Summary
Summary of Edgar Huntly; or, Memoirs of a Sleep-Walker
Edgar Huntly; or, Memoirs of a Sleep-Walker at a glance
Summary: 9 min to read
- Reading time
- About 6 h 5 min4 h 50 min fast, 7 h 15 min slow
- Length
- 87,100 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1799by Charles Brockden Brown
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
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Key ideas
Key idea 1
Grief draws Edgar toward a mystery
Edgar Huntly returns at night to the elm where his friend Waldegrave was murdered. He has searched the ground many times, but grief keeps drawing him back. This time, he sees a man digging beneath the tree, weeping in the hole, and covering it again.
When Edgar calls, the stranger passes without answering or seeming to notice him. Edgar believes the man is asleep. His search for a murderer now becomes entangled with another person's hidden sorrow, and pity begins to compete with suspicion.
Key idea 2
Suspicion turns pursuit into danger
Edgar follows the sleeper through marshes, streams, and rocky ground to a cave.
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Key idea 3
Kindness becomes the center of devotion
Clithero tells Edgar how Mrs. Lorimer changed his life.
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Key idea 4
Fear distorts Clithero's sense of guilt
News that Wiatte is alive fills Clithero with dread.
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Key idea 5
Compassion carries Edgar into the wilderness
After hearing Clithero's confession, Edgar fears that the man intends to kill himself.
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Key idea 6
Hidden objects bring uncertainty closer
Edgar's search turns to things people have concealed.
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Key idea 7
Survival unsettles Edgar's belief in himself
Edgar wakes bruised and barefoot in complete darkness, unable to remember how he arrived.
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Key idea 8
The search turns toward the self
Edgar begins by seeking the truth about a friend's murder, but his pursuit opens questions about his own actions and awareness.
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Go deeper: the whole of Edgar Huntly; or, Memoirs of a Sleep-Walker
About 6 h 20 min to read.Start freeWho it’s for
Readers drawn to Gothic suspense, dark caves, and midnight chases will love this novel. It also suits those fascinated by the early American novel, unreliable minds, and the unsettling atmosphere of a story told through letters.
What this book is
What would you do if you saw a man dig a hole at midnight beneath a lonely elm, weep over it, and then walk straight past you as if you were not there? That is where Edgar Huntly begins. A young man in Pennsylvania, still mourning his murdered friend Waldegrave, sees the sleepwalker and cannot let the matter rest. Edgar has little money and no trade, but he has a restless mind and a habit of wandering at night.
The elm stands where Waldegrave was shot dead, and nobody has learned who fired. Most of the book is a long letter to Waldegrave's sister, followed by further correspondence with Sarsefield. Charles Brockden Brown published it in 1799, and he says America has no need of Gothic castles, for it has the wilderness, frontier danger, and sleepwalking. You get the story scene by scene, from the elm into caves, onto cliffs, and through a night of fear.
In this summary
- 1Grief draws Edgar toward a mysteryFree
- 2Suspicion turns pursuit into danger
- 3Kindness becomes the center of devotion
- 4Fear distorts Clithero's sense of guilt
- 5Compassion carries Edgar into the wilderness
- 6Hidden objects bring uncertainty closer
- 7Survival unsettles Edgar's belief in himself
- 8The search turns toward the self
Grief draws Edgar back to the elm
The story opens with a promise kept. Edgar Huntly sits down to write to the sister of his friend Waldegrave, who was shot dead near an old elm close to the home of an old man named Inglefield. Edgar says he can now hold a pen steady, though his memory still burns.
He was walking home at night to his uncle's house. He could have taken a plain road. Instead grief and a hunger for answers pull him toward the elm. He has searched that ground a hundred times without result. He remembers the pistol shot, Inglefield's alarm, and his friend stretched on the grass with a mortal wound. No killer was seen and no clue was left.
When he reaches the tree, he sees a tall, powerful man, half naked, digging in the earth. Edgar hides among the rocks and cedars and watches. The man sits in the pit, sobs with terrible grief, then fills the hole again. Edgar's suspicion gives way to pity, and tears rise in his own eyes.
Edgar calls out, and the stranger does not answer. He walks past so close that he nearly brushes Edgar's arm, then vanishes among the rocks. Edgar concludes that the man is asleep. He has read of such cases, but he has never seen one, and this one is bound up with the place of his friend's death. Grief can push a decent person toward obsession.
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Check yourself
Why does Edgar keep returning to the elm?
Right. “Instead grief and a hunger for answers pull him toward the elm.”Not quite. “Instead grief and a hunger for answers pull him toward the elm.”
Why does killing Wiatte fill Clithero with guilt about Mrs. Lorimer?
Right. “He reasons that he has killed the brother, and so he has killed the woman he serves.”Not quite. “He reasons that he has killed the brother, and so he has killed the woman he serves.”
What central uncertainty connects Edgar and Clithero?
Right. “You also keep the doubt about how much we know of our own actions.”Not quite. “You also keep the doubt about how much we know of our own actions.”
Go deeper: the whole of Edgar Huntly; or, Memoirs of a Sleep-Walker
About 6 h 20 min to read.Start freePaperback, hardcover and large print, printed for you at cost, are on their way.Email me when it is printed
Who’s who
- Edgar Huntly
- A young man from Solesbury who writes the story. He wants to understand his friend's murder and soon follows secrets he can hardly bear.
- Clithero Edny
- An Irish servant who sleepwalks and carries a terrible burden of guilt. He wants to bury his past and suffer alone.
- Sarsefield
- Edgar's teacher and old friend, a surgeon who returns from Europe with great wealth and with a hatred of Clithero.
- Waldegrave
- Edgar's close friend, a gentle schoolmaster whose unexplained death near an elm drives Edgar to search for answers.
- Weymouth
- A friend of Waldegrave, back from shipwreck and illness, who comes to claim a sum of money he believes is his.
- Mrs. Lorimer
- Clithero's patroness, a wise and generous widow whose love for her wicked brother shapes the whole tragedy.
- Old Deb
- An elderly Delaware woman, called Queen Mab by Edgar, who lives alone with her dogs in the wilderness and claims it as hers.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 87,100 words
- Reading timeAbout 6 h 5 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 11 other languages
Questions about Edgar Huntly; or, Memoirs of a Sleep-Walker
What is Edgar Huntly about?
It follows Edgar Huntly, a young man in Pennsylvania who traces the murder of his friend Waldegrave and meets a sleepwalking Irishman named Clithero. The search leads him into caves, cliffs, and a bitter struggle for survival on the frontier.
Who is Clithero in Edgar Huntly?
Clithero Edny is an Irish servant in the household of a man named Inglefield. He sleepwalks, carries a secret guilt from his past in Ireland, and tells Edgar a long confession about his patroness Mrs. Lorimer.
When was Edgar Huntly written and is it a true story?
Charles Brockden Brown published it in 1799. It is a work of fiction, set in the Pennsylvania backcountry, and it uses real dangers of the frontier such as caves, wild animals, and raids to build its suspense.
Why is it called Memoirs of a Sleep-Walker?
The subtitle points to sleepwalking, which is central to the plot. Several characters act while asleep, burying objects and wandering at night, and Edgar's own memory is strangely broken in places.
What is the main message of Edgar Huntly?
The book shows how little people know of their own minds and deeds. It also asks how guilt relates to intention, and it ties private fear to the violence of the American frontier.
Cite this edition
Brown, Charles Brockden. Edgar Huntly; or, Memoirs of a Sleep-Walker. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/edgar-huntly-or-memoirs-of-a-sleep-walker.
Brown, C. B. (2026). Edgar Huntly; or, memoirs of a sleep-walker. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/edgar-huntly-or-memoirs-of-a-sleep-walker (Original work published 1799)
Brown, Charles Brockden. Edgar Huntly; or, Memoirs of a Sleep-Walker. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/edgar-huntly-or-memoirs-of-a-sleep-walker.
@book{brown2026edgar,
author = {Brown, Charles Brockden},
title = {Edgar Huntly; or, Memoirs of a Sleep-Walker},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/edgar-huntly-or-memoirs-of-a-sleep-walker},
note = {First published 1799}
}
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