Classic Book Reader
Cover of The Visioning: A Novel

The Visioning: A Novel

by Susan Glaspell (1876–1948)

  • Free to read
  • 8 hours to read
  • 41 chapters
  • Reading level: 6th grade

"The Visioning: A Novel" by Susan Glaspell is a work of fiction written in the early 20th century. The narrative introduces Miss Katherine Wayneworth Jones, affectionately known as Katie, who reflects on her life as she marks her twenty-fifth birthday while playing golf. Predominantly an "army girl," Katie grapples with expectations around her social life and marriage, particularly concerning Captain Prescott, while also expressing a curiosity about her life choices. The story takes a significant turn when she encounters a distressed girl named Verna Woods, who she believes is attempting to take her own life, igniting a profound connection between them. At the start of the novel, Katie finds herself in a bunker during a golf game and becomes contemplative about her life and relationships. It’s her birthday, prompting thoughts about her future and marriage prospects, particularly with Captain Prescott. However, her focus quickly shifts when she spots Verna Woods, a girl in distress, and instinctively rushes to save her from a possible suicide attempt at the nearby river. This impulsive act of compassion leads to an unexpected bond between the two women, as Verna, initially resistant, accepts Katie's offer for companionship. The opening chapters set the stage for an exploration of themes such as identity, the complexity of emotional connections, and the struggle between societal expectations and personal desires.

Read free now No app, no sign-up. Your place is saved automatically. Or download for your e-reader ↓
  • Young women
  • Socialism
  • Middle West
  • Military bases · United States
  • Military deserters

Read the opening

Chapter I

Miss Katherine Wayneworth Jones was bunkered. Having been bunkered many times in the past, and knowing that she would be bunkered upon many occasions in the future, Miss Jones was not disposed to take a tragic view of the situation. The little white ball was all too secure down there in the sand; as she had played her first nine, and at least paid her respects to the game, she could now scale the hazard and curl herself into a comfortable position. It was a seductively lazy spring day, the very day for making arm-chairs of one's hazards. And let it be set down in the beginning that Miss Jones was more given to a comfortable place than to a tragic view.

Katherine Wayneworth Jones, affectionately known to many friends in many lands as Katie Jones, was an "army girl." And that not only for the obvious reasons: not because her people had been of the army, even unto the second and third generations, not because she had known the joys and jealousies of many posts, not even because bachelor officers were committed to the habit of proposing to her—those were but the trappings. She was an army girl because "Well, when you know her, you don't have to be told, and if you don't know her you can't be," a floundering friend had once concluded her exposition of why Katie was so "army." For her to marry outside the army would be regarded as little short of treason.

Keep reading The Visioning: A Novel →

Contents

Show all 41 chapters
  1. Chapter I
  2. Chapter II
  3. Chapter III
  4. Chapter IV
  5. Chapter V
  6. Chapter VI
  7. Chapter VII
  8. Chapter VIII
  9. Chapter IX
  10. Chapter X
  11. Chapter XI
  12. Chapter XII
  13. Chapter XIII
  14. Chapter XIV
  15. Chapter XV
  16. Chapter XVI
  17. Chapter XVII
  18. Chapter XVIII
  19. Chapter XIX
  20. Chapter XX
  21. Chapter XXI
  22. Chapter XXII
  23. Chapter XXIII
  24. Chapter XXIV
  25. Chapter XXV
  26. Chapter XXVI
  27. Chapter XXVII
  28. Chapter XXVIII
  29. Chapter XXIX
  30. Chapter XXX
  31. Chapter XXXI
  32. Chapter XXXII
  33. Chapter XXXIII
  34. Chapter XXXIV
  35. Chapter XXXV
  36. Chapter XXXVI
  37. Chapter XXXVII
  38. Chapter XXXVIII
  39. Chapter XXXIX
  40. Chapter XL
  41. Chapter XLI

Download for your e-reader

Files are provided by Project Gutenberg. On a Kindle, the simplest route is to send the EPUB with Amazon’s Send to Kindle. Downloaded copies don’t sync with your place on Classic Book Reader.

About this edition

This free edition of The Visioning: A Novel by Susan Glaspell comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #11217, released 2004-02-01. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Novels, American Literature.

Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).

More by Susan Glaspell