Dr. Heidegger's Experiment

Hawthorne, c1860

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

Plot

An eccentric aging physician, Dr. Heidegger, calls together his old friends and contemporaries to test his waters of the "fountain of youth". As the doctor himself sits by to enjoy the show, each of his four aged friends eagerly quaffs more and more of the magic potion, each draught further carrying them backwards into their shared youth. Having grown young, smooth-skinned and agile again, the three men begin to fight for the favors of the fourth compatriot now restored to her former beauty.

In the heat of the fracas, they begin to grow tired and within minutes the effect of the "water" has worn off. The participants in the brief respite from old age are devastated by the transience of the experience. Despite Heidegger's warning that he has learned to appreciate the advantage of age by watching the four of them make themselves fools, they learned no such lesson and resolve to make a pilgrimage to Florida to seek the Fountain.

Characters

• Dr. Heidegger - old and wise physician who is the protagonist of the story.
• Colonel Killigrew - a man who throughout his life has had many different sexual partners and many different pleasures.
• Mr. Medbourne - once a rich merchant who lost most of his money gambling, but claimed that he lost it in a stock investment.
• Mr. Gascoigne - a politician whose career was cut short.
• Widow Wycherly was formerly a beautiful woman loved by the three gentlemen.

Publication history

The story was first published as "The Fountain of Yonder" in 1837 in Lewis Gaylord Clark's The Knickerbocker magazine, though it was left anonymous.^[1] It was soon included in the collection Twice-Told Tales.

Adaptations

• Dr. Heidegger's Fountain of Youth chamber opera by Jack Beeson and Sheldon Harnick (1979) ^[2]

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. ^ "Opera versions of Hawthorne's works, scores, librettos, and vocal recordings" ibiblio.org 5 August 2011

External links

• eText on Project Gutenberg (Included in Twice Told Tales)
• A Brief Article on NYU's database site
• "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" study guide - themes, quotes, multimedia, teacher resources