Vanishing Point

Charles Clarence BeckProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.7

Word count: 11K 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.Vanishing Point by C. C. BeckAuthor: Beck, C. C. (Charles Clarence), 1910-1989,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Dec 15, 2007

Editor's review

This is a short work by C. C. Beck published in the era of popular science-fiction magazines, made available as a free electronic text by Project Gutenberg. Beck's fame as an artist far exceeded his fame as a writer, and his prose has the crisp rhythm of comic panels: scenes switch quickly, dialogue moves briskly, and suspense often turns at the last moment. The story revolves around the concept of the "vanishing point," which carries both visual and existential meaning; it is not long and can be read in one sitting during a commute or before sleep. It may be read as a sample of mid-twentieth-century American genre fiction: observe how the author completes setup, escalation of conflict, and resolution within a very limited word count. Its status as a free public-domain text also makes it a low-threshold entry into the ecology of early science-fiction short stories; it can be compared with other Gutenberg science-fiction shorts released around the same time to observe that generation of authors' shared anxieties about technology and human nature. One caveat: the text is in the original English and dates from an early period, so some expressions are distant from the sensibility of today's readers.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who want to experience a classic English short story in a short time
Readers interested in mid-twentieth-century American genre fiction
Self-learners who need free public-domain English texts as reading material
People who like stories with reversal endings and tight pacing

Not a good fit for

Readers hoping for a full-length novel with extensive world-building
People unaccustomed to reading original English and dependent on translations
Readers sensitive to the style of early genre fiction and seeking modern narrative

Reading tips

Read through once to grasp the plot direction, then go back to see how the foreshadowing at the ending was planted.
Skip unfamiliar expressions at first and look them up after finishing, so as not to interrupt the rhythm.
Read alongside Gutenberg science-fiction shorts by the same author or from the same period, and compare themes.
After reading, write down your understanding of the term "vanishing point" in your notes to test the text's ambiguity.

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?

Judging from the form and length of the Gutenberg text, it is a short work, suitable for reading in one or two sittings. The short length means setup and conflict are highly compressed; readers should not expect extensive world-building, but should focus on how the author completes the turn within a limited word count.

Can I read it if my English is not good?

The text is in the original English. Sentences are generally not long, but it contains colloquial and period expressions typical of early genre fiction. Readers with at least a secondary-school reading level in English who are willing to use a dictionary can try it; for a smoother experience, it is best to compare with a reliable translation first, or start with easier short stories from the same period.

Why recommend reading public-domain ebooks?

The text provided by Gutenberg is free and directly accessible, making it suitable for low-cost trial reading and collecting material. For researchers, public-domain texts are convenient to cite and compare across editions; for ordinary readers, it lowers the threshold for encountering early genre fiction, and there is no burden if the book does not suit their taste.

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About the author

Charles Clarence Beck Author · American · 1910–1989

C. C. Beck (Charles Clarence Beck, 1910–1989) was an American comic book artist best known for drawing the Captain Marvel series, and he was one of the most important artists to bring that classic superhero to the comic book page. His work, with its clean lines and clear compositions, was representative of the American comics Golden Age of the 1940s, and the Captain Marvel series has therefore held a lasting place in comics history. Beyond that series, the library also holds his work Vanishing Point; this is the only title by him currently in the Chinese collection, and public information on his thematic range and later creative direction is limited, making a more detailed account difficult.