Dr. Heidegger's Experiment

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"Dr. Heidegger's Experiment"
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AuthorNathaniel Hawthorne
Original title"The Fountain of Youth"
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre(s)fiction, short story
Published inThe Knickerbocker, Vol. IX, p. 27
Publication dateJanuary 1837

"Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" is a short story by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne. The story is about a doctor who claims to have been sent water from the Fountain of Youth. Originally published anonymously in 1837, it was later published in Hawthorne's collection Twice-Told Tales, also in 1837.

Plot[]

Dr. Heidegger invites four elderly friends to participate in an experiment in his mysterious, gloomy study. He shows them a withered rose that he claims is fifty-five years old. He then displays a vase, a gift from an acquaintance, that contains a generous quantity of sparkling water. Heidegger explains that this bewitching water is from the legendary Fountain of Youth, near Lake Macaco (now known as Lake Okeechobee, in Florida). The water wondrously causes the old rose to bloom again when it is dropped into it.

Dr. Heidegger's friends become cautiously intrigued. They wish to taste the water, hoping it will restore their youth and give them an opportunity to live life again, free from the mistakes they made when they were young. As Heidegger watches, they anxiously drink the water. Their youth restored, they begin acting as fatuously as they did in their prime. Soon, the three men of the group begin competing for the attention of the now-youthful and beautiful widow. While experiencing their newfound youth, however, a tall ominous mirror in the study reflects an image of the four guests as still being elderly and feeble. The vase is accidentally smashed as the men fight over her, and its miraculous water is lost. The guests' transformation only lasts for minutes, and therefore returns them to their original old age. To obtain more of the enchanted water, the four test subjects determine to travel to Florida to find the Fountain of Youth.

Characters[]

  • Dr. Heidegger - An aged and wise physician who is the protagonist of the story.
  • Colonel Killigrew - A man who, throughout his life, has had many self-indulgent, sinful pleasures.
  • Mr. Medbourne - A once-rich merchant who lost most of his fortune in speculation.
  • Mr. Gascoigne - A politician whose career was ruined by his corruption.
  • Widow Wycherley - A formerly beautiful woman loved by the three gentlemen (Colonel Killigrew, Mr. Medbourne, Mr. Gascoigne).
  • Sylvia Ward- A youthful woman whose portrait hangs upon a wall in the study. She was supposed to marry Dr. Heidegger but died the day before their marriage. (The rose Dr. Heidegger uses in his experiment is one he received from Sylvia for their wedding.)

Publication history and response[]

The story was first published anonymously as "The Fountain of Youth" in the January 1837 issue of Lewis Gaylord Clark's The Knickerbocker magazine in New York.[1] Clarke, who had invited Hawthorne to contribute, noted that he had "rarely read anything which delighted" him more.[2]

The story was included later that year in Hawthorne's collection Twice-Told Tales. Park Benjamin Sr. reviewed the collection for the American Monthly Magazine and called it a rival to the work of Washington Irving. He specified that "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" served as "a very apt companion-piece" to Irving's "Mutability of Literature".[3] An anonymous reviewer in the Boston Daily Advertiser, however, noted that the stories in the collection were of "unequal merit" and preferred "the grace and sweetness of such papers as 'Little Annie's Ramble,' or 'A Rill from the Town-pump,' to those of a more ambitious cast, and in which the page glows with a wider and more fearful interest, like 'The Minister's Black Veil' and 'Dr. Heidegger's Experiment.'"[4] Edgar Allan Poe reviewed the second edition of the collection in 1842 and wrote that "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" was "exceedingly well imagined and executed with surpassing ability. The artist breathes in every line of it."[citation needed]

Adaptations[]

References[]

  1. ^ Miller, Perry. The Raven and the Whale: The War of Words and Wits in the Era of Poe and Melville. New York: Harvest Book, 1956: 14.
  2. ^ Wright, Sarah Bird. Critical Companion to Nathaniel Hawthorne: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts on File, 2007: 65. ISBN 0-8160-5583-1
  3. ^ Wright, Sarah Bird. Critical Companion to Nathaniel Hawthorne: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts on File, 2007: 66–67. ISBN 0-8160-5583-1
  4. ^ Wright, Sarah Bird. Critical Companion to Nathaniel Hawthorne: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts on File, 2007: 67. ISBN 0-8160-5583-1
  5. ^ "ST55: Dr. Heideggers Experiment by Favorite Story" Castroller.com Archived August 8, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ "Television . . . . . . Highlights of the Week". Detroit Free Press. November 19, 1950. p. 22. Retrieved April 13, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Opera versions of Hawthorne's works, scores, librettos, and vocal recordings" ibiblio.org 5 August 2011
  8. ^ The Grove Dictionary of American Music. OUP USA. January 2013. ISBN 978-0-19-531428-1.

External links[]

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