The Adventurer

Cyril M. KornbluthProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.6

Word count: 29K words
Chapters: 3

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 Adventurer by C. M. KornbluthAuthor: Kornbluth, C. M. (Cyril M.), 1923-1958,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Sep 4, 2009

Editor's review

Kornbluth's short story "The Adventurer" is a slice of Golden Age science fiction: short, neatly set up, and turning on a cool deduction about human nature and desire. C. M. Kornbluth was known for satire and clever structure, and this piece continues his dismantling of the romantic idea of "adventure"—readers will see that so-called adventure often comes with costs and misjudgments rather than being a simple heroic journey. As a public-domain electronic text from Project Gutenberg, it works well as a sample for training in reading science-fiction short stories: the length is manageable, easy to finish in one sitting and then look back at the foreshadowing; it is also useful for discussing the narrative conventions and values of Golden Age science fiction. As you read, notice how the point of view shifts and how the ending's twist redefines what came before; that shows the author's craft better than simply following the plot. For English readers new to science fiction, it is a short but chewy choice.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who like Golden Age science-fiction short stories with fast pacing and twists
Beginning learners who want to train English science-fiction reading with short pieces
Readers interested in satire and human-nature themes in science fiction

Not a good fit for

Hard science-fiction readers expecting long world-building and complex settings
Readers sensitive to the gender views and narrative conventions of old science fiction

Reading tips

Read it in one sitting, then look back at the opening and the turning point to see how the foreshadowing is reinterpreted
After reading, write a hundred-word review focused on the irony of the word "adventure" in the story
Compare it with other short stories by the same author to observe his habitual structural devices

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 a novel or a short story?

From the Project Gutenberg information, this is a short story by Kornbluth, suitable for reading in one or two sittings. The exact length depends on the actual page count of the electronic text, but the overall reading burden is light.

Can I read it without a background in science fiction?

Yes. The work is short, the setup is not complex, and the English is easier than in many long science-fiction novels. Read it once for the plot, then go back to the key turning point to understand the author's satirical treatment of "adventure."

Who was Kornbluth? Do I need to know about him first?

C. M. Kornbluth was a mid-twentieth-century American science-fiction writer known for short stories and a satirical style. You can read the story directly without knowing his life, but knowing that he liked to dismantle genre conventions makes the text's humor and coldness easier to see.

Comments

Find this book

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

Cyril M. Kornbluth Author · American · 1923–1958

Cyril M. Kornbluth (1923–1958) was an American science fiction writer. Born in New York City, he died of a heart attack in New York State in 1958. As a teenager he joined the Futurians, a science fiction group, and was closely associated with Frederik Pohl, Isaac Asimov, and others; he is regarded as one of the representative authors of the Golden Age of science fiction. Kornbluth was known for social satire, often using absurd situations and a cool, unsentimental tone to expose the flaws of consumer society, crowd psychology, and human nature. His stories are short and sharp, leaving a complex aftertaste. The library holds six of his works, including The Marching Morons, The Syndic, With These Hands, The Luckiest Man in Denv, The Altar at Midnight, and The Adventurer, as well as The Space Merchants, co-written with Pohl. His satirical science fiction has had a lasting influence on later writers.