910Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 4.0

Word count: 317K words
Chapters: 32

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 Trimmed Lamp, and other Stories of the Four Million by O. HenryAuthor: Henry, O., 1862-1910,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Feb 1, 2003

Editor's review

O. Henry's The Trimmed Lamp is one of the representative short-story collections in the "Four Million" series, continuing the author's narrative style of taking ordinary New Yorkers' lives as the entry point and delivering a twist at the end. This Project Gutenberg edition is a public-domain English e-book, suitable as an introductory reader to the classics of American short fiction. Its value lies not in grand narrative but in humorous observation and warm irony toward the city's little people: the author often uses light dialogue and scene-setting to push ordinary situations toward unexpected endings, making for easy reading with lingering aftertaste. For readers who want to practice reading English short stories or study the technique of the "O. Henry ending," the book is short and the stories are independent, making it convenient for fragmented reading and story-by-story analysis. Note that this is the original English electronic text, not a Chinese translation, so some English proficiency is required; moreover, the works carry the social context and expressive habits of the early 20th century, and some slang and period background need to be understood with notes or introductions.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who want to read English short stories and enjoy twist endings
English majors using it as material for short-story reading and narrative technique analysis
Readers interested in early 20th-century New York city life
Readers who need fragmented reading and prefer standalone stories

Not a good fit for

Readers who want a Chinese translation and have weak English proficiency
Readers who prefer long, coherent narratives or complex worldbuilding
Readers impatient with city themes and language habits from a century ago

Reading tips

Read one story first to feel the ending twist, then go back and sort out the foreshadowing and dialogue clues.
Read two or three stories a week, and after each, retell the plot and the ending twist in your own words.
When encountering period slang, first guess from context, then look it up in a dictionary and note it down.
Compare with other O. Henry stories to summarize his common narrative patterns.

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 the Chinese version or the original English?

This is a public-domain English e-book released by Project Gutenberg, with the main text in English; it is not a Chinese translation. Readers with good English can read it directly; those with basic English are advised to use a dictionary or a Chinese introduction, learn the background first, and then enter the original text.

I haven't read other works in the "Four Million" series. Can I read this one directly?

Yes. This book is a short-story collection, and the stories are relatively independent, not relying on previous plots. The so-called "Four Million" mainly refers to the ordinary New Yorkers the author focuses on; it is not a continuous story, so starting from any story will not cause comprehension problems.

What should I pay attention to when reading the e-book?

Public-domain electronic texts may have plain formatting and few notes. It is advisable to use reading software with adjustable fonts and to prepare dictionary tools. When you encounter passages with unfamiliar period background, mark them first and look them up after finishing the whole story, so as not to interrupt the reading rhythm.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Henry, O., 1862-1910 Author

O. Henry (1862–1910) was an American short-story writer whose real name was William Sydney Porter. He produced a large body of short fiction, and 16 of his works are held in this collection, including The Gift of the Magi, The Four Million, Heart of the West, The Gentle Grafter, Options, Sixes and Sevens, and The Trimmed Lamp, and Other Stories of the Four Million. His stories are mostly set in city life and the American West, with ingeniously constructed plots that often close on an unexpected twist. His language is humorous yet warm, and he excels at capturing the circumstances and feelings of ordinary people. The "O. Henry ending" is widely known and has had a lasting influence on the craft of the short story. It should be noted that public information on the specific details of his life and education is limited, and no conjecture is offered here.