The Gostak and the Doshes by Miles J. Breuer
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The Gostak and the Doshes by Miles J. Breuer is a science fiction short story written in the early 20th century. It explores the idea of relativity and alternate dimensions while satirizing mass psychology and nationalism through the power of a meaningless political slogan. A university physicist, Woleshensky, demonstrates how a shift in coordinates—treating time as a navigable axis—can move a person into another “slice” of the same world. The narrator follows
his instructions, finds himself in a near-identical society, and is taken in by Professor Vibens and his family. As he settles into academic work, the nation erupts in fervor over the empty phrase “The gostak distims the doshes,” which sweeps the country, sparks persecution, and triggers a war abroad. The narrator witnesses recruiting, casualties, and rationing, refuses to fight for a cause with no meaning, and is sentenced to be shot. Marching to his execution, he re-applies the coordinate trick, “reverses” the slope between the poplars, and returns to his original world, where Woleshensky suggests both realities may be the same world seen through different coordinate cuts—underscoring how frames of reference shape both physics and human belief. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Breuer, Miles J. (Miles John), 1889-1945 |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Morey, Leo, 1889-1965 |
| Title | The Gostak and the Doshes |
| Original Publication | New York: Experimenter Publications, Inc., 1930. |
| Series Title | Produced from Amazing Stories, March 1930 (vol. 04, no. 12.). |
| Credits | Tom Trussel (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature |
| Subject | Science fiction |
| Subject | Short stories |
| Subject | Fourth dimension -- Fiction |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 77989 |
| Release Date | Feb 20, 2026 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 274 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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