| Author |
Stuart, William W. |
| Title |
The Real Hard Sell
|
| Series Title |
Produced from If: Worlds of Science Fiction, July 1961.
|
| Note |
Reading ease score: 85.6 (6th grade). Easy to read.
|
| Credits |
Produced by Robert Cicconetti, David Wilson and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
|
| Summary |
"The Real Hard Sell" by William W. Stuart is a science fiction story published in the early 1960s. Set in a futuristic world dominated by robots and automation, it explores themes of identity, personal dissatisfaction, and the nature of salesmanship. The narrative follows the internal struggles of Ben Tilman, a salesman navigating his professional and personal life in a society where human roles are increasingly supplanted by robots. The story centers on Ben, who experiences a deep sense of dissatisfaction despite having a stable job, a loving wife, and a young child. As he prepares for a housewarming party meant to showcase a new sales approach, he grapples with feelings of emptiness and unresolved tensions about his life choices. During the party, Ben reveals a unique sales pitch involving a fully-automated home—a decision that ultimately leads him to reassess his desire for a less technology-driven, more meaningful existence. The end of the story sees Ben rejecting the suffocating comfort of a robotic lifestyle, opting instead for a more authentic and engaged way of living with his family. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
|
| Language |
English |
| LoC Class |
PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature
|
| Subject |
Science fiction
|
| Subject |
Short stories
|
| Subject |
Robots -- Fiction
|
| Subject |
Sales personnel -- Fiction
|
| Category |
Text |
| EBook-No. |
31038 |
| Release Date |
Jan 21, 2010 |
| Copyright Status |
Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads |
112 downloads in the last 30 days. |
|
Project Gutenberg eBooks are always free!
|
