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Undated, Unpublished Manuscript by Dr. Orlando Benedict Mayer (1818-1891)

Manuscript, undated, of Dutch Fork physician and writer Orlando Benedict Mayer (1818-1891), incomplete and untitled draft of a companion piece to the novel John Punterick, Mayer's most accomplished work of long fiction. The first page of the John Punterick manuscript is headed "I. / Mirthful." The first page of the companion piece is headed "II. / Mournful." From the start of John Punterick, Mayer prepares his reader for a second section that would stand in contrast to the first, one in which "a story of mournfulness" would be told.

Educated at South Carolina College, the Medical College of South Carolina, and at medical schools in Edinburgh, Berlin, Heidelberg, and Paris, Mayer eventually returned home to Pomaria, where he became a country doctor before settling in Newberry to continue his practice. During his lifetime, his reputation as a writer was entirely local and many of his works were published anonymously. Despite his travels, Mayer's works typically depicted rural life and folk traditions. John Punterick remained unpublished until 1981.


URL http://www.sc.edu/library/socar/uscs/1999/mayer.html