Wieland; Or, The Transformation: An American Tale
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Chapters
- 1. Introduction 2:08 Free
- 2. Chapter 1: I feel little reluctance in complying with your request 17:53
- 3. Chapter 2: Early in the morning of a sultry day in August, he l... 12:26
- 4. Chapter 3: The shock which this disastrous occurrence occasione... 11:55
- 5. Chapter 4: Six years of uninterrupted happiness had rolled away... 22:29
- 6. Chapter 5: Some time had elapsed when there happened another oc... 24:55
- 7. Chapter 6: I now come to the mention of a person with whose nam... 24:18
- 8. Chapter 7: I will not enumerate the various inquiries and conje... 18:52
- 9. Chapter 8: As soon as evening arrived, I performed my visit 13:17
- 10. Chapter 9: My brother had received a new book from Germany 31:56
- 11. Chapter 10: Order could not readily be introduced into my thoughts 18:08
- 12. Chapter 11: I was aroused from this stupor by sounds that eviden... 22:49
- 13. Chapter 12: My way lay through the city 14:13
- 14. Chapter 13: Here was wrought a surprizing change in my friend 14:11
- 15. Chapter 14: "Three days have elapsed since this occurrence 19:44
- 16. Chapter 15: Before I reached the city it was dusk 15:03
- 17. Chapter 16: As soon as I arrived in sight of the front of the ho... 14:48
- 18. Chapter 17: I had no inclination nor power to move from this spot 13:07
- 19. Chapter 18: I had imperfectly recovered my strength, when I was... 8:40
- 20. Chapter 19: "Theodore Wieland, the prisoner at the bar, was now... 21:08
- 21. Chapter 20: Will you wonder that I read no farther 16:46
- 22. Chapter 21: Such, for some time, was the course of my meditations 18:33
- 23. Chapter 22: The inhabitants of the HUT received me with a mixtur... 26:11
- 24. Chapter 23: "My morals will appear to you far from rigid, yet my... 19:04
- 25. Chapter 24: "Deeply did I ruminate on the occurrences that had j... 11:47
- 26. Chapter 25: A few words more and I lay aside the pen for ever 16:31
- 27. Chapter 26: My right hand, grasping the unseen knife, was still... 9:52
- 28. Chapter 27: [Written three years after the foregoing, and dated... 21:15
Read chapter 1
The following Work is delivered to the world as the first of a series of performances, which the favorable reception of this will induce the Writer to publish. His purpose is neither selfish nor temporary, but aims at the illustration of some important branches of the moral constitution of man. Whether this tale will be classed with the ordinary or frivolous sources of amusement, or be ranked with the few productions whose usefulness secures to them a lasting reputation, the reader must be permitted to decide.
The incidents related are extraordinary and rare. Some of them, perhaps, approach as nearly to the nature of miracles as can be done by that which is not truly miraculous. It is hoped that intelligent readers will not disapprove of the manner in which appearances are solved, but that the solution will be found to correspond with the known principles of human nature. The power which the principal person is said to possess can scarcely be denied to be real. It must be acknowledged to be extremely rare; but no fact, equally uncommon, is supported by the same strength of historical evidence.
Some readers may think the conduct of the younger Wieland impossible. In support of its possibility the Writer must appeal to Physicians and to men conversant with the latent springs and occasional perversions of the human mind. It will not be objected that the instances of similar delusion are rare, because it is the business of moral painters to exhibit their subject in its most instructive and memorable forms. If history furnishes one parallel fact, it is a sufficient vindication of the Writer; but most readers will probably recollect an authentic case, remarkably similar to that of Wieland.
It will be necessary to add, that this narrative is addressed, in an epistolary form, by the Lady whose story it contains, to a small number of friends, whose curiosity, with regard to it, had been greatly awakened. It may likewise be mentioned, that these events took place between the conclusion of the French and the beginning of the revolutionary war. The memoirs of Carwin, alluded to at the conclusion of the work, will be published or suppressed according to the reception which is given to the present attempt.
C. B. B.
September 3, 1798.