The Conversion of Sum Loo
"The Conversion of Sum Loo" | |
---|---|
Short story by Willa Cather | |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Genre(s) | Short story |
Publication | |
Published in | Library |
Publication type | Literary magazine |
Publication date | August 1900 |
The Conversion of Sum Loo is a short story by Willa Cather. It was first published in Library in August 1900.[1]
Plot summary
After his first wife dies without giving him the progeny his recently deceased father strongly wished him to have, Sum Chin, who grew up in China and now lives in San Francisco, decides to marry the daughter of a friend he had in China. They have a child together, Sum Wing, and baptise him. The child dies, and Sum Chin becomes very mournful; this was his last chance of living up to his patronym. His wife also keeps away from other people. Once, Sister Hannah follows her into a joss house and sees her tear away pages from the Bible.
Characters
- Sum Chin, a trader of 'Chinese bronzes and bric-a-brac in San Francisco'. He grew up in Nanjing, where he liked to read Chinese literature.
- Sum Loo, Sum Chin's wife.
- Sister Hannah
- Norman Girrard, a theological student at the Mission of the Heavenly Rest. He liked to do charcoal drawings in his youth. Later, he took to drinking absinthe and doing profane paintings.
- Te Wing, a 'purchasing agent' from Canton. He is Sum Loo's father.
- Sum Wing, Sum Chin and Loo's child, who dies soon after being baptised.
Literary significance and criticism
The Conversion of Sum Loo is a rewriting of Cather's earlier story, A Son of the Celestial.[2]
References
External links
- Full Text at the Willa Cather Archive
- v
- t
- e
- Alexander's Bridge
- O Pioneers!
- The Song of the Lark
- My Ántonia
- One of Ours
- A Lost Lady
- The Professor's House
- My Mortal Enemy
- Death Comes for the Archbishop
- Shadows on the Rock
- Lucy Gayheart
- Sapphira and the Slave Girl
- Hard Punishments
- "Peter"
- "Lou, the Prophet"
- "The Elopement of Allen Poole"
- "A Tale of the White Pyramid"
- "A Son of the Celestial"
- "The Clemency of the Court"
- "The Fear That Walks by Noonday"
- "On the Divide"
- "A Night at Greenway Court"
- "Tommy, the Unsentimental"
- "The Princess Baladina – Her Adventure"
- "The Count of Crow's Nest"
- "The Burglar's Christmas"
- "The Strategy of the Were-Wolf Dog"
- "A Resurrection"
- "The Prodigies"
- "Nanette: An Aside"
- "The Way of the World"
- "The Westbound Train"
- "Eric Hermannson's Soul"
- "The Dance at Chevalier's"
- "The Sentimentality of William Tavener"
- "The Affair at Grover Station"
- "A Singer's Romance"
- "The Conversion of Sum Loo"
- "Jack-a-Boy"
- "El Dorado: A Kansas Recessional"
- "The Professor's Commencement"
- "The Treasure of Far Island"
- "A Death in the Desert"
- "A Wagner Matinee"
- "The Sculptor's Funeral"
- "Flavia and Her Artists"
- "The Garden Lodge"
- "The Marriage of Phaedra"
- "Paul's Case"
- "The Namesake"
- "The Profile"
- "The Willing Muse"
- "Eleanor's House"
- "On the Gulls' Road"
- "The Enchanted Bluff"
- "The Joy of Nelly Deane"
- "Behind the Singer Tower"
- "The Bohemian Girl"
- "Consequences"
- "The Bookkeeper's Wife"
- "The Diamond Mine"
- "A Gold Slipper"
- "Ardessa"
- "Scandal"
- "Her Boss"
- "Coming, Eden Bower!"
- "Uncle Valentine"
- "Double Birthday"
- "Neighbour Rosicky"
- "Two Friends"
- "The Old Beauty"
- "Before Breakfast"
- "The Best Years"
collections
- A Lost Lady (1934 film)
- O Pioneers! (1992 film)
- My Antonia (1995 film)
- The Song of the Lark (2001 film)
- O Pioneers! (2009 opera)