Résumé
Résumé de Les Lettres de Jessica
À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
Readers who love letters and diaries, clever banter, and love stories where ideas matter as much as feelings. It suits anyone drawn to faith, books, and Southern country life set against New York.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
What happens when a gloomy editor tells a hopeful young writer not to give her life to literature, and she laughs at him? In The Jessica Letters, written by Paul Elmer More with Corra Harris, that question grows into a love story told through letters and diary pages. Philip Towers is a New York editor and a scholar of old philosophies. Jessica Doane is a quick, teasing minister's daughter from Georgia who loves the woods near her home. Between New York and Georgia they argue about books, God, poverty, duty and love, and grow closer through their letters. Begin with one cautious piece of advice.
Dans ce résumé
- 1A warning turns into a friendshipFree
- 2Books, banter and a borrowed scholar
- 3Philip's confession and Jessica's heaven
- 4The quarrel over humanitarianism
- 5A visit, a refusal and the child Jack
- 6Engagement and the father's decision
- 7The father's prayer closet and a growing worry
- 8Diaries, stories and what Philip believes
- 9What the letters are really about
Point clé 1 sur 9
A warning turns into a friendship
Philip Towers, literary editor of a New York paper, writes to Jessica Doane after she asks in his office whether she should give her life to literature. He likes her review and offers her more books. Yet he answers her big question with gloom.
He says he has known only four people who truly gave themselves to literature, and each lives alone and unrecognised. He tells her to write for applause but not to take the art too seriously.
Jessica answers from Georgia, where her father is a travelling Methodist preacher. She laughs at the warning and compares her writing to a mockingbird, which sings without thinking of sacrifice. He is earnest and a little wounded. She is bright and quick to see through him.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Questions about Les Lettres de Jessica
What is The Jessica Letters about?
It is a love story told in letters between Philip Towers, a New York editor, and Jessica Doane, a Georgia preacher's daughter. They argue about books, faith and kindness to the poor while falling in love.
Who wrote The Jessica Letters?
Paul Elmer More, a critic and essayist, wrote Philip's letters, and the novelist Corra Harris wrote Jessica's. Together they created a two-sided exchange in which each voice is distinct.
Who is Jack in The Jessica Letters?
Jack is the small son of O'Meara, a ruined scholar who reviews books for Philip. After his father dies, Jack lives first with Philip and then with Jessica, and later writes his own short letters.
What does humanitarianism mean in the book?
Philip uses the word for the modern belief that serving human welfare is the highest duty. He thinks it ranks comfort above the spirit, while Jessica defends it as the better part of religion.