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Mosses from an Old Manse
Mosses from an Old Manse is Nathaniel Hawthorne’s second story collection, first published in 1846 in two volumes and featuring sketches and tales written over a span of more than twenty years, including such classics as “Young Goodman Brown,� “The Birthmark,� and “Rappaccini’s Daughter.� Herman Melville deemed Hawthorne the American Shakespeare, and Henry James wrote that his early tales possess “the element of simple genius, the quality of imagination. That is the real charm of Hawthorne’s writing—this purity and spontaneity and naturalness of fancy.�
464 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1846
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About the author
Nathaniel Hawthorne
4,773books3,382followersNathaniel Hawthorne was a 19th century American novelist and short story writer. He is seen as a key figure in the development of American literature for his tales of the nation's colonial history.
Shortly after graduating from Bowdoin College, Hathorne changed his name to Hawthorne. Hawthorne anonymously published his first work, a novel titled Fanshawe, in 1828. In 1837, he published Twice-Told Tales and became engaged to painter and illustrator Sophia Peabody the next year. He worked at a Custom House and joined a Transcendentalist Utopian community, before marrying Peabody in 1842. The couple moved to The Old Manse in Concord, Massachusetts, later moving to Salem, the Berkshires, then to The Wayside in Concord. The Scarlet Letter was published in 1850, followed by a succession of other novels. A political appointment took Hawthorne and family to Europe before returning to The Wayside in 1860. Hawthorne died on May 19, 1864, leaving behind his wife and their three children.
Much of Hawthorne's writing centers around New England and many feature moral allegories with a Puritan inspiration. His work is considered part of the Romantic movement and includes novels, short stories, and a biography of his friend, the United States President Franklin Pierce.
Shortly after graduating from Bowdoin College, Hathorne changed his name to Hawthorne. Hawthorne anonymously published his first work, a novel titled Fanshawe, in 1828. In 1837, he published Twice-Told Tales and became engaged to painter and illustrator Sophia Peabody the next year. He worked at a Custom House and joined a Transcendentalist Utopian community, before marrying Peabody in 1842. The couple moved to The Old Manse in Concord, Massachusetts, later moving to Salem, the Berkshires, then to The Wayside in Concord. The Scarlet Letter was published in 1850, followed by a succession of other novels. A political appointment took Hawthorne and family to Europe before returning to The Wayside in 1860. Hawthorne died on May 19, 1864, leaving behind his wife and their three children.
Much of Hawthorne's writing centers around New England and many feature moral allegories with a Puritan inspiration. His work is considered part of the Romantic movement and includes novels, short stories, and a biography of his friend, the United States President Franklin Pierce.
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January 1, 2023
Этот сборник новелл, очаровывает нас своим буйством фантазии, прихотливо играющей воображением. Почти все рассказы объединены тем, что в информатике можно назвать словом «массив». То есть набор однотипных или имеющих сходные свойства вещей. У Готорна такими свойствами могут быть, например, диковинность, изобретательство, творчество. А может быть, что Адам и Ева познают вещи современного Готорну мира. Интересны люди, которые заведуют этими собраниями Вечный Жид, Ведовщик, заведующий погодой.
Мы побываем в мастерской заведующего погодой, где познакомимся с милой Весной, борющейся за свои права в суде и подавшей иск против Деда мороза, понаблюдаем за процессом изготовления раскатов грома путем прилаживания бабахов и пришивания бахромы из молний, увидим на стенах бывшие в употреблении радуги. Потом мы посетим настоящую кунсткамеру, составленную из артефактов из литературы и мифологии и нашим гидом будет ее хозяин Вечный Жид. Чертог фантазий � примерно то же, что собрание знатока, но только из всевозможных изобретений, где некоторые могли бы решить проблему энергетического кризиса � получать энергию из женских улыбок. На верхних этажах чертога можно пообщаться с обитателями Луны, а подвалы выходят своими коридорами в адские пещеры. В чертоге собираются мечтатели, первопроходцы, фантазеры и изобретатели, где обсуждают свои идеи и замыслы. В железнодорожном пути в небеса также дается преширокий перечень разнообразнейших активов, торгуемых на Ярмарке Тщеславия. Вот, например, акции или облигации под названием Совесть котировались очень высоко и шли в уплату за все. Да вряд ли что особенно ценное и можно было приобрести, не покрыв немалую часть его стоимости этими акциями � редкое предприятие могло принести особую выгоду, если не знать, когда и как выбросить на рынок свою квоту Совести. И однако же поскольку лишь эти акции сохраняли постоянную цену, то всякий, расставшийся с ними, в конечном счете проигрывал. Государственные чиновники частенько продавали родину по весьма скромной цене, люди толпами продавали свое счастье за просто так. Поездка в Град Небесный по железной дороге � сплошное надувательство. Можно пропутешествовать тысячу лет и не выехать за пределы Ярмарки Тщеславия. Господин Града Небесного отказался зарегистрировать железную дорогу, а без такой регистрации ни одному ее пассажиру нечего и мечтать попасть в тот край. Это бросание денег на ветер, поскольку расплатится пассажир своей душой.
Ведовство всякой всячины � еще один рассказ с удивительными возможностями. Посредник ведет огромный фолиант, в которые записывает людские желания, «все прихоти пустопорожних сердец, чаяния сердец глубоких, бессильные порывы истерзанных сердец и злобные мольбы растленных сердец. Встречались там редкие фантазии, которые могли прийти на ум какому-нибудь сумасброду, Желания нелепые, сводящиеся к соревнованию с природой, приходили на ум естествоиспытателям � создать насекомое, посетить обратную сторону луны.
Чаще всего, с назойливым постоянством, желали, разумеется, богатства, богатства, богатства в количестве от нескольких шиллингов до несчетных тысяч. На самом деле при этом каждый раз выражалось что-нибудь свое. Богатство � это золотая вытяжка внешнего мира, воплощающая почти все, что существует за пределами души; и поэтому оно представляет собой естественное устремление той жизни, в гуще которой мы находимся и для которой золото � залог всякой утехи, а их-то люди и взыскуют под видом богатства. Правда, время от времени на страницах гроссбуха сказывались сердца безнадежно испорченные, алчущие золота как такового. Многие желали власти � желание довольно странное, ведь власть � лишь разновидность рабства. Старики мечтали о юношеских восторгах, хлыщ � о модном сюртуке, досужий читатель � о новом романе, стихоплет � о рифме к непослушному слову, художник � о разгадке тайны Тициановых красок, государь � о хижине, республиканец � о царстве и о дворце, распутник � о жене ближнего, заправский гурман � о зеленом горошке, а бедняк � о хлебной корке. Честолюбивые помыслы государственных мужей, обычно ловко сокрытые, здесь выражались прямо и смело, наряду с бескорыстными желаниями человеколюбца, чающего всеобщего благоденствия желаниями такими прекрасными, такими отрадными, вопреки эгоизму с его постоянным предпочтением себя всему остальному миру. В сумрачные тайны Книги Помыслов мы углубляться не будем.
Исследователю человечества было бы весьма полезно внимательно почитать этот фолиант и сравнить его записи с людскими свершениями в повседневной жизни, чтобы выяснить, насколько согласуются те и другие. Соответствие большей частью будет весьма отдаленное. Святые и благородные помыслы, восходящие к небу, как фимиам чистых сердец, часто овевают своим благовонием смрад подлого времени. Гнусное, себялюбивое, пагубное вожделенье, которое источает гниющее сердце, нередко растворяется в духовной атмосфере, не повлияв на земные дела. Однако ж этот фолиант, вероятно, правдивее говорит о человеческом сердце, чем живая драма действительности, разыгрывающаяся вокруг нас. В нем больше добра и больше зла; дурные устремления извинительнее, а благостные сомнительнее; душа воспаряет выше и гибнет постыднее; словом, смешение порока и добродетели поразительнее, чем наблюдается во внешнем мире. Приличия и показная благопристойность часто приукрашивают обличья вопреки изъявленному нутру. А с другой стороны, надо признать, что человек редко поверяет ближайшему другу или выказывает на деле свои чистейшие помыслы, которые в ту или иную благословенную минуту родились из глубины его существа и оказались засвидетельствованными в гроссбухе. Впрочем, на каждой странице предостаточно такого, что заставит всякого доброго человека ужаснуться собственным диким и праздным помыслам и содрогнуться, сочувствуя грешнику, вся жизнь которого есть осуществление мерзких похотей.
В «Огненном искуплении Земли» мы становимся свидетелями утопического просветления в сознании людей, уничтожающих в очистительном огне все самое плохое, что было создано человечеством � все виды вообружения, орудия смертной казни, некоторые поспешили оживить огонь банкнотами, Отныне, утверждали они, добрые дела, без чекана и счета, сделаются золотой валютой мира. Пошли требования бросить в огонь зеельные купчие и раздать землю народу. С чем никогда не соглашусь � это с бросанием в костер книг. Готорн же поясняет, почему его герои сжигают книги: � Любезный господин, � обратился я к отчаявшемуся книжнику, � разве Природа не лучше книги? И разве сердце человека не глубже любой философии? И разве жизнь не полна поучительности, которую писатели прошлого не сумели полностью уложить в свои максимы? Воспряньте же духом! Великая книга Времени по-прежнему раскрыта перед нами и, если мы сумеем правильно прочесть ее, она послужит нам источником вечной Истины. В очистительном огне можно сжечь все, что способствует злу или порокам, но мир не станет чище, пока не отыщется способ почистить человеческое сердце, это «вместилище скверны, и из него вновь появятся и зло, и горе, такие же, если не хуже.»
В «Званом вечере» мы тоже встречаемся с весьма необычными гостями, посещаем диковинную библиотеку из задуманных, но ненаписанных книг, и музей скульптур, а позже угощающихся невообразимыми блюдами.
Завершается сборник посланиями П., потерявшего нить своей жизни, временами впадавшего в какое-то затмение ума, при котором прошлое совмещается с настоящим. Не покинувший ни разу свою каморку, он возомнил себя путешественником, встретившим самых разных знаменитых людей прошлого и современников Готорна.
Судя по всему на русском языке сборник рассказов был выпущен в сокращенном виде. В Википедии количество рассказов в сборнике «Mosses of an Old Manse»� больше.
Мы побываем в мастерской заведующего погодой, где познакомимся с милой Весной, борющейся за свои права в суде и подавшей иск против Деда мороза, понаблюдаем за процессом изготовления раскатов грома путем прилаживания бабахов и пришивания бахромы из молний, увидим на стенах бывшие в употреблении радуги. Потом мы посетим настоящую кунсткамеру, составленную из артефактов из литературы и мифологии и нашим гидом будет ее хозяин Вечный Жид. Чертог фантазий � примерно то же, что собрание знатока, но только из всевозможных изобретений, где некоторые могли бы решить проблему энергетического кризиса � получать энергию из женских улыбок. На верхних этажах чертога можно пообщаться с обитателями Луны, а подвалы выходят своими коридорами в адские пещеры. В чертоге собираются мечтатели, первопроходцы, фантазеры и изобретатели, где обсуждают свои идеи и замыслы. В железнодорожном пути в небеса также дается преширокий перечень разнообразнейших активов, торгуемых на Ярмарке Тщеславия. Вот, например, акции или облигации под названием Совесть котировались очень высоко и шли в уплату за все. Да вряд ли что особенно ценное и можно было приобрести, не покрыв немалую часть его стоимости этими акциями � редкое предприятие могло принести особую выгоду, если не знать, когда и как выбросить на рынок свою квоту Совести. И однако же поскольку лишь эти акции сохраняли постоянную цену, то всякий, расставшийся с ними, в конечном счете проигрывал. Государственные чиновники частенько продавали родину по весьма скромной цене, люди толпами продавали свое счастье за просто так. Поездка в Град Небесный по железной дороге � сплошное надувательство. Можно пропутешествовать тысячу лет и не выехать за пределы Ярмарки Тщеславия. Господин Града Небесного отказался зарегистрировать железную дорогу, а без такой регистрации ни одному ее пассажиру нечего и мечтать попасть в тот край. Это бросание денег на ветер, поскольку расплатится пассажир своей душой.
Ведовство всякой всячины � еще один рассказ с удивительными возможностями. Посредник ведет огромный фолиант, в которые записывает людские желания, «все прихоти пустопорожних сердец, чаяния сердец глубоких, бессильные порывы истерзанных сердец и злобные мольбы растленных сердец. Встречались там редкие фантазии, которые могли прийти на ум какому-нибудь сумасброду, Желания нелепые, сводящиеся к соревнованию с природой, приходили на ум естествоиспытателям � создать насекомое, посетить обратную сторону луны.
Чаще всего, с назойливым постоянством, желали, разумеется, богатства, богатства, богатства в количестве от нескольких шиллингов до несчетных тысяч. На самом деле при этом каждый раз выражалось что-нибудь свое. Богатство � это золотая вытяжка внешнего мира, воплощающая почти все, что существует за пределами души; и поэтому оно представляет собой естественное устремление той жизни, в гуще которой мы находимся и для которой золото � залог всякой утехи, а их-то люди и взыскуют под видом богатства. Правда, время от времени на страницах гроссбуха сказывались сердца безнадежно испорченные, алчущие золота как такового. Многие желали власти � желание довольно странное, ведь власть � лишь разновидность рабства. Старики мечтали о юношеских восторгах, хлыщ � о модном сюртуке, досужий читатель � о новом романе, стихоплет � о рифме к непослушному слову, художник � о разгадке тайны Тициановых красок, государь � о хижине, республиканец � о царстве и о дворце, распутник � о жене ближнего, заправский гурман � о зеленом горошке, а бедняк � о хлебной корке. Честолюбивые помыслы государственных мужей, обычно ловко сокрытые, здесь выражались прямо и смело, наряду с бескорыстными желаниями человеколюбца, чающего всеобщего благоденствия желаниями такими прекрасными, такими отрадными, вопреки эгоизму с его постоянным предпочтением себя всему остальному миру. В сумрачные тайны Книги Помыслов мы углубляться не будем.
Исследователю человечества было бы весьма полезно внимательно почитать этот фолиант и сравнить его записи с людскими свершениями в повседневной жизни, чтобы выяснить, насколько согласуются те и другие. Соответствие большей частью будет весьма отдаленное. Святые и благородные помыслы, восходящие к небу, как фимиам чистых сердец, часто овевают своим благовонием смрад подлого времени. Гнусное, себялюбивое, пагубное вожделенье, которое источает гниющее сердце, нередко растворяется в духовной атмосфере, не повлияв на земные дела. Однако ж этот фолиант, вероятно, правдивее говорит о человеческом сердце, чем живая драма действительности, разыгрывающаяся вокруг нас. В нем больше добра и больше зла; дурные устремления извинительнее, а благостные сомнительнее; душа воспаряет выше и гибнет постыднее; словом, смешение порока и добродетели поразительнее, чем наблюдается во внешнем мире. Приличия и показная благопристойность часто приукрашивают обличья вопреки изъявленному нутру. А с другой стороны, надо признать, что человек редко поверяет ближайшему другу или выказывает на деле свои чистейшие помыслы, которые в ту или иную благословенную минуту родились из глубины его существа и оказались засвидетельствованными в гроссбухе. Впрочем, на каждой странице предостаточно такого, что заставит всякого доброго человека ужаснуться собственным диким и праздным помыслам и содрогнуться, сочувствуя грешнику, вся жизнь которого есть осуществление мерзких похотей.
В «Огненном искуплении Земли» мы становимся свидетелями утопического просветления в сознании людей, уничтожающих в очистительном огне все самое плохое, что было создано человечеством � все виды вообружения, орудия смертной казни, некоторые поспешили оживить огонь банкнотами, Отныне, утверждали они, добрые дела, без чекана и счета, сделаются золотой валютой мира. Пошли требования бросить в огонь зеельные купчие и раздать землю народу. С чем никогда не соглашусь � это с бросанием в костер книг. Готорн же поясняет, почему его герои сжигают книги: � Любезный господин, � обратился я к отчаявшемуся книжнику, � разве Природа не лучше книги? И разве сердце человека не глубже любой философии? И разве жизнь не полна поучительности, которую писатели прошлого не сумели полностью уложить в свои максимы? Воспряньте же духом! Великая книга Времени по-прежнему раскрыта перед нами и, если мы сумеем правильно прочесть ее, она послужит нам источником вечной Истины. В очистительном огне можно сжечь все, что способствует злу или порокам, но мир не станет чище, пока не отыщется способ почистить человеческое сердце, это «вместилище скверны, и из него вновь появятся и зло, и горе, такие же, если не хуже.»
В «Званом вечере» мы тоже встречаемся с весьма необычными гостями, посещаем диковинную библиотеку из задуманных, но ненаписанных книг, и музей скульптур, а позже угощающихся невообразимыми блюдами.
Завершается сборник посланиями П., потерявшего нить своей жизни, временами впадавшего в какое-то затмение ума, при котором прошлое совмещается с настоящим. Не покинувший ни разу свою каморку, он возомнил себя путешественником, встретившим самых разных знаменитых людей прошлого и современников Готорна.
Судя по всему на русском языке сборник рассказов был выпущен в сокращенном виде. В Википедии количество рассказов в сборнике «Mosses of an Old Manse»� больше.
March 29, 2020
I believe Hawthorne’s collection Mosses from an Old Manse (1846) may be superior to his earlier Twice Told Tales (1837, 1842). It boasts just as many Hawthorne short story masterpieces (“The Birth-mark,� “Young Goodman Brown,� “Rappaccini’s Daughter,� and The Artist of the Beautiful�) and nearly as many near-masterpieces too (“Egotism, or the Bosom-Serpent� “Drowne’s Wooden Image,� “Roger Malvin’s Burial,� “Feathertop�), all exploring the classic Hawthorniean themes of the artist versus the scientist, the dreamer versus the practical man, the motivations for human creation and the diabiolic forces that tear them apart.
In addition to the short stories mentioned here, however, Mosses possesses other beauties, including 1) a first class familiar essay, “The Old Manse,� in which the writer describes his Concord home in its surroundings (including cameo appearances by Concord’s famous citizens, Emerson and Thoreau), 2) two unique, totally successful Bunyanesque allegories, “The Celestial Railroad� (a speedy train trip through Pilgrim’s Progress country) and “Earth’s Holocaust� (humankind gathers on a Western plain to pitch its supposed vanities into a bonfire, and 3) a half-dozen or so other allegories, all of the Spenserian variety, each more elaborate and intricate than the one before (“A Select Party,� “The Hall of Fantasy,� “The Procession of Life,� “The Christmas Banquet,� “The Intelligence Office,� “A Virtuoso’s Collection�). I found some of these narratives to be difficult, others baffling—I remember reading somewhere that Hawthorne, years later, was puzzled by the meaning of some of them himself—but there is something about their ornate style, the rarified nature of the personifications, that speaks of something new in Hawthorne. They were all written during the Old Manse period, sometime in the middle �40’s, and I believe they point forward to The Scarlet Letter (1850), the emergence of a nuanced symbolic style.
Read it. It is one of the classics of American literature, more essential—and odder—than you might think.
May 6, 2014
Though Hawthorne is one of my favorite writers, and this is the first of his books that I ever read, I've never gotten around to reviewing it here until now --an inexcusable lapse that I'm finally rectifying! I've read all of it at least once, and the 1967 date is only approximate; this was a favorite reading staple of my middle and late teens, and I've read several of the pieces here more than once (some as recently as the 90s or later). Some of the stories greatly influenced my youthful imagination and tastes.
The titular manse is the former parsonage at Concord, Massachusetts in which Hawthorne and his wife lived while he wrote all of the 26 selections here. These include both stories and essays/sketches; which are which can be debated, because Hawthorne makes generous use of dialogue, narrative and personification in his essays, and a few of his stories are so message-driven they could qualify as essays. :-) Very few of these pieces are general fiction; some are historical in their setting, reflecting the author's abiding fascination with New England's history, and many of them are speculative fiction, of a supernatural (like "Feathertop" and "Young Goodman Brown") or science-fictional (like "The Birthmark" or "Rappaccini's Daughter") sort. Some, like "Earth's Holocaust," are speculations not set in any real-world milieu. All of the fiction is in the Romantic mode, often written with a brooding tone, and much of it is dark and tragic --not characteristics I usually like, but these tales are written with an evocative power and an ability to express truths about the human condition which can brand them on your consciousness and make them part of you. (At least, that was my experience, perhaps partly due to my age and more fallow psyche when I read them.) The essays/sketches, which are mostly on moral/philosophical themes, are less memorable (and many modern readers may find them dry), but they can be interesting windows into Hawthorne's thought. ("Fire Worship," Hawthorne's reflections on his distinct ambivalence about the replacement of open hearths by airtight stoves, is the most fascinating; and more topical than it at first appears, since it's a very early treatment of the trade-offs of technological innovation, which can involve losses as well as gains --a phenomenon that's still very much with us, and even more concerning now than it was in 1843.)
The author's deep and abiding Christian faith underlies all of his work; it's not always explicitly expressed, but it is in two of my favorite selections here, "The Celestial Railroad" and "Earth's Holocaust." The former is a bitingly satirical update of Bunyan's , in which Hawthorne's allegory excoriates 19th-century religious liberalism, which is now offering railway tickets to the Celestial City (but will the passengers make it to that destination?). In the latter, "Once upon a time --but whether in a time past or time to come is a matter of little or no moment-- this wide world had become so overburdened with an accumulation of wornout trumpery that the inhabitants determined to rid themselves of it by a general bonfire." This sets up a fascinating disquisition on social reform and change; its possibilities and its limitations. Near the end of the tale, the supposedly "enlightened" moderns cast the Bible into the fire --but the flames prove to be unable to burn it. It's difficult to discuss the interpretation of another favorite story here, "Young Goodman Brown," without resorting to spoilers (and a great deal of critical ink has been and continues to be spilled on interpreting that story, not all of it to very worthwhile purpose), but I think a definite Christian message can be discerned there as well.
"Rappaccini's Daughter" is another of my all-time favorite Hawthorne stories. (And while this site concentrates on books rather than movies, I have to say that the faithful film adaptation of that one in the American Short Story series is one that I highly recommend!) "Egotism," or, "The Bosom Serpent" is a great example of Hawthorne's powerful use of symbolism. Two other titles here that deserve a special mention, IMO, are the relatively less well-known historical pieces "Drowne's Wooden Image" and "The Burial of Roger Malvin." (My ŷ friend Bill has a much lower estimation of the latter story than I do, but I think it's a quintessential Hawthorne work, with its concentration on the corrosive spiritual and psychological effects of guilt.)
The majority of the selections here aren't really of five-star quality, though some clearly are; hence the four-star rating. (If I were rating the book only on the ones that stayed deeply in my memory, it would have five stars, hands down.) For many readers, the early 19th-century diction will be an off-putting deal breaker (though that's their loss). But for those without that mental block, it's worth a read, if only for the pieces I've mentioned by name, and some others.
The titular manse is the former parsonage at Concord, Massachusetts in which Hawthorne and his wife lived while he wrote all of the 26 selections here. These include both stories and essays/sketches; which are which can be debated, because Hawthorne makes generous use of dialogue, narrative and personification in his essays, and a few of his stories are so message-driven they could qualify as essays. :-) Very few of these pieces are general fiction; some are historical in their setting, reflecting the author's abiding fascination with New England's history, and many of them are speculative fiction, of a supernatural (like "Feathertop" and "Young Goodman Brown") or science-fictional (like "The Birthmark" or "Rappaccini's Daughter") sort. Some, like "Earth's Holocaust," are speculations not set in any real-world milieu. All of the fiction is in the Romantic mode, often written with a brooding tone, and much of it is dark and tragic --not characteristics I usually like, but these tales are written with an evocative power and an ability to express truths about the human condition which can brand them on your consciousness and make them part of you. (At least, that was my experience, perhaps partly due to my age and more fallow psyche when I read them.) The essays/sketches, which are mostly on moral/philosophical themes, are less memorable (and many modern readers may find them dry), but they can be interesting windows into Hawthorne's thought. ("Fire Worship," Hawthorne's reflections on his distinct ambivalence about the replacement of open hearths by airtight stoves, is the most fascinating; and more topical than it at first appears, since it's a very early treatment of the trade-offs of technological innovation, which can involve losses as well as gains --a phenomenon that's still very much with us, and even more concerning now than it was in 1843.)
The author's deep and abiding Christian faith underlies all of his work; it's not always explicitly expressed, but it is in two of my favorite selections here, "The Celestial Railroad" and "Earth's Holocaust." The former is a bitingly satirical update of Bunyan's , in which Hawthorne's allegory excoriates 19th-century religious liberalism, which is now offering railway tickets to the Celestial City (but will the passengers make it to that destination?). In the latter, "Once upon a time --but whether in a time past or time to come is a matter of little or no moment-- this wide world had become so overburdened with an accumulation of wornout trumpery that the inhabitants determined to rid themselves of it by a general bonfire." This sets up a fascinating disquisition on social reform and change; its possibilities and its limitations. Near the end of the tale, the supposedly "enlightened" moderns cast the Bible into the fire --but the flames prove to be unable to burn it. It's difficult to discuss the interpretation of another favorite story here, "Young Goodman Brown," without resorting to spoilers (and a great deal of critical ink has been and continues to be spilled on interpreting that story, not all of it to very worthwhile purpose), but I think a definite Christian message can be discerned there as well.
"Rappaccini's Daughter" is another of my all-time favorite Hawthorne stories. (And while this site concentrates on books rather than movies, I have to say that the faithful film adaptation of that one in the American Short Story series is one that I highly recommend!) "Egotism," or, "The Bosom Serpent" is a great example of Hawthorne's powerful use of symbolism. Two other titles here that deserve a special mention, IMO, are the relatively less well-known historical pieces "Drowne's Wooden Image" and "The Burial of Roger Malvin." (My ŷ friend Bill has a much lower estimation of the latter story than I do, but I think it's a quintessential Hawthorne work, with its concentration on the corrosive spiritual and psychological effects of guilt.)
The majority of the selections here aren't really of five-star quality, though some clearly are; hence the four-star rating. (If I were rating the book only on the ones that stayed deeply in my memory, it would have five stars, hands down.) For many readers, the early 19th-century diction will be an off-putting deal breaker (though that's their loss). But for those without that mental block, it's worth a read, if only for the pieces I've mentioned by name, and some others.
April 13, 2018
Adam Raised A Cain
The middle-of-the-road rating is reflective more of a sense of incompleteness that I get when I read Hawthorne's short stories: it seems to me he's only getting started in a really good tale and then wraps it up quickly, as if he wants to jam in everything he has to say in a proscribed set of lines. His Puritanical guilt becomes too oppressive in his shorter fiction. In his longer works, he has a chance to fill out and elaborate upon that proverbial cross that he carries, but his short stories are rife with too much preachiness. I like them well enough, but they fall far short of what he accomplishes in, for instance, The Scarlet Letter, or The Marble Faun.
This dark romanticism, this rich gothic traditon, is so much better handled by someone like Edgar Allan Poe, or even Washington Irving. In Hawthorne's shorter fiction, he is borderline dogmatic, giving the lie to his rebellion against Puritanism. (Methinks the gent doth sometimes protest too much.)
There is a sense that too much injustice rained down on him in life and it is reflected in his works. Rather than being able to transmute his misfortunes, in the written word, he beats repeatedly on the same drum: life is not fair, your fellow man will let you down, your family will let you down; more importantly, religion will let you down and then make of fool of you. These themes creep continually in his short stories under various guises.
Young Goodman Brown, for instance, is teased by Faith (both the figurative and literal one) but is disappointed to find no solace through his own faithlessness, an interesting, thought-provoking paradox which he truncates. This could have made a powerful longer fiction, but instead is compressed into a mouthful of anti-Puritanical pabulum.
Mrs Bullfrog shows that love is only skin deep, and currency-conscious.
Mr. Rappaccini's daughter is "poisoned" by her father's dogma; she, in turn, poisons her would-be lover with the same toxin; and only after true love creeps stealthily into her poisonous soul does she admit to having been weak in subscribing to her father's venom. She drinks the "antidote" and saves her lover, but not herself.
In The Birthmark, Hawthorne scrubs frantically, if figuratively, after the original sin, trying to eradicate The Mark which offends him. It is interesting that the offending mark lies on his wife's cheek, thus raising the issue of religion's hypocrisy: it is easier to seek out the speck in another's eye, than to cast out the beam in his own. This latter story is probably the most satisfying of the collection; even so, one feels there is so much more that Hawthorne wanted to say.
Hawthorne's guilt is a theme which runs through all of his works. He attempts to apologize or atone for foregathers' sins, obsessively trying to water down the blood that runs in him. A descendant of John Hathorne, one of the original judges who presided over the Salem Witch Trials (and who was the only one who didn't repent his participation) Nathaniel was appalled by his ancestor's behaviour and tried unsuccessfully throughout his life to eradicate this stain. [Nathaniel even added a "w" to the Hathorne in a vain attempt to divorce himself from the sins of a great-grandfather, twice removed again. Still, he found that nothing washed out Cain's blood.]
I think it is Hawthorne himself who cries out in The Birthmark
"If there be the remotest possibility of it ... let the attempt be made at whatever risk. Danger is nothing to me; for life, while this hateful mark makes me the object of your horror and disgust -- life is a burden which I would fling down with joy. Either remove this dreadful hand, or take my wretched life! You have deep science. All the world bears witness of it. You have achieved great wonders. Cannot you remove this little, little mark, which I cover with the tips of two small fingers? Is this beyond your power, for the sake of your own peace, and to save your poor wife from madness?"
It is Cain's mark which Hawthorne seeks to remove from his own soul: the two small fingers, placed like a "w" over the mark, and thus turning Hathorne into Hawthorne, and removing the offending sin -- the offending ancestor.
He did himself and his readers a great disservice when he abbreviated his works, for here was a mind greater than Melville's had he given himself permission to be alive, without guilt.
Neither science (logic) nor transcendentalism (which Hawthorne subscribed to for a time) could ever erase the mark of Cain that he carried.
These little stories seem to be a training manual for his larger works: with his training wheels on, he would revisit the same pathways, trying to find his way, and his strength. They are not so much stand-alone literature as they are a series of drills, or exercises performed to perfect his art.
3.5 stars a closer estimate
The middle-of-the-road rating is reflective more of a sense of incompleteness that I get when I read Hawthorne's short stories: it seems to me he's only getting started in a really good tale and then wraps it up quickly, as if he wants to jam in everything he has to say in a proscribed set of lines. His Puritanical guilt becomes too oppressive in his shorter fiction. In his longer works, he has a chance to fill out and elaborate upon that proverbial cross that he carries, but his short stories are rife with too much preachiness. I like them well enough, but they fall far short of what he accomplishes in, for instance, The Scarlet Letter, or The Marble Faun.
This dark romanticism, this rich gothic traditon, is so much better handled by someone like Edgar Allan Poe, or even Washington Irving. In Hawthorne's shorter fiction, he is borderline dogmatic, giving the lie to his rebellion against Puritanism. (Methinks the gent doth sometimes protest too much.)
There is a sense that too much injustice rained down on him in life and it is reflected in his works. Rather than being able to transmute his misfortunes, in the written word, he beats repeatedly on the same drum: life is not fair, your fellow man will let you down, your family will let you down; more importantly, religion will let you down and then make of fool of you. These themes creep continually in his short stories under various guises.
Young Goodman Brown, for instance, is teased by Faith (both the figurative and literal one) but is disappointed to find no solace through his own faithlessness, an interesting, thought-provoking paradox which he truncates. This could have made a powerful longer fiction, but instead is compressed into a mouthful of anti-Puritanical pabulum.
Mrs Bullfrog shows that love is only skin deep, and currency-conscious.
Mr. Rappaccini's daughter is "poisoned" by her father's dogma; she, in turn, poisons her would-be lover with the same toxin; and only after true love creeps stealthily into her poisonous soul does she admit to having been weak in subscribing to her father's venom. She drinks the "antidote" and saves her lover, but not herself.
In The Birthmark, Hawthorne scrubs frantically, if figuratively, after the original sin, trying to eradicate The Mark which offends him. It is interesting that the offending mark lies on his wife's cheek, thus raising the issue of religion's hypocrisy: it is easier to seek out the speck in another's eye, than to cast out the beam in his own. This latter story is probably the most satisfying of the collection; even so, one feels there is so much more that Hawthorne wanted to say.
Hawthorne's guilt is a theme which runs through all of his works. He attempts to apologize or atone for foregathers' sins, obsessively trying to water down the blood that runs in him. A descendant of John Hathorne, one of the original judges who presided over the Salem Witch Trials (and who was the only one who didn't repent his participation) Nathaniel was appalled by his ancestor's behaviour and tried unsuccessfully throughout his life to eradicate this stain. [Nathaniel even added a "w" to the Hathorne in a vain attempt to divorce himself from the sins of a great-grandfather, twice removed again. Still, he found that nothing washed out Cain's blood.]
I think it is Hawthorne himself who cries out in The Birthmark
"If there be the remotest possibility of it ... let the attempt be made at whatever risk. Danger is nothing to me; for life, while this hateful mark makes me the object of your horror and disgust -- life is a burden which I would fling down with joy. Either remove this dreadful hand, or take my wretched life! You have deep science. All the world bears witness of it. You have achieved great wonders. Cannot you remove this little, little mark, which I cover with the tips of two small fingers? Is this beyond your power, for the sake of your own peace, and to save your poor wife from madness?"
It is Cain's mark which Hawthorne seeks to remove from his own soul: the two small fingers, placed like a "w" over the mark, and thus turning Hathorne into Hawthorne, and removing the offending sin -- the offending ancestor.
He did himself and his readers a great disservice when he abbreviated his works, for here was a mind greater than Melville's had he given himself permission to be alive, without guilt.
Neither science (logic) nor transcendentalism (which Hawthorne subscribed to for a time) could ever erase the mark of Cain that he carried.
These little stories seem to be a training manual for his larger works: with his training wheels on, he would revisit the same pathways, trying to find his way, and his strength. They are not so much stand-alone literature as they are a series of drills, or exercises performed to perfect his art.
3.5 stars a closer estimate
July 14, 2020
Well done Mr. Hawthorne. Very well done.
August 2, 2020
"A man of a deep and noble nature has seized me in this seclusion. His wild, witch voice rings through me; or, in softer cadences, I seem to hear it in the songs of the hill-side birds, that sing in the larch trees at my window." ~Herman Melville
There is a story from Hawthorne's college days that as he was walking along a forest path in Brunswick, an old gypsy woman stopped him and asked, "Are you a man or an angel?" She was, of course, alluding to his physical beauty (he is said to have been very handsome), but to me, her question seems almost prophetic. Mr. Hawthorne's writings have such profound depth, wisdom, and beauty. There were passages where I was actually in tears because I felt that he was giving expression to something I had felt in my own soul but was painfully incapable of expressing myself.
Also, although we don't usually think of Hawthorne as a nature writer, his descriptions of nature are incredibly vivid and beautiful, rivaling even Mr. Thoreau!
There were one or two stories in this collection that I didn't feel were quite up to Mr. Hawthorne's standards (Mrs. Bullfrog in particular comes to mind 😄), but they were more than redeemed by such matchless treasures as The Old Manse, A Select Party, Buds and Bird-Voices, The Celestial Railroad, and The Artist of the Beautiful. This is a book I will be returning to again and again and from which I expect to draw a wealth of beauty, truth, and comfort along life's weary road!
There is a story from Hawthorne's college days that as he was walking along a forest path in Brunswick, an old gypsy woman stopped him and asked, "Are you a man or an angel?" She was, of course, alluding to his physical beauty (he is said to have been very handsome), but to me, her question seems almost prophetic. Mr. Hawthorne's writings have such profound depth, wisdom, and beauty. There were passages where I was actually in tears because I felt that he was giving expression to something I had felt in my own soul but was painfully incapable of expressing myself.
Also, although we don't usually think of Hawthorne as a nature writer, his descriptions of nature are incredibly vivid and beautiful, rivaling even Mr. Thoreau!
There were one or two stories in this collection that I didn't feel were quite up to Mr. Hawthorne's standards (Mrs. Bullfrog in particular comes to mind 😄), but they were more than redeemed by such matchless treasures as The Old Manse, A Select Party, Buds and Bird-Voices, The Celestial Railroad, and The Artist of the Beautiful. This is a book I will be returning to again and again and from which I expect to draw a wealth of beauty, truth, and comfort along life's weary road!
September 29, 2020
Lots of imagery and description. So surprised by the wide range of his writings from allegories to descriptive essays all the way to gothic. Quite a treasure of American short stories.
October 14, 2019
No es lo primero que leo del autor pero sí en forma de relatos. Prefiero sus novelas y es que aunque he disfrutado con algunos de los relatos, creo que peca de repetitivo. El mismo tema moral se puede apreciar en varios relatos y como colección de tales, los hay que me han gustado mucho y otros que he pasado rápidamente. Me gusta mucho la pluma de Hawthorne, aunque reconozco que no soy demasiado amiga de las colecciones de relatos, pero eso ya, es cosa mía.
November 14, 2017
Too allegoric...
September 29, 2015
Esta recopilación es muy floja. Y más si buscas lo que te indica la tapa: relatos fantásticos y siniestros. Yo pondría: relatos descriptivos y filosóficos.
La vieja rectoría (3/5): No es un relato, él nos describe su residencia. Yo me lo planteo como el sitio en el que escribe por las noches estos relatos que leo, mientras se escucha el ulular de los búhos. Emplea un método embudo, en el que describe lo más grande, y un elemento de el lo describe y así hasta llegar el fin, en el que suele acabarlo con una historia supuestamente real que tiene relación con algo que ha descrito.
La marca de nacimiento (2,5/5): mujer acomplejada por una marca en la mejilla, si inteligente marido alquímico busca la manera de quitársela. Pero no hay que quitar lo que nació antes que tú.
Una fiesta selecta (3/5): Si imaginas la mejor fiesta del mundo, acudirán de invitado todo lo creado en tu vida a través de la imaginaría. Y eso no es bueno, pues todos hemos tenido terrores nocturnos.
El joven Goodman Brown (2/5): Un tema muy machacado: el diablo incita a este buen hombre.
La hija de Rappaccini (2/5): El amor puenteado por una flor, cuyo cultivo realiza un padre obsesionado por esta.
El ferrocarril celestial (3/5): un relato de ciencia ficción. Han construido un tren que lleva al país Celestial. Al igual que su primer relato es pura narración de lo que ve, pero en este caso de lo que aparece en su imaginación
Feathertop (2/5): Una bruja construye un espantapájaros y le da la vida, obliga a este a que vaya a la ciudad y se haga un ser famoso. No penséis que es un estilo slasher con un espantapájaros, sino la vida de una persona vacía que se da cuenta que no encaja en donde habita.
Los nuevos Adán y Eva (2/5): Los nuevos caen en el presente del autor, y ven que asco da la sociedad. Están asqueados.
El egoísmo; o la serpiente en el pecho (2/5): Sí te da por imaginar que tienes una serpiente en el pecho, todos te apoyarán, y ese será tu final.
El banquete de Navidad (2/5): En navidad nos reunimos los personajes más excéntricos, para tan sólo poder numerarlos.
El entierro de Roger Malvin (4/5): Tu mejor amigo va a morir en medio del bosque, pero quiere que vuelvas a casa para que te cases con su hija, y lo dejes sin enterrar por tropas enemigas vienen. Que mala relación tendrá con su mujer e hija por este motivo�
La correspondencia de P. (2/5): Rajando de escritores conocidos de su época.
El holocausto de la Tierra (2/5): Tiran a la hoguera todo lo que destruye al ser humano, pero no entiendo que consiguen�
La colección de un virtuoso (1/5): se basa en enumerar objetos que han sido de algún personaje famoso del pasado. No hay historia, solamente narración y suposición.
El artista de lo bello (2/5): No es bello lo que se crea por el ser humano. Veamos como se da cuenta de eso este “artista�.
El salón de la fantasía (2/5): más de lo mismo: descripciones de un salón especial.
La vieja rectoría (3/5): No es un relato, él nos describe su residencia. Yo me lo planteo como el sitio en el que escribe por las noches estos relatos que leo, mientras se escucha el ulular de los búhos. Emplea un método embudo, en el que describe lo más grande, y un elemento de el lo describe y así hasta llegar el fin, en el que suele acabarlo con una historia supuestamente real que tiene relación con algo que ha descrito.
La marca de nacimiento (2,5/5): mujer acomplejada por una marca en la mejilla, si inteligente marido alquímico busca la manera de quitársela. Pero no hay que quitar lo que nació antes que tú.
Una fiesta selecta (3/5): Si imaginas la mejor fiesta del mundo, acudirán de invitado todo lo creado en tu vida a través de la imaginaría. Y eso no es bueno, pues todos hemos tenido terrores nocturnos.
El joven Goodman Brown (2/5): Un tema muy machacado: el diablo incita a este buen hombre.
La hija de Rappaccini (2/5): El amor puenteado por una flor, cuyo cultivo realiza un padre obsesionado por esta.
El ferrocarril celestial (3/5): un relato de ciencia ficción. Han construido un tren que lleva al país Celestial. Al igual que su primer relato es pura narración de lo que ve, pero en este caso de lo que aparece en su imaginación
Feathertop (2/5): Una bruja construye un espantapájaros y le da la vida, obliga a este a que vaya a la ciudad y se haga un ser famoso. No penséis que es un estilo slasher con un espantapájaros, sino la vida de una persona vacía que se da cuenta que no encaja en donde habita.
Los nuevos Adán y Eva (2/5): Los nuevos caen en el presente del autor, y ven que asco da la sociedad. Están asqueados.
El egoísmo; o la serpiente en el pecho (2/5): Sí te da por imaginar que tienes una serpiente en el pecho, todos te apoyarán, y ese será tu final.
El banquete de Navidad (2/5): En navidad nos reunimos los personajes más excéntricos, para tan sólo poder numerarlos.
El entierro de Roger Malvin (4/5): Tu mejor amigo va a morir en medio del bosque, pero quiere que vuelvas a casa para que te cases con su hija, y lo dejes sin enterrar por tropas enemigas vienen. Que mala relación tendrá con su mujer e hija por este motivo�
La correspondencia de P. (2/5): Rajando de escritores conocidos de su época.
El holocausto de la Tierra (2/5): Tiran a la hoguera todo lo que destruye al ser humano, pero no entiendo que consiguen�
La colección de un virtuoso (1/5): se basa en enumerar objetos que han sido de algún personaje famoso del pasado. No hay historia, solamente narración y suposición.
El artista de lo bello (2/5): No es bello lo que se crea por el ser humano. Veamos como se da cuenta de eso este “artista�.
El salón de la fantasía (2/5): más de lo mismo: descripciones de un salón especial.
October 23, 2024
(1846). A manse, by the way, is another word for a house, and also a parsonage or house for a clergyman, as had been the case for Hawthorne’s in Concord.
"I remember that I always had a meaning—or, at least, thought I had� Upon my honor, I am not quite sure that I entirely comprehend my own meaning in some of these blasted allegories." —the author in 1854.
That Hawthorne’s imagination might not have been governed by a list of predetermined symbols, such as middle school teachers delight in, but have followed the prompts of some inner, more inscrutable plan is actually what saves some of these stories. There’s fun to be had in the other sort, in figuring out what something is supposed to symbolize, but then it feels more like a riddle than art.
Hawthorne made other comments suggesting he disliked his own particular approach to fiction (“I am a good deal changed since those times; and to tell you the truth, my past self is not very much to my taste, as I see in this book�). In the very intro here he outright trashes his writing, and calls this “the last collection of this nature which it is my purpose ever to put forth. Unless I could do better, I have done enough in this kind.�
It’s true that even at their wildest the stories can feel stiff and artificial. To me the biggest faults are a sense of propriety (Hawthorne called it an “unconquerable reserve�) and a feeling that he is writing as an example for others. Indeed he has a surprising satirical streak, and enjoys taking society to task, or shooting down the crazes of his inner circles.
I think Poe was picking up on this when he indirectly advised him in a review to stop writing for his friends. Poe, who put down allegories in general, nevertheless praised Hawthorne’s “metaphors run mad.� I like the madness too. There’s a dreamlike quality to these tales. With one extraordinary exception (see Monsieur du Miroir), they are not dreamlike in the absurdist, Kafka way. Rather, it’s those dreams that feel symbolic and meaningful even to the dreamer. I must read ETA Hoffmann to see if the common link with Kafka is there. Poe said Hawthorne got it all from Tieck, a German writer who apparently also specialized in disturbing fairy tales.
Some of the sketches are almost homilies. You see it in the fiction too. But Hawthorne will put his artistry to bear even on these, bringing the most instructive to strange life. He isn’t aiming for realism, doesn’t try very hard to ground his fantasies with realistic details, but his imagination never fails to include at least one consequence of his crazy premise that gives the whole the ring of truth.
Here are some notes on the stories. They are all easy to read, if drawn out, and full of freaks, deformities, maidens in danger, and fantastical creatures in mundane surroundings.
—�
“The Old Manse.� (1846) You cannot pick a better time to read this than in the early autumn in New England. An Irving sketch brought home to America. Casually name-drops Emerson, Lowell and Thoreau.
“…but now, being happy, I felt as if there were no questions to be put, and therefore admired Emerson as a poet of deep beauty and austere tenderness, but sought nothing from him as a philosopher.�
—�
"The Birth-Mark." (1843) A nightmare. I hated the selfish, OCD, fanatical husband as much as I remembered.
References to the “…Man of Brass constructed by Albertus Magnus, and the Brazen Head of Friar Bacon…�
—�
"A Select Party." (1844) Like a parody of those early gossip columns.
“Your names are as strange to me as your faces; and even were it otherwise—let me whisper you a secret—the cold, icy memory which one generation may retain of another is but a poor recompense to barter life for.�
“None pay reverence� quote about neglected genius might as well be about Melville.
References to Dwight, Freneau and Joel Barlow.
—�
"Young Goodman Brown." (1835) Salem devil story, involving satanic elites, lurid Indian pow wows, old men seducing girls, girls murdering their babies, etc. Like Bunyan in New England but without the same folk-art charm and sincerity.
—�
"Rappaccini's Daughter." (1844) Satanic thriller. Another horror story ending with a girl’s death. More on the “perverted wisdom� of science.
—�
"Mrs. Bullfrog." (1837) Humor piece. Opens with a timely passage about how one mate is generally as good as another.
—�
"The Celestial Railroad." (1843) Another, better and more explicit modernization of Pilgrim’s Progress. The trek to the Celestial City is now facilitated by the devil’s men. It’s considered prejudice to do otherwise but welcome them. I couldn’t help but feel personally attacked by the character Mr. Take-it-easy.
Great image of the train thundering through the valley of the shadow of death, flames on either side, the engine whistle shrieking with a demonic voice.
Tophet is actually a crater. Thus hell is explained away by science.
“There was one strange thing that troubled me: amid the occupations or amusements of the fair, nothing was more common than for a person� suddenly to vanish like a soap-bubble and be nevermore seen of his fellows; and so accustomed were the latter to such little accidents that they went on with their business as quietly as if nothing had happened. But it was otherwise with me.� This was my favorite part and also, apparently, Melville’s, who wrote “Nothing can be finer than this.�
—�
"The Procession of Life." (1843) Nice essay.
—�
"Feathertop." (1852) Included in a later edition. Pipe turns scarecrow alive like Frosty the snowman with his hat. A children’s fable that becomes more and more nightmarish as it goes along. Quite pathetic. The witch makes a moving point at the end.
—�-
"Egotism; or, The Bosom-Serpent." (1843) A more straightforward morality tale. Yet another variation of The Minister’s Black Veil.
—�
"Drowne's Wooden Image." (1844) Copley makes an appearance, plays a pretty funny part.
—�
"Roger Malvin's Burial." (1832) Early H. Unpleasant. Too long, though the idea of the body still lying out in the woods is suitably ghastly.
—�
"The Artist of the Beautiful." (1844) It’s really a story about an artist’s maturation, learning that most normal people just don’t care that much about Art, which is why the character becomes less insufferable by the end.
Here’s a good example of Hawthorne’s own art. You have a character you suspect you’re supposed to sympathize with, but don’t (think the senile old guy from House of Seven Gables). You have him represent an idea, too slowly fleshed out. Then you have a genius detail which finally animates the idea (quite literally in this case, with that wonderful description of the mechanical butterfly landing on a finger so tremulous it was “forced to balance himself with his wings,� that makes it come alive in your mind), only for Hawthorne to destroy that life in a climax that is strangely moving (as in Feathertop).
Nice phrase: the “iron accents of the church clock.�
—�
"Fire-Worship." (1843) Ode to fire. Finally someone agrees with me about the inferiority of wood stoves compared to hearths.
—�
"Buds and Bird-Voices." (1843)
“A mosquito has already been heard to sound the small horror of his bugle-horn.�
—�
"Monsieur du Miroir." (1837) Doppelgänger tale. Brilliant. Comical, irrational yet profound.
“…his name would indicate a French descent; in which case, infinitely preferring that my blood should flow from a bold British and pure Puritan source, I beg leave to disclaim all kindred with M. du Miroir.�
“…in my distrustful moods I am apt to suspect M. du Miroir's sympathy to be mere outward show…�
“I have sometimes been calmed down by the sight of my own inordinate wrath depicted on his frowning brow.�
“The solitude seemed lonelier for his presence.�
Marginalia in Melville's copy:
Next to "He will pass to the dark realm of Nothingness, but will not find me there," Melville wrote, "This trenches upon the uncertain and the terrible.�
Next to “Will he linger where I have lived, to remind the neglectful world of one who staked much to win a name, but will not then care whether he lost or won?� Melville wrote, "What a revelation.�
—�
"The Hall of Fantasy." (1843) One long extended metaphor. Wise. Most people can gain admittance to the hall, at least by the “universal passport of a dream.�
Cautions reformers not to make their fantasies while looking at the world from the rosy tinted windows.
“In an obscure and shadowy niche was deposited the bust of our countryman the author of Arthur Mervyn.�
Emanuel Swedenborg is also placed highly, alongside Goethe.
Juxtaposes abolitionist with a potato: “Here were men whose faith had embodied itself in the form of a potato� Here was the Abolitionist brandishing his one idea like an iron flail.�
“The Sphinx did not slay herself until her riddle had been guessed; will it not be so with the world?�
—�
"The New Adam and Eve." (1843) Post-Judgement Day in Boston. Thought experiment/sermon.
There are three references to “Father Miller� in this collection. William Miller was a preacher who’d (twice) predicted the Second Coming, leading to what was termed the “Great Disappointment� when the earth wasn’t destroyed.
—�
"The Christmas Banquet." (1844) Black comedy. I recognized myself in everyone. Story goes on too long, though.
The banquet of miserables is presided over by a skeleton, whose vacant eye-caverns and grin seem the reply to any seeking from it the meaning of life.
Who is the mysterious guest? He’s a man removed from humanity. His apathetic heart is a sort of living death. (The narrator says he could have taken the skeleton’s seat). Hawthorne is a consistent enemy of the morbid, and this story is a good example of that. He once said that he would be a failure as a writer if anyone could accuse him of morbidity. However I fear that it got the better of him in the end, and that the mysterious guest—the most miserable man at the banquet (because dead inside even to misery)—was his worst fear realized.
Just look at what he wrote later in life to Longfellow, of all people—to a man traumatized by repeated tragedies:
“I have made a captive of myself, and put me into a dungeon, and now I cannot find the key to let myself out; and if the door were open, I should be almost afraid to come out. You tell me that you have met with troubles and changes. I know not what these may have been, but I can assure you that trouble is the next best thing to enjoyment, and that there is no fate in this world so horrible as to have no share in its joys or sorrows.�
—�
"The Intelligence Office." (1844) Metaphysical clerical office. Again some wise insights, but at this point I was finding the story structure as fatiguing as Hawthorne did.
—�
"P.'s Correspondence." (1845) One of my favorites of the bunch. Alternate history in the guise of a madman’s letter. The switching between grandiose illusion and a pathetic reality is really well done.
P. meets an obese Byron, expurgating his own verses; Longfellow, wasting his talents in study, which kills him; Whittier, “a fiery Quaker youth to whom the Muse had perversely assigned a battle-trumpet, and who got himself lynched ten years agone in South Carolina;� a likewise dead Bryant, remembered for Thanatopsis; among other figures.
The vicious backlash of this time period to Wordsworth is on display (“I am sick of everything he wrote, except his Laodamia.").
“Not impossibly the world has lost more than it dreams of by the untimely death of this Mr. Dickens.� (Ok now I know why Dickens loved this book).
Re: Shelley, H. calls special attention to Queen Mab, the Revolt of Islam, and Prometheus Unbound.
Of Sir Walter Scott: “The world nowadays requires a more earnest purpose, a deeper moral and a closer and homelier truth than he was qualified to supply it with.� Sounds like H. himself.
John Neal, “who almost turned my boyish brain with his romances.�
Also mentioned: Nathanial Willis.
—�
"Earth's Holocaust." (1844) A not so subtle jeremiad against reformers, progressives, socialism, communism (Marx’s manifesto came out 4 years later, along with the revolutions that swept Europe), etc, perhaps in reaction to personal experience, such as at H.’s commune at Brook Farm. The satire is of a piece with his little digs at abolitionists, and his mild, if not aloof, and skeptical nature in general. Here, the ancien regime may have been nonsense, but probably a worst species of nonsense will take its place.
"’True,� said my companion. ‘But will they pause here?’�
It’s the most relevant piece in the collection, especially the smugness of the bonfire attendees, so sure of their enlightened state. We really did toss the Bible in the fire—or at least the hope of an afterlife it gave us—and I resent it:
“But the Titan of innovation—angel or fiend, double in his nature and capable of deeds befitting both characters—at first shaking down only the old and rotten shapes of things, had now, as it appeared, laid his terrible hand upon the main pillars which supported the whole edifice of our moral and spiritual state.�
Other quotes:
“…when volumes of applauded verse proved incapable of anything better than a stifling smoke, an unregarded ditty of some nameless bard—perchance in the corner of a newspaper—soared up among the stars with a flame as brilliant as their own.�
“…methought Shelley's poetry emitted a purer light than almost any other productions of his day, contrasting beautifully with the fitful and lurid gleams and gushes of black vapor that flashed and eddied from the volumes of Lord Byron.�
Mother Goose, Tom Thumb, and the poetry of Ellery Channing also outshine other weightier material.
Of H.’s own works: “Too probably they were changed to vapor by the first action of the heat.�
The gallows gets thrown in the fire too, which some longheaded observers predict will lead to ruin.
—�
"Passages from a Relinquished Work." (1834) Just like the title says. Promising, but not sure why it was included.
—�
"Sketches from Memory" (1835) Take a quaint trip to the past with Nathaniel Hawthorne, up the White Mountains, down the Erie Canal, through an alternately burgeoning, and muddy and boring, country. Sad to see that glimmer of life in upstate NY, knowing how brief it was.
The best is when the author is sleeping in the boat, up against the crimson curtain dividing the men and the women:
“…behind which I continually heard whispers and stealthy footsteps; the noise of a comb laid on the table, or a slipper drops on the floor; the twang, like a broken harp-string, caused by loosening a tight belt; the rustling of a gown in its descent; and the unlacing of a pair of stays. My ear seemed to have the properties of an eye; a visible image pestered my fancy in the darkness; the curtain was withdrawn between me and the western lady, who yet disrobed herself without a blush.�
Other funny parts:
“However, as there was no harm done, except a large bump on the head, and probably a corresponding dent in the bridge, the rest of us exchanged glances and laughed quietly. Oh, how pitiless are idle people!�
“In this manner, I went all through the cabin, hitting everybody as hard a lash as I could, and laying the whole blame on the infernal Englishman.�
“It is a curious fact, that these snorers had been the most quiet people in the boat, while awake, and became peace-breakers only when others ceased to be so…�
—�
"The Old Apple-Dealer." (1843) An actual sketch, very touching.
“Many a noble form, many a beautiful face, has flitted before me and vanished like a shadow; it is a strange witchcraft whereby this faded and featureless old apple-dealer has gained a settlement in my memory.�
“True, he is conscious of the remote possibility of selling a cake or an apple, but innumerable disappointments have rendered him so far a philosopher that even if the purchased article should be returned he will consider it altogether in the ordinary train of events.�
—�
"A Virtuoso's Collection." (1842) I may have to review this separately, because I’d like to note some of the allusions, and they are legion. Never have I felt so poorly read in history, literature and lore.
"I remember that I always had a meaning—or, at least, thought I had� Upon my honor, I am not quite sure that I entirely comprehend my own meaning in some of these blasted allegories." —the author in 1854.
That Hawthorne’s imagination might not have been governed by a list of predetermined symbols, such as middle school teachers delight in, but have followed the prompts of some inner, more inscrutable plan is actually what saves some of these stories. There’s fun to be had in the other sort, in figuring out what something is supposed to symbolize, but then it feels more like a riddle than art.
Hawthorne made other comments suggesting he disliked his own particular approach to fiction (“I am a good deal changed since those times; and to tell you the truth, my past self is not very much to my taste, as I see in this book�). In the very intro here he outright trashes his writing, and calls this “the last collection of this nature which it is my purpose ever to put forth. Unless I could do better, I have done enough in this kind.�
It’s true that even at their wildest the stories can feel stiff and artificial. To me the biggest faults are a sense of propriety (Hawthorne called it an “unconquerable reserve�) and a feeling that he is writing as an example for others. Indeed he has a surprising satirical streak, and enjoys taking society to task, or shooting down the crazes of his inner circles.
I think Poe was picking up on this when he indirectly advised him in a review to stop writing for his friends. Poe, who put down allegories in general, nevertheless praised Hawthorne’s “metaphors run mad.� I like the madness too. There’s a dreamlike quality to these tales. With one extraordinary exception (see Monsieur du Miroir), they are not dreamlike in the absurdist, Kafka way. Rather, it’s those dreams that feel symbolic and meaningful even to the dreamer. I must read ETA Hoffmann to see if the common link with Kafka is there. Poe said Hawthorne got it all from Tieck, a German writer who apparently also specialized in disturbing fairy tales.
Some of the sketches are almost homilies. You see it in the fiction too. But Hawthorne will put his artistry to bear even on these, bringing the most instructive to strange life. He isn’t aiming for realism, doesn’t try very hard to ground his fantasies with realistic details, but his imagination never fails to include at least one consequence of his crazy premise that gives the whole the ring of truth.
Here are some notes on the stories. They are all easy to read, if drawn out, and full of freaks, deformities, maidens in danger, and fantastical creatures in mundane surroundings.
—�
“The Old Manse.� (1846) You cannot pick a better time to read this than in the early autumn in New England. An Irving sketch brought home to America. Casually name-drops Emerson, Lowell and Thoreau.
“…but now, being happy, I felt as if there were no questions to be put, and therefore admired Emerson as a poet of deep beauty and austere tenderness, but sought nothing from him as a philosopher.�
—�
"The Birth-Mark." (1843) A nightmare. I hated the selfish, OCD, fanatical husband as much as I remembered.
References to the “…Man of Brass constructed by Albertus Magnus, and the Brazen Head of Friar Bacon…�
—�
"A Select Party." (1844) Like a parody of those early gossip columns.
“Your names are as strange to me as your faces; and even were it otherwise—let me whisper you a secret—the cold, icy memory which one generation may retain of another is but a poor recompense to barter life for.�
“None pay reverence� quote about neglected genius might as well be about Melville.
References to Dwight, Freneau and Joel Barlow.
—�
"Young Goodman Brown." (1835) Salem devil story, involving satanic elites, lurid Indian pow wows, old men seducing girls, girls murdering their babies, etc. Like Bunyan in New England but without the same folk-art charm and sincerity.
—�
"Rappaccini's Daughter." (1844) Satanic thriller. Another horror story ending with a girl’s death. More on the “perverted wisdom� of science.
—�
"Mrs. Bullfrog." (1837) Humor piece. Opens with a timely passage about how one mate is generally as good as another.
—�
"The Celestial Railroad." (1843) Another, better and more explicit modernization of Pilgrim’s Progress. The trek to the Celestial City is now facilitated by the devil’s men. It’s considered prejudice to do otherwise but welcome them. I couldn’t help but feel personally attacked by the character Mr. Take-it-easy.
Great image of the train thundering through the valley of the shadow of death, flames on either side, the engine whistle shrieking with a demonic voice.
Tophet is actually a crater. Thus hell is explained away by science.
“There was one strange thing that troubled me: amid the occupations or amusements of the fair, nothing was more common than for a person� suddenly to vanish like a soap-bubble and be nevermore seen of his fellows; and so accustomed were the latter to such little accidents that they went on with their business as quietly as if nothing had happened. But it was otherwise with me.� This was my favorite part and also, apparently, Melville’s, who wrote “Nothing can be finer than this.�
—�
"The Procession of Life." (1843) Nice essay.
—�
"Feathertop." (1852) Included in a later edition. Pipe turns scarecrow alive like Frosty the snowman with his hat. A children’s fable that becomes more and more nightmarish as it goes along. Quite pathetic. The witch makes a moving point at the end.
—�-
"Egotism; or, The Bosom-Serpent." (1843) A more straightforward morality tale. Yet another variation of The Minister’s Black Veil.
—�
"Drowne's Wooden Image." (1844) Copley makes an appearance, plays a pretty funny part.
—�
"Roger Malvin's Burial." (1832) Early H. Unpleasant. Too long, though the idea of the body still lying out in the woods is suitably ghastly.
—�
"The Artist of the Beautiful." (1844) It’s really a story about an artist’s maturation, learning that most normal people just don’t care that much about Art, which is why the character becomes less insufferable by the end.
Here’s a good example of Hawthorne’s own art. You have a character you suspect you’re supposed to sympathize with, but don’t (think the senile old guy from House of Seven Gables). You have him represent an idea, too slowly fleshed out. Then you have a genius detail which finally animates the idea (quite literally in this case, with that wonderful description of the mechanical butterfly landing on a finger so tremulous it was “forced to balance himself with his wings,� that makes it come alive in your mind), only for Hawthorne to destroy that life in a climax that is strangely moving (as in Feathertop).
Nice phrase: the “iron accents of the church clock.�
—�
"Fire-Worship." (1843) Ode to fire. Finally someone agrees with me about the inferiority of wood stoves compared to hearths.
—�
"Buds and Bird-Voices." (1843)
“A mosquito has already been heard to sound the small horror of his bugle-horn.�
—�
"Monsieur du Miroir." (1837) Doppelgänger tale. Brilliant. Comical, irrational yet profound.
“…his name would indicate a French descent; in which case, infinitely preferring that my blood should flow from a bold British and pure Puritan source, I beg leave to disclaim all kindred with M. du Miroir.�
“…in my distrustful moods I am apt to suspect M. du Miroir's sympathy to be mere outward show…�
“I have sometimes been calmed down by the sight of my own inordinate wrath depicted on his frowning brow.�
“The solitude seemed lonelier for his presence.�
Marginalia in Melville's copy:
Next to "He will pass to the dark realm of Nothingness, but will not find me there," Melville wrote, "This trenches upon the uncertain and the terrible.�
Next to “Will he linger where I have lived, to remind the neglectful world of one who staked much to win a name, but will not then care whether he lost or won?� Melville wrote, "What a revelation.�
—�
"The Hall of Fantasy." (1843) One long extended metaphor. Wise. Most people can gain admittance to the hall, at least by the “universal passport of a dream.�
Cautions reformers not to make their fantasies while looking at the world from the rosy tinted windows.
“In an obscure and shadowy niche was deposited the bust of our countryman the author of Arthur Mervyn.�
Emanuel Swedenborg is also placed highly, alongside Goethe.
Juxtaposes abolitionist with a potato: “Here were men whose faith had embodied itself in the form of a potato� Here was the Abolitionist brandishing his one idea like an iron flail.�
“The Sphinx did not slay herself until her riddle had been guessed; will it not be so with the world?�
—�
"The New Adam and Eve." (1843) Post-Judgement Day in Boston. Thought experiment/sermon.
There are three references to “Father Miller� in this collection. William Miller was a preacher who’d (twice) predicted the Second Coming, leading to what was termed the “Great Disappointment� when the earth wasn’t destroyed.
—�
"The Christmas Banquet." (1844) Black comedy. I recognized myself in everyone. Story goes on too long, though.
The banquet of miserables is presided over by a skeleton, whose vacant eye-caverns and grin seem the reply to any seeking from it the meaning of life.
Who is the mysterious guest? He’s a man removed from humanity. His apathetic heart is a sort of living death. (The narrator says he could have taken the skeleton’s seat). Hawthorne is a consistent enemy of the morbid, and this story is a good example of that. He once said that he would be a failure as a writer if anyone could accuse him of morbidity. However I fear that it got the better of him in the end, and that the mysterious guest—the most miserable man at the banquet (because dead inside even to misery)—was his worst fear realized.
Just look at what he wrote later in life to Longfellow, of all people—to a man traumatized by repeated tragedies:
“I have made a captive of myself, and put me into a dungeon, and now I cannot find the key to let myself out; and if the door were open, I should be almost afraid to come out. You tell me that you have met with troubles and changes. I know not what these may have been, but I can assure you that trouble is the next best thing to enjoyment, and that there is no fate in this world so horrible as to have no share in its joys or sorrows.�
—�
"The Intelligence Office." (1844) Metaphysical clerical office. Again some wise insights, but at this point I was finding the story structure as fatiguing as Hawthorne did.
—�
"P.'s Correspondence." (1845) One of my favorites of the bunch. Alternate history in the guise of a madman’s letter. The switching between grandiose illusion and a pathetic reality is really well done.
P. meets an obese Byron, expurgating his own verses; Longfellow, wasting his talents in study, which kills him; Whittier, “a fiery Quaker youth to whom the Muse had perversely assigned a battle-trumpet, and who got himself lynched ten years agone in South Carolina;� a likewise dead Bryant, remembered for Thanatopsis; among other figures.
The vicious backlash of this time period to Wordsworth is on display (“I am sick of everything he wrote, except his Laodamia.").
“Not impossibly the world has lost more than it dreams of by the untimely death of this Mr. Dickens.� (Ok now I know why Dickens loved this book).
Re: Shelley, H. calls special attention to Queen Mab, the Revolt of Islam, and Prometheus Unbound.
Of Sir Walter Scott: “The world nowadays requires a more earnest purpose, a deeper moral and a closer and homelier truth than he was qualified to supply it with.� Sounds like H. himself.
John Neal, “who almost turned my boyish brain with his romances.�
Also mentioned: Nathanial Willis.
—�
"Earth's Holocaust." (1844) A not so subtle jeremiad against reformers, progressives, socialism, communism (Marx’s manifesto came out 4 years later, along with the revolutions that swept Europe), etc, perhaps in reaction to personal experience, such as at H.’s commune at Brook Farm. The satire is of a piece with his little digs at abolitionists, and his mild, if not aloof, and skeptical nature in general. Here, the ancien regime may have been nonsense, but probably a worst species of nonsense will take its place.
"’True,� said my companion. ‘But will they pause here?’�
It’s the most relevant piece in the collection, especially the smugness of the bonfire attendees, so sure of their enlightened state. We really did toss the Bible in the fire—or at least the hope of an afterlife it gave us—and I resent it:
“But the Titan of innovation—angel or fiend, double in his nature and capable of deeds befitting both characters—at first shaking down only the old and rotten shapes of things, had now, as it appeared, laid his terrible hand upon the main pillars which supported the whole edifice of our moral and spiritual state.�
Other quotes:
“…when volumes of applauded verse proved incapable of anything better than a stifling smoke, an unregarded ditty of some nameless bard—perchance in the corner of a newspaper—soared up among the stars with a flame as brilliant as their own.�
“…methought Shelley's poetry emitted a purer light than almost any other productions of his day, contrasting beautifully with the fitful and lurid gleams and gushes of black vapor that flashed and eddied from the volumes of Lord Byron.�
Mother Goose, Tom Thumb, and the poetry of Ellery Channing also outshine other weightier material.
Of H.’s own works: “Too probably they were changed to vapor by the first action of the heat.�
The gallows gets thrown in the fire too, which some longheaded observers predict will lead to ruin.
—�
"Passages from a Relinquished Work." (1834) Just like the title says. Promising, but not sure why it was included.
—�
"Sketches from Memory" (1835) Take a quaint trip to the past with Nathaniel Hawthorne, up the White Mountains, down the Erie Canal, through an alternately burgeoning, and muddy and boring, country. Sad to see that glimmer of life in upstate NY, knowing how brief it was.
The best is when the author is sleeping in the boat, up against the crimson curtain dividing the men and the women:
“…behind which I continually heard whispers and stealthy footsteps; the noise of a comb laid on the table, or a slipper drops on the floor; the twang, like a broken harp-string, caused by loosening a tight belt; the rustling of a gown in its descent; and the unlacing of a pair of stays. My ear seemed to have the properties of an eye; a visible image pestered my fancy in the darkness; the curtain was withdrawn between me and the western lady, who yet disrobed herself without a blush.�
Other funny parts:
“However, as there was no harm done, except a large bump on the head, and probably a corresponding dent in the bridge, the rest of us exchanged glances and laughed quietly. Oh, how pitiless are idle people!�
“In this manner, I went all through the cabin, hitting everybody as hard a lash as I could, and laying the whole blame on the infernal Englishman.�
“It is a curious fact, that these snorers had been the most quiet people in the boat, while awake, and became peace-breakers only when others ceased to be so…�
—�
"The Old Apple-Dealer." (1843) An actual sketch, very touching.
“Many a noble form, many a beautiful face, has flitted before me and vanished like a shadow; it is a strange witchcraft whereby this faded and featureless old apple-dealer has gained a settlement in my memory.�
“True, he is conscious of the remote possibility of selling a cake or an apple, but innumerable disappointments have rendered him so far a philosopher that even if the purchased article should be returned he will consider it altogether in the ordinary train of events.�
—�
"A Virtuoso's Collection." (1842) I may have to review this separately, because I’d like to note some of the allusions, and they are legion. Never have I felt so poorly read in history, literature and lore.
July 18, 2019
Shorts: allegory, gothic, sketches.
August 19, 2012
An early collection of tales. Some of the subtle, almost subliminal problems Hawthorne has with female sexuality (for instance, as metaphorically developed in Rappaccini's Daughter and The Birthmark) are interesting for the light they throw on Hawthorne's attitude toward women, and The Artist of the Beautiful marks an early example of the theme of heart over head that Hawthorne will continue throughout his writing life. As tales, these pieces often don't follow traditional dramatic arcs, which can be frustrating, but Hawthorne is always more interested in character than plot, so one must simply give up any expectation of high drama and enjoy the sometimes surprising revelations that come from his focus on atmospheric details. Oh yeah, I suppose it goes without saying: allegories galore!
February 27, 2021
La buena calidad de Valdemar siempre queda manifiesta en cada uno de sus títulos, la traducción es impecable, los materiales son siempre buenos, de calidad y cada uno de los relatos de la selección son amenos a su manera. Quizás este sea hasta ahora el tomo que menos he disfrutado de Valdemar, sin embargo es un buen libro que se disfruta poco a poco.
November 11, 2013
Also for my SF/F class, also stultifyingly boring. There's something a bit more alive about Hawthorne's prose than Poe's, I think, but once you've read a couple of stories, they all seem to sound the same. I got to the point where I was skimming in self-defence.
October 6, 2023
Everything I need from a Hawthorne short story is there in "Young Goodman Brown". Elsewhere his wordiness becomes too taxing for too little payoff.
He also seems obsessed with obsessing over his partner's looks. "The Birthmark" for example, and "Mrs Bullfrog". There's a side to Hawthorne that is satirical and against things like prejudice, and especially for him, violence & inequality toward women. But there is a side that engages in it as well. That is what makes him interesting tbh, and also what makes him important. His guilt gives us a lens by which to view the problems facing our country, and the innocence allows us to read him with, on his side. The duality also puts the question firmly in our court, for us to decide.
A complex situation isnt helped by the prose, which I imagine was prolix & arcane even in its day (Time and history are also crucial themes with Hawthorne, intentionally and unintentionally). For me, the core of the man can be found in "Young Goodman" and The House of the Seven Gables. A reductive view maybe, but considering his link to Halloween and even conspiracy culture, as well as his curious placement in the culture debates of today, imho, it's plenty.
He also seems obsessed with obsessing over his partner's looks. "The Birthmark" for example, and "Mrs Bullfrog". There's a side to Hawthorne that is satirical and against things like prejudice, and especially for him, violence & inequality toward women. But there is a side that engages in it as well. That is what makes him interesting tbh, and also what makes him important. His guilt gives us a lens by which to view the problems facing our country, and the innocence allows us to read him with, on his side. The duality also puts the question firmly in our court, for us to decide.
A complex situation isnt helped by the prose, which I imagine was prolix & arcane even in its day (Time and history are also crucial themes with Hawthorne, intentionally and unintentionally). For me, the core of the man can be found in "Young Goodman" and The House of the Seven Gables. A reductive view maybe, but considering his link to Halloween and even conspiracy culture, as well as his curious placement in the culture debates of today, imho, it's plenty.
September 25, 2024
Read this for my American lit class. It's a collection of short stories written during Hawthorne's time living in Emerson's grandfather's old manse. He explores gnosticism vs. materialism and responds to rampant puritanism, as well as critiquing the Transcendentalists. Hawthorne's nuanced views on just about everything and the fact that he can't be easily put into one school of thought made me a fan. I especially appreciated his criticism of Thoreau's idea of the individual transcending society and his critique of Emerson's idea of genius. "The Artist of the Beautiful", "Rappaccini's Daughter", "The Intelligence Office", and "The New Adam and Eve" were my favorites. Bringing Hawthorne, Emerson, and Thoreau into conversation in this class has been incredibly gratifying. Time for Melville now.
Read
October 29, 2022Some insane shit mixed with some very boring shit
July 3, 2021
I definitely appreciate this collection of short stories by Hawthorne. I originally wanted to read it when I learned that Herman Melville admired him so much. And although I do enjoy Melville over Hawthorne, I can see their similarities. I am very glad that I chose to read this, and I definitely learned a lot from it.
.
"Will the world ever be so decayed that spring may not renew its greenness? ... It is impossible."
-Buds and Bird Voices
.
"Will the world ever be so decayed that spring may not renew its greenness? ... It is impossible."
-Buds and Bird Voices
October 19, 2013
I really wanted to love this book. I toured the Old Manse in Concord, MA this past summer and began learning more about Massachusetts' transcendentalists and friends, finding their philosophies and biographies intriguing. I also was aware of Hawthorne's reputation as a literary "relative" of Edgar Allen Poe. But with the exception of his fantastic and more essay-like entries ("The Old Manse" and "Fire Worship"), few of Hawthorne's tales rise above heavy-handed allegory. The ones that do (famously "Young Goodman Brown" and "Rappaccini's Daughter") still share with the allegories a condescending chauvinism and rigid religiosity that is no less annoying for being unsurprising. In a time period where one might expect to find chauvinism and religiosity, it does not always come across so abrasively as it does in Hawthorne's most obnoxious stories, for my money "The Celestial Rail-road" and "The New Adam and Eve".
March 29, 2020
I sought this book out because I'd read a book that alluded to "Rappaccini's Daughter" and I decided to read the whole thing, which I did at the rate of approximately one short/essay per day over the course of four weeks. It was really delightful to take a little daily trip to the 19th century (or earlier, as some are set in Puritan times) just to get away from our current coronavirus-quarantined moment.
The book is a mix of short stories, autobiographical sketches, and fictional sketches that don't quite seem like stories because they lack a plot. In general, I liked the stories best, especially "The Birthmark," "Young Goodman Browne," "Rappaccini's Daughter," "Roger Malvin's Burial," and "Feathertop."
The book is a mix of short stories, autobiographical sketches, and fictional sketches that don't quite seem like stories because they lack a plot. In general, I liked the stories best, especially "The Birthmark," "Young Goodman Browne," "Rappaccini's Daughter," "Roger Malvin's Burial," and "Feathertop."
August 20, 2017
There's something about Nathaniel Hawthorne's writing. I listened to a librivox recording of this book years ago. It was narrated by Bob Neufeld and his voice is just perfect for these stories.
Even if I didn't really understand some of these stories, Hawthorne has a style of writing that is just comforting to listen to. One story involved just a description of a fireplace. His prose is simply beautiful.
Even if I didn't really understand some of these stories, Hawthorne has a style of writing that is just comforting to listen to. One story involved just a description of a fireplace. His prose is simply beautiful.
April 5, 2013
Trying again to read Hawthorne for the Coursera SF/F class, I got much more interested in his writing than I had long ago when I was young. I guess I’ve grown up despite my best efforts! Like many others on the class forum, I particularly enjoyed the tale “Rappaccini’s Daughter�, an interesting reversal of the Grimm Brothers� “Rapunzel.�
October 10, 2012
Bleh. This is not Hawthorne's most intriguing work. I bought it at The Old Manse gift shop, where they stamped it with their imprint, which makes it a little more special. It is definitely worth visting the house and buying his work there, though.
Read
September 12, 2016When a book's ear follows H and its heart grows a thorn it becomes a hearth.
When proses coil around its framework it becomes as these Mosses.
When proses coil around its framework it becomes as these Mosses.
March 16, 2025
Nathaniel Hawthorne's MOSSES FROM AN OLD MANSE makes for a strange read, one quite different from the modern fiction anthologies we're familiar with as readers. This one mixes up some classic short stories with other non-fiction essays and musings, many of them completely abstract in construction. The reading experience is disjointed, occasionally confusing, making this a mixed bag overall, but even the worst narratives contain elements of beautiful description and smart observation.
THE OLD MANSE opens the volume and is my favourite “story�. It's exceptionally poetic and filled with musings on art, geography, philosophy and history. All this in an account which is basically a description of the author's house. Tremendous stuff. THE BIRTHMARK moves into more traditional fiction, with a mad scientist obsessed with removing his wife's facial birthmark; it has strong elements of psychological complexity to recommend it. A SELECT PARTY, on the other hand, about persons assembling at a castle in the sky, is so insubstantial and airy that I had no idea what to make of it.
YOUNG GOODMAN BROWN and RAPPACCINI'S DAUGHTER are two of the author's best-known short stories and need no further introduction here. The former is a fine travelogue filled with Puritan dread and the latter a smart spin on the mad scientist genre. MRS. BULLFROG is another story that concerns witchcraft, but this one I found dated and more than a little misogynistic.
The following tranche of tales are all personal essays on nature, technology and the arts. FIRE WORSHIP is a well-written argument in favour of the hearth fire over the modern stove. BUDS AND BIRD VOICES is a beautifully put celebration of nature, and MONSIEUR DU MIROIR explores man's relationship with his own reflection.
The next batch of stories are too abstract for my taste. THE HALL OF FANTASY offers more 'castle in the sky' silliness, while THE CELESTIAL RAILROAD contains satire of a time and place long forgotten. THE PROCESSION OF LIFE is filled with dull moralising. Coming straight after these, FEATHERTOP: A MORALIZED LEGEND is a surprise: a wonderful account of a witch who brings her scarecrow to life and sends it into town. The tale is both evocative and poignant, and freshly original.
THE NEW ADAM AND EVE feels like an early apocalypse story, and is not without merit, but EGOTISM; OR, THE BOSOM SERPENT is once again too long-winded to appeal. THE CHRISTMAS BANQUET is another one about the assemblage of various persons but it feels like it just goes on and on while saying very little. DROWNE'S WOODEN IMAGE is better, an interesting character study of a sculptor with a twist, but THE INTELLIGENCE OFFICE is merely a dull parable exploring the nature of humanity.
ROGER MALVIN'S BURIAL is an interesting tale of death and regret, and contains eerie descriptions of the wilderness worthy of Algernon Blackwood. Meanwhile, P.'S CORRESPONDENCE is essentially an ode to celebrity, and one that's a lot of fun. EARTH'S HOLOCAUST examines book burning a century before it became popular, while PASSAGES FROM A RELINQUISHED WORK has a great title but is merely the first half of a stuffy travelogue, although its sequel, SKETCHES FROM MEMORY, is better and has some evocative descriptions.
THE OLD APPLE DEALER is another character study, a little light for me, although it's pleasant enough to read. THE ARTIST OF THE BEAUTIFUL examines the obsession of a youthful watch-maker; I felt this one had potential but doesn't really go anywhere. Finally, A VIRTUOSO'S COLLECTION is another funny one about an extraordinary museum; I rather liked it, and it certainly shows off the scope of Hawthorne's learning.
THE OLD MANSE opens the volume and is my favourite “story�. It's exceptionally poetic and filled with musings on art, geography, philosophy and history. All this in an account which is basically a description of the author's house. Tremendous stuff. THE BIRTHMARK moves into more traditional fiction, with a mad scientist obsessed with removing his wife's facial birthmark; it has strong elements of psychological complexity to recommend it. A SELECT PARTY, on the other hand, about persons assembling at a castle in the sky, is so insubstantial and airy that I had no idea what to make of it.
YOUNG GOODMAN BROWN and RAPPACCINI'S DAUGHTER are two of the author's best-known short stories and need no further introduction here. The former is a fine travelogue filled with Puritan dread and the latter a smart spin on the mad scientist genre. MRS. BULLFROG is another story that concerns witchcraft, but this one I found dated and more than a little misogynistic.
The following tranche of tales are all personal essays on nature, technology and the arts. FIRE WORSHIP is a well-written argument in favour of the hearth fire over the modern stove. BUDS AND BIRD VOICES is a beautifully put celebration of nature, and MONSIEUR DU MIROIR explores man's relationship with his own reflection.
The next batch of stories are too abstract for my taste. THE HALL OF FANTASY offers more 'castle in the sky' silliness, while THE CELESTIAL RAILROAD contains satire of a time and place long forgotten. THE PROCESSION OF LIFE is filled with dull moralising. Coming straight after these, FEATHERTOP: A MORALIZED LEGEND is a surprise: a wonderful account of a witch who brings her scarecrow to life and sends it into town. The tale is both evocative and poignant, and freshly original.
THE NEW ADAM AND EVE feels like an early apocalypse story, and is not without merit, but EGOTISM; OR, THE BOSOM SERPENT is once again too long-winded to appeal. THE CHRISTMAS BANQUET is another one about the assemblage of various persons but it feels like it just goes on and on while saying very little. DROWNE'S WOODEN IMAGE is better, an interesting character study of a sculptor with a twist, but THE INTELLIGENCE OFFICE is merely a dull parable exploring the nature of humanity.
ROGER MALVIN'S BURIAL is an interesting tale of death and regret, and contains eerie descriptions of the wilderness worthy of Algernon Blackwood. Meanwhile, P.'S CORRESPONDENCE is essentially an ode to celebrity, and one that's a lot of fun. EARTH'S HOLOCAUST examines book burning a century before it became popular, while PASSAGES FROM A RELINQUISHED WORK has a great title but is merely the first half of a stuffy travelogue, although its sequel, SKETCHES FROM MEMORY, is better and has some evocative descriptions.
THE OLD APPLE DEALER is another character study, a little light for me, although it's pleasant enough to read. THE ARTIST OF THE BEAUTIFUL examines the obsession of a youthful watch-maker; I felt this one had potential but doesn't really go anywhere. Finally, A VIRTUOSO'S COLLECTION is another funny one about an extraordinary museum; I rather liked it, and it certainly shows off the scope of Hawthorne's learning.
November 1, 2022
Aylmer, un brillante científico, deja a un lado su carrera al contraer matrimonio con Georgina, una mujer tan preciosa que roza la perfección si no fuera por una pequeña marca en la mejilla con forma de mano.
Aylmer se obsesiona con la marca de su esposa hasta el extremo de sentir repulsión con solo mirarla.
Relato de terror publicado en 1943 y, posteriormente, reeditado en la antología "Musgos de una vieja rectoría". El autor define a la perfección la gravedad de obsesionarse con algo tan insignificante como una pequeña marca en la piel. Qué importante es aceptarnos tal y como somos y a la vez aceptar el aspecto y/o personalidad de otras personas y no intentar cambiarlas por más que lo deseemos. El no aceptar que su esposa no sea perfecta al 100% es la raíz del problema de Aylmer, lo que provoca que no cese de buscar la solución para tan nimio defecto. ¿Qué termina consiguiendo? La peor de las desgracias en vez de ser feliz aceptando que no existía ningún defecto. A día de hoy no ha cambiado nada en ese aspecto, para muestra la gran cantidad de cirugías estéticas que se practican a diario en el mundo entero. Se empieza con un simple retoque y se termina convirtiendo en una adicción al bisturí. No estoy en contra de este tipo de operaciones, en otras circunstancias quizás me atrevería a hacerme algún que otro retoque, pero no he tenido valor (ni dinero) para hacerlo y creo que tomé la mejor decisión porque podría jugarme la vida por un capricho.
🔹� "A menudo la verdad se abre camino hasta la mente bien envuelta en los ropajes del tiempo, y habla entonces con una claridad sin compromisos de asuntos respecto a los cuales nos engañamos inconscientemente a nosotros mismos cuando estamos despiertos".
Aylmer se obsesiona con la marca de su esposa hasta el extremo de sentir repulsión con solo mirarla.
Relato de terror publicado en 1943 y, posteriormente, reeditado en la antología "Musgos de una vieja rectoría". El autor define a la perfección la gravedad de obsesionarse con algo tan insignificante como una pequeña marca en la piel. Qué importante es aceptarnos tal y como somos y a la vez aceptar el aspecto y/o personalidad de otras personas y no intentar cambiarlas por más que lo deseemos. El no aceptar que su esposa no sea perfecta al 100% es la raíz del problema de Aylmer, lo que provoca que no cese de buscar la solución para tan nimio defecto. ¿Qué termina consiguiendo? La peor de las desgracias en vez de ser feliz aceptando que no existía ningún defecto. A día de hoy no ha cambiado nada en ese aspecto, para muestra la gran cantidad de cirugías estéticas que se practican a diario en el mundo entero. Se empieza con un simple retoque y se termina convirtiendo en una adicción al bisturí. No estoy en contra de este tipo de operaciones, en otras circunstancias quizás me atrevería a hacerme algún que otro retoque, pero no he tenido valor (ni dinero) para hacerlo y creo que tomé la mejor decisión porque podría jugarme la vida por un capricho.
🔹� "A menudo la verdad se abre camino hasta la mente bien envuelta en los ropajes del tiempo, y habla entonces con una claridad sin compromisos de asuntos respecto a los cuales nos engañamos inconscientemente a nosotros mismos cuando estamos despiertos".
Shelved as 'physical-tbr'
September 1, 2024
VOLUME I
"The Old Manse"
rating: tbd/5
"The Birthmark"
rating: tbd/5
"A Select Party"
rating: tbd/5
"Young Goodman Brown"
rating: tbd/5
"Rappacini's Daughter"
rating: tbd/5
"Mrs. Bullfrog"
rating: tbd/5
"Fire Worship"
rating: tbd/5
"Buds and Bird Voices"
rating: tbd/5
"Monsieur du Miroir"
rating: tbd/5
"The Hall of Fantasy"
rating: tbd/5
"The Celestial Railroad"
rating: tbd/5
"The Procession of Life"
rating: tbd/5
"Feathertop; A Moralized Legend"
rating: tbd/5
VOLUME II
"The New Adam and Eve"
rating: tbd/5
"Egotism; Or, the Bosom Serpent"
rating: tbd/5
"The Christmas Banquet"
rating: tbd/5
"Drowne's Wooden Image"
rating: tbd/5
"The Intelligence Office"
rating: tbd/5
"Roger Malvin's Burial"
rating: tbd/5
"P.'s Correspondence"
rating: tbd/5
"Earth's Holocaust"
rating: tbd/5
"Passages from a Relinquished Work"
rating: tbd/5
"Sketches from Memory"
rating: tbd/5
"The Old Apple Dealer"
rating: tbd/5
"The Artist of the Beautiful"
rating: tbd/5
"A Virtuoso's Collection"
rating: tbd/5
"The Old Manse"
rating: tbd/5
"The Birthmark"
rating: tbd/5
"A Select Party"
rating: tbd/5
"Young Goodman Brown"
rating: tbd/5
"Rappacini's Daughter"
rating: tbd/5
"Mrs. Bullfrog"
rating: tbd/5
"Fire Worship"
rating: tbd/5
"Buds and Bird Voices"
rating: tbd/5
"Monsieur du Miroir"
rating: tbd/5
"The Hall of Fantasy"
rating: tbd/5
"The Celestial Railroad"
rating: tbd/5
"The Procession of Life"
rating: tbd/5
"Feathertop; A Moralized Legend"
rating: tbd/5
VOLUME II
"The New Adam and Eve"
rating: tbd/5
"Egotism; Or, the Bosom Serpent"
rating: tbd/5
"The Christmas Banquet"
rating: tbd/5
"Drowne's Wooden Image"
rating: tbd/5
"The Intelligence Office"
rating: tbd/5
"Roger Malvin's Burial"
rating: tbd/5
"P.'s Correspondence"
rating: tbd/5
"Earth's Holocaust"
rating: tbd/5
"Passages from a Relinquished Work"
rating: tbd/5
"Sketches from Memory"
rating: tbd/5
"The Old Apple Dealer"
rating: tbd/5
"The Artist of the Beautiful"
rating: tbd/5
"A Virtuoso's Collection"
rating: tbd/5
May 11, 2020
El libro contiene dos tipos de relatos: los puramente góticos y los que analizan los diversos tipos morales y espirituales de las personas de la sociedad de la época (o de cualquier época). Los primeros me sumergieron en una batalla moral y espiritual con consecuencias funestas. Los segundos tienen la atracción del análisis y juicio minucioso del corazón humano en toda su extensión (o al menos la que este autor pudo alcanzar, que no es poca).
Hawthorne se vale de la alegoría para crear narraciones sumamente pintorescas y bellas. El humor también está presente para remarcar la cualidad de ligereza de sustancia de los hechos descritos. El escenario es lo de menos, el movimiento espiritual de los personajes es lo que importa. El símbolo es otro recurso fundamental de sus historias.
Los cuentos que más me gustaron son:
El Joven Goodman Brown
La Hija De Rapaccini
Feathertop
Los Nuevos Adán Y Eva
El Egoísmo; O La Serpiente Del Pecho
El Entierro De Roger Malvin
El Artista De Lo Bello
Conceptos claves:
Gótico - Alegoría - Símbolo - Miedo - Moral - Arquetipos - Ciencia - Naturaleza - Arte - Religión - Nueva Inglaterra - Enfermedad
Hawthorne se vale de la alegoría para crear narraciones sumamente pintorescas y bellas. El humor también está presente para remarcar la cualidad de ligereza de sustancia de los hechos descritos. El escenario es lo de menos, el movimiento espiritual de los personajes es lo que importa. El símbolo es otro recurso fundamental de sus historias.
Los cuentos que más me gustaron son:
El Joven Goodman Brown
La Hija De Rapaccini
Feathertop
Los Nuevos Adán Y Eva
El Egoísmo; O La Serpiente Del Pecho
El Entierro De Roger Malvin
El Artista De Lo Bello
Conceptos claves:
Gótico - Alegoría - Símbolo - Miedo - Moral - Arquetipos - Ciencia - Naturaleza - Arte - Religión - Nueva Inglaterra - Enfermedad
October 5, 2018
Me esperaba más de esta selección. Me la habían vendido como el precursor de Poe, Melville y Lovecraft y pensaba que me iba a encontrar relatos góticos con atmósfera densa, seres sobrenaturales y sucesos inexplicables. En lugar de eso, hay relatos que no lo son, notas de sociedad de la época, enumeraciones interminables de escritores vivos y muertos, personajes históricos, el caballo del quijote, la espada del cid y decenas de artilugios que, a mi modo de entender, no revisten mayor interés. Vamos, que me he aburrido como una ostra.
Entonces, ¿por qué las tres estrellas? Primero, porque reconozco el valor histórico (aunque desfasado) de esta selección, y segundo, por la estupenda edición de Valdemar, que se ha esforzado por poner en situación la colección con un prólogo explicativo y continuas ayudas del editor y del traductor para que el lector pueda entender lo que está leyendo.
Entonces, ¿por qué las tres estrellas? Primero, porque reconozco el valor histórico (aunque desfasado) de esta selección, y segundo, por la estupenda edición de Valdemar, que se ha esforzado por poner en situación la colección con un prólogo explicativo y continuas ayudas del editor y del traductor para que el lector pueda entender lo que está leyendo.
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