Witch-Burning

Counselman, Mary Elizabeth, 1911-1995Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 1.4K words
Chapters: 1

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.Witch-Burning by Mary Elizabeth CounselmanAuthor: Counselman, Mary Elizabeth, 1911-1995,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: May 23, 2010

Editor's review

Mary Elizabeth Counselman's Witch-Burning is a short genre story collected on a public-domain e-book platform. The author was active in twentieth-century American pulp magazine writing, and her work often carries a Gothic and Southern weird-tale atmosphere. This piece revolves around the historical and folkloric image of "witch-burning"; it is short with a concentrated plot, suitable as lightweight reading material for English short fiction. Its value lies in showing how the pulp magazine era used compact narrative to create suspense and unease, and readers can observe how genre literature borrows and transforms historical material. When reading, do not expect heavy historical scholarship; focus instead on atmosphere, narrative perspective, and the ending's twist. It suits being read in one sitting in spare moments, and also serves as a text for English short-story analysis or genre writing practice. The electronic edition is convenient for searching, but be aware of layout differences among public-domain versions.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Learners who want to practice reading rhythm with short English fiction
Readers interested in Gothic, weird-tale, and pulp magazine styles
Writing practitioners who need short texts for narrative analysis

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking serious historical research or scholarship on the history of witchcraft
Readers who prefer long works with complex world-building

Reading tips

Read it through in one sitting first, then look back at how the opening foreshadowing echoes the ending's twist.
On a second reading, note in English sentences that build atmosphere or shift perspective, for short-story analysis.
Compare with other public-domain Gothic short stories to compare methods of building suspense.

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 story historical reportage or fiction?

It is a fictional short genre story that borrows the historical and folkloric image of "witch-burning" to create atmosphere and conflict; it is not a historical record of witchcraft trials. It should be read as a literary text, not as historical source material.

What settings suit its length?

As a short story, it suits being read in one sitting during a commute, before sleep, or between classes. Its brevity means the plot moves quickly; reading it continuously is recommended to preserve the suspense experience, then go back for notes and analysis.

Is the English difficult?

Short stories from the pulp magazines usually have direct narration and more dialogue, making them easier than nineteenth-century prose. Basic English reading ability is enough to try; when encountering folkloric or dialect words, you can skip them first and look them up after grasping the main plot.

Comments

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About the author

Counselman, Mary Elizabeth, 1911-1995 Author · American · 1911–1995

Mary Elizabeth Counselman (1911–1995) was an American writer of science fiction and fantasy whose work appeared mainly in the pulp magazines of the mid-twentieth century. One of her works is held in this collection, Witch-Burning. Public information about her life and writing is limited, and the available material centers on her identity as a writer and the outlets where her work was published. She was active during the heyday of the pulp magazines, writing in science fiction and fantasy in a style suited to the tastes of genre readers of the time, often in short forms published in mass-market periodicals. Although a full picture of her life and work is not widely known today, she belongs to the group of writers who published in genre magazines of that era, and her writing forms part of the mid-twentieth-century American popular literary scene, offering some reference value for the study of science fiction and fantasy short fiction of the period.