Garrity's Annuities

Mason, David, 1924-1974Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.9

Word count: 15K 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. Garrity's Annuities by David Mason. Author: Mason, David, 1924-1974. Language: English. Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature. Release Date: Jan 20, 2016.

Editor's review

"Garrity's Annuities" is a short work by David Mason (1924–1974), made available as a free eBook by Project Gutenberg. Judging from the surviving bibliographic information, it belongs to the American and Canadian literature category; it is short and serves as a light sample of mid-twentieth-century English-language popular fiction. The advantage of the Project Gutenberg edition is its low barrier to access: it is easy to read on electronic devices at any time and convenient for researchers to check the text, but the edition itself contains no introduction or notes, so readers must grasp the background on their own. The "annuities" in the title are more of a narrative hook than a financial treatise; do not mistake the genre because of the title. If you are collecting obscure short stories from the Gutenberg library or want to try Mason's writing at very low cost, this book is worth reading; if you expect a systematic understanding of annuity systems or a complete long narrative, it is not the right choice.

Who it's for

A good fit for

General readers who want to sample mid-twentieth-century American short fiction at low cost
eBook enthusiasts collecting obscure literary texts from Project Gutenberg
Students and enthusiasts studying the short-story genre in English popular literature

Not a good fit for

Readers hoping to systematically learn about financial annuities
Readers who prefer full-length narratives with ample plot development
Rigorous researchers who need an academic edition with notes and an introduction

Reading tips

Read the full text once to grasp the overall rhythm of the short story, then go back and examine the characters' dialogue closely.
While reading, note the actual role of the "annuities" mentioned in the title in the story, and distinguish between the book title and the content.
For textual analysis, record the narrative perspective and period diction as reference for English short-story writing.
After reading, write down your understanding of the ending in notes for comparison with other short stories by the same author.

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 professional book about financial annuities?

No. It is a short work by the literary writer David Mason, classified under American and Canadian literature. The "annuities" in the title are a narrative element, not a financial discussion; those who want to learn about annuities should choose a professional textbook instead.

Does this edition have an introduction or notes?

Judging from the Project Gutenberg information, this electronic edition mainly provides the original text, with no introduction or notes. Readers need to fill in the author's and period background themselves, and can use a dictionary for unfamiliar expressions.

Is it suitable as English-learning material?

It can be used as extensive reading material: it is short and easy to obtain. But it is a literary text, and its sentence patterns and vocabulary bear the marks of its period. It is best read with a dictionary and should not be used as a grammar textbook.

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About the author

Mason, David, 1924-1974 Author

David Mason (Mason, David, 1924–1974) is an author about whom relatively little is known; his nationality, education, and professional career are not documented in publicly available sources, and only his birth and death years and two works can be confirmed. Two of his books are held in this collection: Garrity's Annuities and Something Will Turn Up. Judging from the titles, the former appears to deal with annuities, insurance, or financial arrangements, while the latter suggests a narrative of waiting for a turn of fortune and hoping for the future; both may fall within popular fiction or general readership. Because reliable biographical and critical materials are lacking, his full writing style and literary standing are difficult to assess accurately, and readers can only appreciate his conception and technique through the works themselves. Under present conditions, excessive inference about his life, achievements, or influence should be avoided; he may simply be regarded as a mid-twentieth-century writer who left a small number of works, to be supplemented and clarified by further research.