A Long Letter from F. Summary

F.'s long posthumous letter to the narrator begins with the speculation that the narrator, having inherited all of F.'s worldly belongings, has begun to co-opt his personality. He also denotes the inherent difference between men and women. Women hiss at the world, while men try to shush it. F. argues that man has been trying to shush a primal voice for centuries.

As F. writes the letter, he is sitting in an asylum in the final stages of syphilis. A nurse named Mary Voolnd comes up behind him and watches him write.

F. talks about Edith, whom he disparages and whose relationship he dismisses out of turn. F. believes that his recent humiliations and his expulsion from the Parliament are fading from the public consciousness. He is a hero of the young Canadian...