A Country Doctor (novel)

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]

A Country Doctor
AuthorSarah Orne Jewett
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Publication date
1884

Plot summary

The main character of A Country Doctor, Nan, is a young woman who encounters much strife when she decides to go against the traditional values of the day and become a doctor.[2]

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.[3]

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.[4]

Themes addressed in A Country Doctor include the difficulty of meshing together the past and the future.[5][6] 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.[4][7] There is also reference within the book to the idea that "all people, regardless of sex, receive individual vocational calls".[8]

References
  1. Olsen, Kirsten (1994). Chronology of Women's History. Greenwood. p. 150. ISBN 0313288038.
  2. 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)
  3. Thompson, G.R. (2011). Reading the American Novel 1865-1914. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 164–165. ISBN 978-0631234067.
  4. Stuart Phelps, Elizabeth (1993). Doctor Zay. The Feminist Press at CUNY. pp. 285–302. ISBN 0935312722.
  5. Brehm, Victoria (2001). Constance Fenimore Woolson's Nineteenth Century Essays. Wayne State University Press. pp. 67–79. ISBN 0814329330.
  6. Fritzsche, Peter (2004). Stranded in the Present Modern Time and the Melancholy of History. Harvard University Press. p. 186. ISBN 0674013395.
  7. Karen L. Kilcup, Thomas S. Edwards (1999). Jewett and Her Contemporaries Reshaping the Canon. University Press of Florida. pp. 18, 42, 43. ISBN 0813017033.
  8. 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 7 June 2013.
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