A Country Doctor (novel)

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A Country Doctor
JEWETT(1884) A country doctor.jpg
Author Sarah Orne Jewett
LanguageEnglish
Publication date
1884
Publication placeUnited States

A Country Doctor is a novel by American author Sarah Orne Jewett. The book, which was first published in 1884, was based on the relationship between Jewett and her physician father. [1]

Contents

Plot summary

The main character of A Country Doctor is Nan Prince. Nan is the ward of physician Dr. Leslie Prince and wishes to follow him into a medical career; however, when she starts her medical studies, she realises that she will have to choose between her career, and marriage and society's expectations of her. [2] The novel follows Nan as she encounters strife when she decides to go against the traditional values of the day and become a doctor. [3]

Analysis

The work has been compared to Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward's Doctor Zay, which also depicted a woman seeking a medical career in the late 1800s. [4]

The book has been listed as an example of the shift in the perception of the role of women in society, with the main character of Nan choosing to pursue her career in medicine rather than a marriage and family. [5]

Themes addressed in A Country Doctor include the difficulty of meshing together the past and the future. [6] [7] The role of women in society, the eschewing of traditional roles and gender conventions, and whether or not it is possible for a woman to choose both a family and a career is also brought up as a theme in the novel. [5] [8] There is also reference within the book to the idea that "all people, regardless of sex, receive individual vocational calls". [9]

References

  1. ↑ Olsen, Kirsten (1994). Chronology of Women's History . Greenwood. p.  150. ISBN   0313288038.
  2. ↑ "A Country Doctor by Sarah Orne Jewett: 9780143039266 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books". PenguinRandomhouse.com.
  3. ↑ Michael A. Lacombe, M.D., David J. Elpern, M.D. (2009). Osler's Bedside Library Great Writers Who Inspired a Great Physician. Amer College of Physicians. pp. 195–200. ISBN   978-1934465479.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ↑ Thompson, G.R. (2011). Reading the American Novel 1865-1914. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 164–165. ISBN   978-0631234067.
  5. 1 2 Stuart Phelps, Elizabeth (1993). Doctor Zay. The Feminist Press at CUNY. pp. 285–302. ISBN   0935312722.
  6. ↑ Brehm, Victoria (2001). Constance Fenimore Woolson's Nineteenth Century Essays. Wayne State University Press. pp. 67–79. ISBN   0814329330.
  7. ↑ Fritzsche, Peter (2004). Stranded in the Present Modern Time and the Melancholy of History . Harvard University Press. p.  186. ISBN   0674013395.
  8. ↑ Karen L. Kilcup, Thomas S. Edwards (1999). Jewett and Her Contemporaries Reshaping the Canon. University Press of Florida. pp. 18, 42, 43. ISBN   0813017033.
  9. ↑ Heller, Terry (2005). "Eunice and the Jade Gods: Jewett's Religious Rhetoric in A Country Doctor" . Legacy. 22 (2): 158–175. doi:10.1353/leg.2005.0031. S2CID   162323111 . Retrieved June 7, 2013.
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