Short Stories by David Arnason
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- Details
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- Introduction
I picked this topic because I love short stories and I think that Arnason is one of the best writers of short stories around. Secondly, I have read a few of his stories such as The Dragon, 50 Stories and a Piece of Advice, and The Pagan Wall and found them to be well told. Thirdly, Arnason is a renowned author who is held in high esteem worldwide. I did not know much about Arnason before I begun my research. What I knew was that Arnason is originally from Iceland and that he was born and raised up in Canada where he works and lives. I also knew that Arnason is an award winning prolific writer who has authored several works of fiction and several other serious literary pieces. I chose to use the source from the University of Manitoba Library available in the university’s portal (University of Manitoba, 2014). I chose this source because it is easy to understand and straightforward, it has many data on Arnason, the source is verifiable, recent, and non-commercial but educational. Other reasons that made me choose this particular source are that it is not an essay writing help site and the information that is contained in it is well presented
- Summary of the Source
The source is from the University of Manitoba Library page. It is written in English and well organized with the text divided into several different sections each of which has a title. The text in the source is easily legible. The language used is plain and is not laden with jargon and difficult words. It has a logical flow, which enhances its legibility. Additionally, the text is typed using a large font that is in black while the background of the page is a very light shade of grey. The paragraphs are well arranged and this enhances its logical flow thereby improving its legibility and overall feel. The source can also be easily found, as it is one of the top items displayed following a Google search of Arnason’s name. The colors and the graphics of the page are cool and enhance the source’s legibility.
Overall, the layout of the page is well done. The contents of the source are also current since it has been recently updated as shown by the date at the bottom of the page. The page was updated this year hence it is more reliable. This is unlike other sources that were consulted such as Icelandic Emigration, which was last updated 14 years ago (Icelandic Emigration, 2000). The source is verifiable since there are contact details of the university library included in the source. In addition, the source is not a commercial source but an educational one. Some of the other sources that I consulted such as McNally Robinson (McNally Robinson, 2014) is commercial sources and are only interested in making sales. They list the books written by the author and describe them in a way that will make one want to buy and read them. Therefore, they do not contain a lot of information. In contrast, the chosen source is from the University of Manitoba and its purpose is to give accurate data hence it was seen as a better source.
- Comparison
The purpose of the source is to provide information. It provides users of the university library with information about all of Arnason’s works. The target audience is the University of Manitoba including the students, faculty, and staff of the university. On its breadth, the source can be described as broad. It succinctly provides all the necessary details about the fronds. However, it does not delve into each of the works mentioned in the fronds. On its depth, the source is shallow and not deep. The trend in the modern world is to list literary works as links, which can open in another page and provide comprehensive information about a particular work. The links may open up an e-book or electronic source, which may have data about the work itself, criticism of the work, and other related information.
However, in this source, no such links are provided and the scarcity of this data is overwhelming. The reader has to contend with visiting the physical library to search for the works himself in order to dig up more information. The author’s biography is just but a sketch and provides only his date and place of birth, parents’ names, matriculation years, current occupation, and list of works. The reader is left asking for more. It is more of a summary than a source of detailed information.The style of the source is formal since it uses official language and has no slang or offensive language. The tone is informative and respectful and this enhances its formal nature. The font used is Times New Roman, which is normally used in formal writing. The source does not have any other media such as video or audio. It has a chat feature that allows the user to interact with the administrators of the webpage. It also has a couple of links that make it easy for the reader of the source to navigate and find other data that is related to the information provided in the source. This increases the usability of the source and makes it more informative and handy.
- Conclusion/Evaluation
I found this source useful because it lists all the current works of Arnason. I also found it to be useful because it provides a sketch of the author’s biography. This is important as it has helped me understand him better and this will aid me to understand the context of some of his writings. Another factor that convinced me about the usefulness of the source is that it provided me with useful information that I can use to locate the works of Arnason from the University of Manitoba Library. In addition, the source provides an online finding aid that is useful as I can locate Arnason’s writings just by clicking this link. The source helped me to learn a few things about Arnason, which I did not know before. Apart from the stories that I have read, I learnt that Arnason’s other published works of fiction areThe Happiest Man in the World, The Demon Lover,The Circus Performer's Bar, The Pagan Wall, King Jerry, If Pigs Could Fly, andThe Dragon and the Drygoods Princess. I was not aware that Arnason had written any plays or poems until I read this source. The source has therefore informed me that Arnason is also a playwright and a poet and that his plays include Dewline, Welcome to Hard Times, Section 23/L’article 23, and The Life Cabaret.