Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1993. [Vol. 1.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 21)
STUDIES - Anna Jakabfi: Regionalism and the Surgeon Figure in Hugh MacLennan's Fiction
The birthplace had been living on in Hugh MacLennan's memory and inspired him to make the area for several of his fictional characters' story. From among the seven movels he had published the plot of Barometer Rising (1941) and Each Man's Son (1951) totally and that of The Watch That Ends the Night (1959) partially takes place in the Maritime Provinces. Incidentally these are the same novels which have surgeon figures in them, another biographical element. His father, Dr. Samuel MacLennan was a colliery doctor, a surgeon, a stern man who in his leisure time read the ancient classics in their original tongue. The father-doctor figure had had a life-long impact on Hugh MacLennan, the writer. In the English speaking literature of the world —besides Somerset Maugham, a doctor himself —and Sinclair Lewis with his Arrowsmith, it was Hugh MacLennan who created in his fiction the most authentic doctor figures by giving accurate description of cases, diagnoses, hospitals, and shower his familiarity with the doctor's world in general. Who are Hugh MacLennan's main doctor figures? They are: Angus Murray in Barometer Rising, Daniel Ainslie in Each Man's Son, and Jerome Martell in The Watch That Ends the Night What is the medical profession like at all? It is larger than life, it is overpowering any other human feeling and/or problem. Practising surgery, the toughest of all medical practices is a life long ambition, often a solution for life's problems. Surgical skill and the psyche of the surgeon are closely related. If a doctor masters the surgical skill, he feels superior to other human beings. He can do what other human beings cannot. And the wish to operate when the need arises surpasses any other wish, any other obligation the doctor may have. The wish to operate is a call the doctor has to fulfil. It is a feeling that comes from the inside, it is a duty that nothing can alter or channel into another direction. A surgeon must operate, otherwise he feels crippled, maimed to a shallow, meaningless existence. The surgical skill is taken for granted with the maclennanian surgeons. The wish to operate too. Nothing and nobody can impair that quality or take it away. 48
