Browse all of the Salem on Literature series

A Burnt-Out Case (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)

At a glance:

Characters Discussed

Querry, a retired church architect in his mid-fifties who has come to the heart of Africa to escape fame and failure at love. When Querry arrives at a leper colony in the Congo, he decides to stay only because the boat can go no farther. Feeling depressed and spiritually empty, he describes himself figuratively as a “burnt-out case,” comparing his lack of emotion to the leprous condition of losing one’s fingers and toes to the disease and losing the feeling in one’s hands and feet. Soon after his arrival at the colony, Querry is drawn out of his...

[The entire page is 1038 words long]

Join eNotes

The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:

Lookup any word on eNotes with our dictionary. Highlight the word and press SHIFT + D for a definition, or SHIFT + T for a synonym.