The Princess and the Physicist

Evelyn E. SmithProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.4

Word count: 46K words
Chapters: 5

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 Princess and the Physicist by Evelyn E. SmithAuthor: Smith, Evelyn E., 1922-2000,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Feb 4, 2016

Editor's review

Evelyn E. Smith's The Princess and the Physicist is freely available through Project Gutenberg and classified under American literature. Smith was active in science fiction and fantasy magazines in the mid-twentieth century and was known for a light touch in handling the mismatches between gender, identity, and science. The title alone suggests the book is likely built around the collision between the identities of princess and physicist, with the wit and irony common to genre fiction. Of moderate length and brisk in language, it serves as a good sample of women's science fiction writing from that era. While reading, note how the author uses humor to defuse stereotypes and how scientific discourse is juxtaposed with a fairy-tale frame. Suitable for reading in short spurts and as supplementary material for a genre fiction course.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in mid-twentieth-century women science fiction authors
Readers who enjoy light, humorous genre fiction
Intermediate English learners looking for short fiction for extensive reading practice
Teachers and students seeking supplementary texts for a genre fiction course

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking hard science settings and rigorous extrapolation
Literary readers who prefer serious, heavy themes
Beginners who need extensive notes to understand an English original

Reading tips

Note how the identities of princess and physicist interact, and record the irony in it.
After finishing, look up the author's other works from the same period and compare whether the style is consistent.
Use it as English extensive reading material: read one section a day and retell its gist.

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 science fiction or fantasy?

Judging from the author's background and the title, the book blends science fiction and fantasy: it has both scientific elements and a fairy-tale frame, so it should not be simply placed in a single genre. While reading, notice how the boundary between the two is broken.

Is it suitable for English beginners?

The language is generally brisk, but the text dates from the mid-twentieth century and some expressions are distant from modern English. Readers with intermediate reading proficiency are advised to try it; beginners may use a dictionary or a guide.

How long is it approximately?

The edition collected by Project Gutenberg is not long, suitable for completing in one or two reading sessions, and convenient as a short sample for revisiting its dialogue and turns.

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

Evelyn E. Smith Author · American · 1922–2000

Evelyn E. Smith (1922–2000) was an American writer of science fiction and mystery fiction, born in New York, who also worked as a crossword puzzle constructor. In the 1950s she published numerous short science fiction stories in magazines such as Galaxy Science Fiction and Fantastic Universe. Her representative works include "The Blue Tower," "The Venus Trap" and "The Doorway," along with "The Most Sentimental Man," "Collector's Item," "The Princess and the Physicist" and "The Man Outside"; seventeen of her works are held in this collection. Her short stories often treat alien contact, gender relations and consumer society with wit and humour, showing neat plotting and a satirical edge. Under the pen name Delphine C. Lyons she also wrote Gothic romances and the "Miss Melville" mystery series. Public information about her life is limited, and discussion of her work focuses mainly on these magazine stories and her genre fiction.