Résumé
Résumé de Le Fantôme sociable
À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
Readers who like witty ghost stories, old New York, gentle satire of society manners, and quirky characters telling their own tales. If you enjoy a bedtime tale with jokes and a kind heart, this fits.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
The Sociable Ghost is a comic ghost story by Olive Harper, who wrote for newspapers and died in 1915. It takes place in one night in May, in the old churchyard of Trinity Church in lower Manhattan, and it gives you a tour of the dead as the author imagines them, with all their pride, grudges and good humor.
The story begins with a young newspaper reporter who is nursing a broken heart. The girl he loves will marry a French nobleman the next day, and he has gone to the darkest corner he knows to be miserable alone. Then the graves open and a talkative skeleton climbs out, longing for a pipe and a drink. The reporter has both in his pockets.
What follows is a guided walk and a party. You meet sea captains, bishops, soldiers, a mummified Egyptian princess and a crowd of quarrelsome shades, each with a story about how they died or how they were buried. The book mixes satire of high society and bad poetry with real anger at how the dead are moved around a growing city. Let us start with the young man on his stone slab and the strange smoker who sits down beside him.
Dans ce résumé
- 1A sad reporter meets a skeletonFree
- 2Epitaphs lie and cherubs fail
- 3The underground hall of flowers
- 4A professional gambler teaches poker
- 5The dead who were moved too often
- 6What the dead say about dying
- 7Widows, undertakers and a stolen mummy
- 8Misfit bones and a hose gone wild
- 9Satire, sorrow and the voice behind them
Point clé 1 sur 9
A sad reporter meets a skeleton
The story opens at the northwest end of Trinity Church, under a tree and a clump of bushes. A large flat stone there marks the door of an old family vault, and on it sits a young newspaper reporter. He has come to the churchyard because he cannot face anyone. His editor sent him that day to describe the wedding presents of a millionaire's daughter, and he is secretly in love with the bride.
He is in such a black mood that he kicks a little dog and throws a stone at a starving kitten. The cruelty shocks him, since he has never hurt an animal before. He is also too upset to go home to his gentle mother, who would see his trouble without a word. So he sits in the dark with a pipe, a packet of tobacco and a flask of whiskey he has forgotten he carries.
As midnight comes near, the city's noise settles into a hum, and he becomes aware that the graveyard is waking. From every grave a shadowy figure rises. The one nearest him shakes himself until his bones rattle like dry oyster shells and says that he would give anything for a pipeful of tobacco.
The reporter, who is quick on his feet in his trade, fills his pipe and offers it. The ghost takes it with real joy, and the smoke seems to ooze out of his whole bony frame. When the reporter adds the whiskey, the ghost declares him a Christian and toasts everyone the young man has ever known. From then on the reporter privately calls him the Sociable Ghost.
This opening sets up the book's pattern. A living man with a trade built on questions has the luck to meet a talker who has waited for years for someone to listen. The reporter wisely stays quiet and lets the story come. He already begins to think of the headlines he will write.
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 Le Fantôme sociable
What is The Sociable Ghost about?
It follows a young New York reporter who spends one May night in Trinity churchyard, where he meets a talkative ghost and watches the dead hold a banquet, dance and convention beneath the church.
Who is the Sociable Ghost?
He is a dead sea captain who traded in rum and slaves, and now longs for tobacco and whiskey. He guides the reporter and talks without pause.
What does getting a passport mean in the book?
A passport is release from the bones. When a ghost has been purified, the bones crumble and the spirit moves on to a better state, as the dead explain.
Is The Sociable Ghost a true story?
No, it is a comic fantasy. It uses real New York places, such as Trinity Church and its graves, and real names from the city's past, to give a fanciful tale a solid setting.
Is The Sociable Ghost easy to read?
Yes, in the sense of its voice. It is told in short scenes with lively talk, jokes, and many small stories, so you can enjoy it one episode at a time.