Resumen
Resumen de Elsie Venner
Para quién es
For readers who love Gothic atmosphere, nineteenth century New England, and novels that wrestle with free will and heredity.
De qué trata este libro
Elsie Venner is a novel by Oliver Wendell Holmes, a Boston physician, professor of anatomy and writer. It first appeared in the Atlantic Monthly in 1859 and 1860 and came out as a book in 1861. Holmes called it a medical story. He wanted to test a hard question in fiction. How far is a person to blame for a nature they were born with?
The heroine is a young woman in a New England hill town. Before her birth, her mother was struck by a rattlesnake's venom. Elsie grows up beautiful, silent and strange, with a gaze that unsettles those who meet it. You will meet a young medical man who becomes her teacher, an old country doctor who reads people like charts, and a village full of opinions about sin and fate. The book gives you a sharp picture of its time, a Gothic mood, and an argument that still stirs debate. Let us begin with the place and the girl.
En este resumen
- 1A strange girl in a quiet townFree
- 2A young teacher comes to Rockland
- 3The doctor who reads the signs
- 4Love, fear and a dangerous attachment
- 5Fate, blame and a changing science
- 6How Holmes tells the tale
Idea clave 1 de 6
A strange girl in a quiet town
The story is set in Rockland, a village in the hills of western Massachusetts. The grandest house there belongs to the Venner family, and in it lives Elsie Venner with her father, Dudley Venner. Elsie is a young woman of striking looks, with dark hair and eyes that seem to glitter. She is moody and proud, and she keeps to herself.
The townspeople whisper about her. Some say she is cold to the touch. Others say that animals behave oddly near her, and that people feel uneasy when she looks straight at them. She is fond of wandering the rocky hillsides alone, and she has a taste for a ledge in the woods that locals avoid because rattlesnakes den there.
Her father loves her, but he is a sad and watchful man. He lost his wife young, and the cause of that loss hangs over the house. Elsie has also been raised with little ordinary discipline, since no one quite knows how to guide her. An old servant named Sophy, who has cared for her since infancy, understands her moods better than anyone else does.
Holmes opens the book by building a sense of mystery around this household. He does not rush to explain why Elsie is as she is. Instead he lets the village talk, and he lets the reader notice how the gossip, the fear and the pity all fall on one young woman who has done nothing worse than be different.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Questions about Elsie Venner
What is Elsie Venner about?
It tells of a young woman in a Massachusetts hill town whose odd, snake-like nature is linked to events before her birth. A young teacher and an old doctor try to understand her and the question of blame.
Why is Elsie Venner called a medical novel?
Holmes was a physician and used the story to explore heredity, prenatal influence and how the body shapes character. The doctors in the book reason about Elsie as a medical case as well as a moral one.
When was Elsie Venner written and published?
Holmes serialized it in the Atlantic Monthly as The Professor's Story in 1859 and 1860. It was then published as a book in 1861 under the title Elsie Venner.
What does the snake mean in Elsie Venner?
The snake is the central symbol of the novel. It stands for the inherited nature that sets Elsie apart, and it raises the question of whether a person is answerable for traits they never chose.
Is Elsie Venner hard to read?
No. The story starts with one strange girl in a quiet hill town, and a lively narrator jokes and describes the village folk as you go. Each part follows a young teacher, an old doctor and a village full of opinions.