Dialstone Lane, Part 5

William Wymark JacobsProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.2

Word count: 76K words
Chapters: 8

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. Dialstone Lane, Part 5. by W. W. Jacobs. Author: Jacobs, W. W. (William Wymark), 1863-1943. Language: English. Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature. Release Date: Apr 1, 2004.

Editor's review

This is the fifth serialized part of Dialstone Lane, also a public-domain ebook from Project Gutenberg. As a later section of the book, this part tends to tie up threads and move characters toward their outcomes, and is fairly important for understanding the narrative rhythm and humorous tone of the whole work. Jacobs's writing excels in dialogue, and the scenes are lively; close reading of the characters' speech is the best way to appreciate the comic effect. Because it is a serialized electronic text, readers without the earlier parts can easily lose track of the character relationships, so it suits readers who already have some grounding rather than beginners. For scholars of English literature, collectors of public-domain books, and readers practicing English reading with originals, this part can be one stage in a complete reading plan; those who want a standalone story should choose a different complete work.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Serial readers who have finished the earlier parts and want to follow the outcome
Students studying Jacobs's narrative structure and comic technique
Advanced learners who need English public-domain texts for reading practice

Not a good fit for

General readers who have not read the earlier parts and want to jump straight to the ending
Readers who prefer Chinese translations or modern annotated editions
Fans of short stories who expect a self-contained, independent plot

Reading tips

Read Parts 1 through 5 in order rather than jumping straight to this part.
Pay attention to the subtext of the characters' dialogue, the main source of Jacobs's humor.
After finishing, look back at earlier parts to see how the threads are tied up here.
Compare with the author's short-story collections to see how pacing differs between long and short fiction.

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 Part 5 the ending of the whole book?

The source data does not say whether it is the final part, only that it is the fifth serialized part. Readers should rely on the total number of parts, read them all in order, and then judge whether the plot is resolved, rather than inferring the ending from the part number alone.

Why is reading in order recommended?

Because this is a serialized novel in parts, and character relationships and cause and effect run through all the parts. Skipping the earlier text and reading Part 5 directly makes motivations and plot turns hard to follow, and both the reading experience and comprehension suffer.

How difficult is the English?

The original is a British novel from the late nineteenth to early twentieth century, with period features in syntax and vocabulary; there is a good deal of dialogue but it includes dialect and old-fashioned expressions. Readers with university-level English can get through it with a dictionary, while beginners may find it hard going.

Comments

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About the author

William Wymark Jacobs Author · British · 1863–1943

William Wymark Jacobs (1863–1943) was a British short-story writer, born in London in 1863 and died there in 1943. In his early years he lived around the Thames docks and was familiar with the lives of sailors and dockworkers, which led him to write a great many humorous sea stories, often in a light and witty tone. His best-known work, The Monkey's Paw, is a classic horror short story included in The Lady of the Barge (1902); noted for its tight suspense and sudden twists, it is still widely anthologized in horror collections. The library holds 109 of his works, including The Lady of the Barge and Others, Ship's Company, A Tiger's Skin, Captains All, and Night Watches; his common category is inspirational growth. Public information is limited and details of his life are largely unavailable, yet his fiction is distinctive in subject, blending humor with horror, and has had a lasting influence on later short-story writing.