What do you think?
Rate this book
Three Sundays in a Week
The fun little story by Edgar Allan Poe.
A young couple need the blessing of Uncle Rumgudgeon for their marriage. Kate is underage and she has a 'plum' as well. Uncle's response? 'To-day's Sunday - isn't it? Well, then, you shall be married precisely - precisely, now mind! - when three Sundays come together in a week!'
Impossible. The two lovers are disappointed. That means 'no-way,' or does it?
A young couple need the blessing of Uncle Rumgudgeon for their marriage. Kate is underage and she has a 'plum' as well. Uncle's response? 'To-day's Sunday - isn't it? Well, then, you shall be married precisely - precisely, now mind! - when three Sundays come together in a week!'
Impossible. The two lovers are disappointed. That means 'no-way,' or does it?
ebook
First published January 1, 1841
10 people are currently reading
173 people want to read
About the author
Edgar Allan Poe
9,881 books28.6k followersThe name Poe brings to mind images of murderers and madmen, premature burials, and mysterious women who return from the dead. His works have been in print since 1827 and include such literary classics as The Tell-Tale Heart, The Raven, and The Fall of the House of Usher. This versatile writer’s oeuvre includes short stories, poetry, a novel, a textbook, a book of scientific theory, and hundreds of essays and book reviews. He is widely acknowledged as the inventor of the modern detective story and an innovator in the science fiction genre, but he made his living as America’s first great literary critic and theoretician. Poe’s reputation today rests primarily on his tales of terror as well as on his haunting lyric poetry.
Just as the bizarre characters in Poe’s stories have captured the public imagination so too has Poe himself. He is seen as a morbid, mysterious figure lurking in the shadows of moonlit cemeteries or crumbling castles. This is the Poe of legend. But much of what we know about Poe is wrong, the product of a biography written by one of his enemies in an attempt to defame the author’s name.
The real Poe was born to traveling actors in Boston on January 19, 1809. Edgar was the second of three children. His other brother William Henry Leonard Poe would also become a poet before his early death, and Poe’s sister Rosalie Poe would grow up to teach penmanship at a Richmond girls’ school. Within three years of Poe’s birth both of his parents had died, and he was taken in by the wealthy tobacco merchant John Allan and his wife Frances Valentine Allan in Richmond, Virginia while Poe’s siblings went to live with other families. Mr. Allan would rear Poe to be a businessman and a Virginia gentleman, but Poe had dreams of being a writer in emulation of his childhood hero the British poet Lord Byron. Early poetic verses found written in a young Poe’s handwriting on the backs of Allan’s ledger sheets reveal how little interest Poe had in the tobacco business.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_al...
Just as the bizarre characters in Poe’s stories have captured the public imagination so too has Poe himself. He is seen as a morbid, mysterious figure lurking in the shadows of moonlit cemeteries or crumbling castles. This is the Poe of legend. But much of what we know about Poe is wrong, the product of a biography written by one of his enemies in an attempt to defame the author’s name.
The real Poe was born to traveling actors in Boston on January 19, 1809. Edgar was the second of three children. His other brother William Henry Leonard Poe would also become a poet before his early death, and Poe’s sister Rosalie Poe would grow up to teach penmanship at a Richmond girls’ school. Within three years of Poe’s birth both of his parents had died, and he was taken in by the wealthy tobacco merchant John Allan and his wife Frances Valentine Allan in Richmond, Virginia while Poe’s siblings went to live with other families. Mr. Allan would rear Poe to be a businessman and a Virginia gentleman, but Poe had dreams of being a writer in emulation of his childhood hero the British poet Lord Byron. Early poetic verses found written in a young Poe’s handwriting on the backs of Allan’s ledger sheets reveal how little interest Poe had in the tobacco business.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_al...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 62 reviews
August 1, 2023
El joven Bobby quiere casarse con su novia y para eso necesita el permiso de su huraño tío.
Su tío le dice que podrá casarse cuando en una semana haya tres domingos.
Bobby, su novia y dos amigos más traman un plan para convencer al tío que una semana puede tener tres domingos.
-------------------------------
Young Bobby wants to marry his girlfriend and needs his sullen uncle's permission to do so.
His uncle tells him that he can get married when there are three Sundays in a week.
Bobby, his girlfriend and two other friends hatch a plan to convince his uncle that a week can have three Sundays.
Su tío le dice que podrá casarse cuando en una semana haya tres domingos.
Bobby, su novia y dos amigos más traman un plan para convencer al tío que una semana puede tener tres domingos.
-------------------------------
Young Bobby wants to marry his girlfriend and needs his sullen uncle's permission to do so.
His uncle tells him that he can get married when there are three Sundays in a week.
Bobby, his girlfriend and two other friends hatch a plan to convince his uncle that a week can have three Sundays.
November 20, 2016
A mean old UNCLE money-bags curmudgeon sets a stipulation that there can be no wedding for Bobby and Kate until there are THREE SUNDAY'S IN A WEEK. Impossible? Nope!
HA! Where there's a will, there's a way.....if you have the right friends.
Nothing creepy or scary here, just a clever little story by POE.
June 22, 2024
"'You hard-headed, dunder-headed, obstinate, rusty, crusty, musty, fusty old savage!"
A very literate, very funny Edgar Allan Poe story.
A very literate, very funny Edgar Allan Poe story.
October 24, 2022
A suspenseful tale of distrust amongst family. It included some very funny phrasing that should be used more often in these modern days.
October 24, 2020
This story is a good mental puzzle.
December 4, 2020
3.5 Stars
rounded up to 4 Stars.
"This is the most simple story of Poe's oeuvre, and it has not been held in high regard by critics, but it is the first of Poe's tales to be translated into Spanish. . . . Critics have questioned whether the story might have inspired Jules Verne and given him the major premise for his novel Around the World in Eighty Days (1873), which is based on the same concept: A day is lost when going westward around the world and a day is gained when going eastward around the world." Sova, Dawn B. (2001). Edgar Allan Poe, A to Z : the essential reference to his life and work. New York: Checkmark Books. (238)
"Poe prided himself on the variety of his subjects. This is his only tale that can possibly be read as a simple happy love story. . . . The natural phenomenon on which the plot is based is something noticed when Spanish and Portuguese navigators reached China by different routes. Rabelais, Book II, chapter 1, mentions a “week of three Thursdays.” Poe’s attention was probably attracted by an unsigned article, Three Thursdays in One Week in the Philadelphia Public Ledger, October 29, 1841, and by a reference to “three Sundays within nine days” in an article signed 'Naval' in that paper on November 17, 1841. . . . The story has an element of autobiography also, for Poe had married his cousin; and it may not be purely fanciful to see something of John Allan in Uncle Rumgudgeon." https://www.eapoe.org/works/mabbott/t...
"This is the most simple story of Poe's oeuvre, and it has not been held in high regard by critics, but it is the first of Poe's tales to be translated into Spanish. . . . Critics have questioned whether the story might have inspired Jules Verne and given him the major premise for his novel Around the World in Eighty Days (1873), which is based on the same concept: A day is lost when going westward around the world and a day is gained when going eastward around the world." Sova, Dawn B. (2001). Edgar Allan Poe, A to Z : the essential reference to his life and work. New York: Checkmark Books. (238)
"Poe prided himself on the variety of his subjects. This is his only tale that can possibly be read as a simple happy love story. . . . The natural phenomenon on which the plot is based is something noticed when Spanish and Portuguese navigators reached China by different routes. Rabelais, Book II, chapter 1, mentions a “week of three Thursdays.” Poe’s attention was probably attracted by an unsigned article, Three Thursdays in One Week in the Philadelphia Public Ledger, October 29, 1841, and by a reference to “three Sundays within nine days” in an article signed 'Naval' in that paper on November 17, 1841. . . . The story has an element of autobiography also, for Poe had married his cousin; and it may not be purely fanciful to see something of John Allan in Uncle Rumgudgeon." https://www.eapoe.org/works/mabbott/t...
October 13, 2014
Three Sundays in a Week: This was a silly story about a man and a woman who want to get married but they can't until their uncle approves. He says he will not give approval until there are three Sundays in a week. That seems impossible unless you are from a nautical family and three of you cross the international date line in one week. Silly.
April 2, 2023
3 Stars. For a person whose interests are mysteries and thrillers, this doesn't fit my mold. But I'm reading all the stories of Edgar Allan Poe and it was next. It surprised me. I enjoyed it. Fun and frivolous, and we can learn a thing or two. At its heart, it's a love story. "Three Sundays .." first appeared in "The Saturday Evening Post" in 1841. Only six pages, it does delve into science of 180 years ago but, really, it's just two young people who want to get married. Poe can be confusing, often purposely so. He does his best here. I'll try to help de-confuse a little bit and leave everything else for you. The two, Bobby and Kate, appear to be second or third cousins. But Kate is still in her teens, and she also has an inheritance or legacy that requires approval by her guardian before marriage; in this case that person is, I think, her grandfather and Bobby's grand-uncle too. Bobby calls him "Uncle Rumgudgeon" and claims he's "hard-hearted, dunder-headed, obstinate, rusty, crusty, musty, [and] fusty." The impatience of youth hasn't changed! Uncle responds with an OK - he'll give permission when "three Sundays come together in a week." The rest is up to you. (March 2023)
January 22, 2018
One of Poe's sillier stories, which was, thankfully, very short. That shortness is what bumped it from 2-stars to 3-stars. Sometimes Poe is an old windbag whose stories drag on for about a thousand years. (See: Any Poe story relating to hot air balloons)
Two cousins want to get married but their uncle/father will only give his blessing when there are three sundays in a week. They brilliantly figure out a solution to this conundrum.
Oh, Poe. You are so weird.
Two cousins want to get married but their uncle/father will only give his blessing when there are three sundays in a week. They brilliantly figure out a solution to this conundrum.
Oh, Poe. You are so weird.
April 13, 2020
Made me laugh.
May 16, 2020
Cute story about an uncle not letting these two cousins get married until there are three consecutive Sundays in a week. The couple finds a twisted wraparound way around this.
January 1, 2021
Three Sundays in a Week was a story that had me conflicted about my rating. In the end, I opted to round it up. It was a cheeky wee read from Poe, one that kept me entertained. It is not what people would normally associate with the author, but it’s certainly one that entertains.
All in all, this is worth reading if you’re curious about something outside of what Poe is well-known for.
All in all, this is worth reading if you’re curious about something outside of what Poe is well-known for.
October 9, 2020
"Tres domingos por semana" es otro cuento de apuestas, como "Nunca apuestes tu cabeza al diablo" en el que un hombre enamorados le pide la mano de su amada a su tutor, que es el tío de la dama.
El tío les dice que se pueden casar cuando le demuestren que puede haber tres domingos en una sola semana.
Increíblemente, Poe se las ingenia para demostrar que es posible...
El tío les dice que se pueden casar cuando le demuestren que puede haber tres domingos en una sola semana.
Increíblemente, Poe se las ingenia para demostrar que es posible...
September 21, 2015
A guy sets out to get his uncle's blessing so he can get married.
The solution was pretty funny but also Mr Poe you're such a nerd.
The solution was pretty funny but also Mr Poe you're such a nerd.
July 5, 2017
#34 A book with a month or day of the week in the title
I know this was a very short story, but it was the only thing even remotely interesting that I could find with a month or day in the title.
I know this was a very short story, but it was the only thing even remotely interesting that I could find with a month or day in the title.
November 16, 2020
An object lesson in relativity, and why Sunday as Sabbath sticklers are so silly in their sanctimoniousness.
January 24, 2021
Short story. Clever and amusing.
November 15, 2025
Farcical short that feels a bit flat. Didn’t hold much interest to be honest.
March 1, 2023
Wow, a semi-humorous, heart-warming little scientific tale. Only Poe could create such a monstrosity of schmaltz and science!
November 14, 2024
I recently read "Jules Verne et le paradoxe du circumnavigateur", in which I explored the subject of the paradox of circumnavigation in Verne’s “Around the World in Eighty Days”. This paradox happens when a day is gained or lost, depending on the direction chosen, and consequently the changes in dates, which can take place at any point on the earth’s surface.
My reference for that blog was an article from the Anthology Jules Verne: Science, crises et utopies , in which the author, Ronaldo Regério de Freitas Mourão, which explains this phenomenon Verne supposed in his article Les méridiens et le calendrier, published in the Bulletin de la Société de Géographie (1873). This was published two years before the Prime Meridian had even been established. Mourão states that the Meridian was established in Greenwich partly due to the influence of Jules Verne’s thesis.
In his article, Maurão cites Edgar Allan Poe’s (1809-1849) short story on the similar theme, the paradoxes of circumnavigation, in “Three Sundays in a Week” (1841). This will be my focus for this blog. I am referencing Arthur B. Evans’ article, “Literary Intertexts in Jules Verne’s ‘Voyages Extraordinaires.’” From Science Fiction Studies, 1996.
Edgar Allan Poe’s “Three Sundays in a Week” –a paradox of circumnavigation
In “Three Sundays in a Week”, Poe sets the scene where a young couple needs the blessing of Uncle Rumgudgeon—”a hard–headed, dunder–headed, obstinate, rusty, crusty, musty, fusty, old savage”, for their marriage. The Uncle’s response: “Well, then, you shall be married precisely—precisely, now mind!—when three Sundays come together in a week”, believing , bien sûr, that this would be an impossibility!
Not long after this proposition, Uncle Rumgudgeon is visited by his friends Naval Captains Pratt and Smitherton who have just traveled the globe for the past year, in opposite directions. Yes, you guessed it, Pratt navigated around Cape Horn (tomorrow IS Sunday) and Smitherton west around Cape Good Hope (yesterday WAS Sunday). For Uncle Rumgudgeon, the day IS Sunday. Three Sundays came together in a week! Whew.
As you may recall, in Jules Verne’s “Around the World in Eighty Days”, (1872)”, he poses a similar paradox through a race around the world.
[In this story, Phileas Fogg of London and Passepartout, his French valet, attempt to circumnavigate the world in 80 days with a wager of 20,000 pounds. Fogg and Passepartout depart from London by train at 8:45pm and must return by the same time on 21 December, 80 days later, to win the wager. Fogg travels east and returns a day earlier therefore, winning the wager.]
Poe’s Influence on Verne
Jules Verne was possibly influenced in writing his paradox of circumnavigation by Poe’s “Three Sundays in a Week”(1841). Poe’s story is very short, around 2,000 words. Verne, on the other hand, took this paradox into a novel form, as apropos to his style, with much adventure, science, intrigue, conflict, and imagination. [It should be obvious whose works I prefer!]
In a book review of Verne’s newly-published novel “Cinq Semaines en ballon”(Five Weeks in a Balloon”) which appeared in the Musée des Familles in 1863:
“M. Jules Verne is of the same school as the American novelist Edgard Poe. Like Poe, he knows how to link fiction to reality in proportions so exact that one does not know where one begins and the other leaves off “(179).
Verne wrote a review soon after on Poe’s work in his article “Edgar Poe, sa vie et ses oeuvres” (his life and his works). Verne begins his 1864 article praising Poe, explaining some aspects of Poe’s life, and analyzing lengthy excerpts from Poe’s works. Verne then goes on to say: “… they occupy an important place in the history of imaginative works because Poe created a distinct literary genre all his own. One might call him the leader of the School of the Strange.”
Verne refers directly to Poe’s “Three Sundays in a week”:
“… Then the third individual would accomplish the same voyage, under the same conditions, but in the opposite direction, going east, and after his circumnavigation of the world, and he would be behind by one day. What would happen if all three travellers met one Sunday at their starting point? For the first, it would be yesterday, for the second today, and for the third tomorrow. So you see, this is truly a cosmological joke told in very curious terms indeed…”( 175).
Evan argues, “Contrary to most scholarship on the subject, it would not be unreasonable to see in this passage the inspiration for Verne’s future Le Tour du monde en 80 jours (1873) [Around the World in Eighty Days]”(175).
As one critic was later to express the similarity between these two authors: “Poe’s use of scientific detail must have attracted Verne … But where Poe is the doomed poet of the Inward, Verne is the supreme celebrant of the Outward” (178).
Unfortunately, Poe died in 1849, several years before Jules Verne published his first “Five Weeks in a Balloon” (1863). I am grateful for the inspiration of Poe’s work in “Three Weeks” for another great adventure by Verne.
Work Cited
Evans, Arthur B. “Literary Intertexts in Jules Verne’s ‘Voyages Extraordinaires.’” Science Fiction Studies, vol. 23, no. 2, 1996, pp. 171–87. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4240502. Accessed 11 Oct. 2024.
My reference for that blog was an article from the Anthology Jules Verne: Science, crises et utopies , in which the author, Ronaldo Regério de Freitas Mourão, which explains this phenomenon Verne supposed in his article Les méridiens et le calendrier, published in the Bulletin de la Société de Géographie (1873). This was published two years before the Prime Meridian had even been established. Mourão states that the Meridian was established in Greenwich partly due to the influence of Jules Verne’s thesis.
In his article, Maurão cites Edgar Allan Poe’s (1809-1849) short story on the similar theme, the paradoxes of circumnavigation, in “Three Sundays in a Week” (1841). This will be my focus for this blog. I am referencing Arthur B. Evans’ article, “Literary Intertexts in Jules Verne’s ‘Voyages Extraordinaires.’” From Science Fiction Studies, 1996.
Edgar Allan Poe’s “Three Sundays in a Week” –a paradox of circumnavigation
In “Three Sundays in a Week”, Poe sets the scene where a young couple needs the blessing of Uncle Rumgudgeon—”a hard–headed, dunder–headed, obstinate, rusty, crusty, musty, fusty, old savage”, for their marriage. The Uncle’s response: “Well, then, you shall be married precisely—precisely, now mind!—when three Sundays come together in a week”, believing , bien sûr, that this would be an impossibility!
Not long after this proposition, Uncle Rumgudgeon is visited by his friends Naval Captains Pratt and Smitherton who have just traveled the globe for the past year, in opposite directions. Yes, you guessed it, Pratt navigated around Cape Horn (tomorrow IS Sunday) and Smitherton west around Cape Good Hope (yesterday WAS Sunday). For Uncle Rumgudgeon, the day IS Sunday. Three Sundays came together in a week! Whew.
As you may recall, in Jules Verne’s “Around the World in Eighty Days”, (1872)”, he poses a similar paradox through a race around the world.
[In this story, Phileas Fogg of London and Passepartout, his French valet, attempt to circumnavigate the world in 80 days with a wager of 20,000 pounds. Fogg and Passepartout depart from London by train at 8:45pm and must return by the same time on 21 December, 80 days later, to win the wager. Fogg travels east and returns a day earlier therefore, winning the wager.]
Poe’s Influence on Verne
Jules Verne was possibly influenced in writing his paradox of circumnavigation by Poe’s “Three Sundays in a Week”(1841). Poe’s story is very short, around 2,000 words. Verne, on the other hand, took this paradox into a novel form, as apropos to his style, with much adventure, science, intrigue, conflict, and imagination. [It should be obvious whose works I prefer!]
In a book review of Verne’s newly-published novel “Cinq Semaines en ballon”(Five Weeks in a Balloon”) which appeared in the Musée des Familles in 1863:
“M. Jules Verne is of the same school as the American novelist Edgard Poe. Like Poe, he knows how to link fiction to reality in proportions so exact that one does not know where one begins and the other leaves off “(179).
Verne wrote a review soon after on Poe’s work in his article “Edgar Poe, sa vie et ses oeuvres” (his life and his works). Verne begins his 1864 article praising Poe, explaining some aspects of Poe’s life, and analyzing lengthy excerpts from Poe’s works. Verne then goes on to say: “… they occupy an important place in the history of imaginative works because Poe created a distinct literary genre all his own. One might call him the leader of the School of the Strange.”
Verne refers directly to Poe’s “Three Sundays in a week”:
“… Then the third individual would accomplish the same voyage, under the same conditions, but in the opposite direction, going east, and after his circumnavigation of the world, and he would be behind by one day. What would happen if all three travellers met one Sunday at their starting point? For the first, it would be yesterday, for the second today, and for the third tomorrow. So you see, this is truly a cosmological joke told in very curious terms indeed…”( 175).
Evan argues, “Contrary to most scholarship on the subject, it would not be unreasonable to see in this passage the inspiration for Verne’s future Le Tour du monde en 80 jours (1873) [Around the World in Eighty Days]”(175).
As one critic was later to express the similarity between these two authors: “Poe’s use of scientific detail must have attracted Verne … But where Poe is the doomed poet of the Inward, Verne is the supreme celebrant of the Outward” (178).
Unfortunately, Poe died in 1849, several years before Jules Verne published his first “Five Weeks in a Balloon” (1863). I am grateful for the inspiration of Poe’s work in “Three Weeks” for another great adventure by Verne.
Work Cited
Evans, Arthur B. “Literary Intertexts in Jules Verne’s ‘Voyages Extraordinaires.’” Science Fiction Studies, vol. 23, no. 2, 1996, pp. 171–87. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4240502. Accessed 11 Oct. 2024.
April 6, 2018
3 stars (liked it)
A silly but scientifically clever short story about a curmudgeon uncle who will not let his nephew and his girlfriend marry until some week when there are three Sundays in a row.
July 23, 2019
Three Sundays In A Week
A funny, witty short story by Poe
A change of Pace from his horror work
I do not normally like his spin off but this I enjoyed.
A grumpy uncle with seemingly impossible task :p
And a clever ending.
Very good short story!
3.5/5
A funny, witty short story by Poe
A change of Pace from his horror work
I do not normally like his spin off but this I enjoyed.
A grumpy uncle with seemingly impossible task :p
And a clever ending.
Very good short story!
3.5/5
March 5, 2023
Set in 19th century London, a betrothed couple wants to get married but are thwarted by an unpleasant guardian.
A clever trick gets the couple round the problem involving time and travel round the world.
A clever trick gets the couple round the problem involving time and travel round the world.
December 10, 2014
Reminds me of Neil Gaiman's Stardust, I think that one had something with 2 Sundays in a week, if I remember correctly.
January 24, 2018
I listened to this on Librivox and I enjoyed it.
December 8, 2018
I have arranged my takeaway thoughts into a haiku:
"Old snarks can make rules,
There's always a bigger troll
To twist them around."
"Old snarks can make rules,
There's always a bigger troll
To twist them around."
May 28, 2020
Not sure how I feel about a 15-year-old getting married, but otherwise reasonably entertaining.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 14, 2020
I get it, but wonder if it was more clever when it was first published.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 62 reviews