Doctor Zay
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- 5,99 €
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- 5,99 €
Publisher Description
This classic book is Elizabeth Stuart Phelps' 1882 novel, "Doctor Zay" A lawyer from Boston sustains an injury whilst travelling in Maine. He is rescued by an attractive woman who, mush to his disbelief, is a highly competent doctor. As he realises just how high a level of medical care he is receiving, he begins to fall hopelessly in love with his doctor. A fantastically entertaining a thought-provoking tale, "Doctor Zay" will appeal to fans of feminist literature, and would make for a marvellous addition to any collection. Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward (1844–1911) was a pioneering feminist American writer. Other notable works by this author include: "A Singular Life" (1895) and "The Gates Ajar" (1868). Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly rare and expensive. It is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially commissioned new biography of the author.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Published in 1882 and long out of print, this novel hinges on a reversal of stereotypical gender roles: in their 20s, the eponymous female Dr. Z. A. Lloyd is a disciplined medical practitioner in Maine, devoted to her patients, and Waldo Yorke is a cultured, but emotionally immature Boston lawyer, recovering from a near-fatal accident, who falls in love with Dr. Zay, his attending physician. Most of the novel, told mainly from Yorke's point of view, recounts in detail his unrequited love for the maddeningly efficient doctor. In bits and pieces she explains her predicament as a female professional: that she would like marriage, but that she is a "new kind of woman'' and a happy marriage for ``such a woman demands a new type of man.'' Moreover, she says she has known of only three ``real'' marriages and that she ``will not have any happiness that is not the most perfect this world can give me.'' Surprisingly, Yorke convinces both himself and Dr. Zay that he can support her in her career, and the resolution of the novel has a pat, discomfiting ring. Sartisky, executive director of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, provides an illuminating essay that places Phelps's work and themes in historical perspective.
