Nathaniel Hawthorne: 1804-1864.

Hawthorne is the foremost writer of fiction in America, and one of the world's great romancers.

Hawthorne graduated in 1825. It is matter of record that while in college his superiority in English composition was recognized by his instructors; it is also clear that at least one of his classmates already discerned the promise of the future in the gifts of imagination, insight, and budding genius.

His first venture in print was a novel, crude and not especially suggestive of the works that followed. This was “Fanshawe”, published anonymously in 1828. It is a product of the first graduate years; its scene is laid at "Harley College" and its characters are reminiscent of academic days. The book was suppressed by its author afterward, but, in 1879, was republished.

With his sketches and short stories, the young author had better success. In these the note of originality was clearly struck, and their style, wonderfully delicate and refined, speedily commanded attention and praise, although their audience was limited. They were published in the annuals, in the Salem Gazette, and in the New England Magazine. In 1837 the first collection was published under the title “Twice-Told Tales”. Here were gathered the historical sketches “The Gray Champion and The May-Pole of Merrymount”; the strange study of Wakefield, the man who could not enter his own home; the delightful and now familiar “Rill from the Town Pump”; the allegories “Fancy's Show Box”, “The Great Carbuncle”, and “The Prophetic Pictures”.

In 1849, following his enforced retirement from surveyorship at the custom-house in Salem office, -- the result of political schemes, -- Hawthorne wrote “The Scarlet Letter”.

Although Hawthorne's reputation as a writer of tales was already well established, it was through this remarkable novel that his mastery in the field of romantic fiction was really revealed. In this narrative the inheritance of ancestral tradition is easily perceived; so, too, the influence of the old New England religious atmosphere. The fact of sin and its effects on the soul, the workings of conscience, the problems of repentance and atonement, -- these are the themes with which Hawthorne works in the strong and impressive narrative. The sombre background of Puritan bigotry and persecution affords a setting as effective as it is appropriate. In construction and form it is beautifully developed, while its verbal style is exceptional in its delicacy and beauty. The essay on “The Custom-House”, prefatory to the novel, is one of the most charming of Hawthorne's sketches. The picture of his associates at the seat of custom, humorous and ironical in tone, was, perhaps, too true to life to be relished; at all events (when this essay was read by his fellow citizens) irritation followed, and there was a general expression of hostility toward the novelist. He soon removed from Salem.

For a year and a half the Hawthornes lived in Lenox, among the Berkshire Hills, -- the beautiful region in western Massachusetts. Here Hawthorne wrote “The House of the Seven Gables” (1851), the only one of his romances the scene of which is actually laid in Salem. This novel, thought by its author to be a greater work than “The Scarlet Letter”, is recognized as one of his best productions, although not placed above its predecessor.

It must not be forgotten that this writer of weird tales and of sombre romance was also a successful story-teller for children, and that his essays in this field are still favorites among the children's classics. Here belong the earlier collections, like “Grandfather's Chair” (1841) and “Biographical Stories” (1842). From the grim pages of “The House of the Seven Gables”, Hawthorne now turned to the preparation of the delightful “Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys” (1852); and here, with a fascinating freshness of style, simply, yet beautifully, he recounts the Greek myths of Midas, Pandora, of Hercules in Quest of the Golden Apples, of Perseus and Medusa. A second series of classical myths presented in the same entertaining manner appeared in “Tanglewood Tales” (1853).

In the spring of 1859 a new romance was completed. It was published in England in the early part of 1860, under the title “Transformation”, and simultaneously in America as “The Marble Faun”. The story of The Marble Faun, again, is psychological; it deals with the development of a soul under the influence of a committed sin. The central figure is that of Donatello, a youth whose resemblance to the sculptured faun of Praxiteles is so marked as to suggest that he himself is but half human, his free and apparently irresponsible nature confirming the suspicion. Through participation in a crime, the soul of Donatello appears to be awakened, and we infer that his humanity begins in the self-revelation which follows his sin. There is much concerning Italian art in “The Marble Faun”, at least much concerning sculpture; this fact and also the circumstance that historic spots are picturesquely described, have made something of a glorified guide-book of the romance, and have enhanced its value in the eyes of many. But Hawthorne is not a sound critic of art. “The Marble Faun” should be read for its story and its characters, and the problems they present.

Hawthorne's place in our literature is established: he is the most commanding figure that America has produced in the field of romance. Hawthorne's peculiar choice of theme -- the study of influences, supernatural in the noblest sense, acting on the human soul in its development -- lifts his effort to a much higher plane than was reached by Cooper, admirable story-teller that he was. Hawthorne's one contemporary rival in the domain of the short story was Edgar Allan Poe; while Hawthorne lacks the intensity and passion of Poe, he also escapes the morbidness which mars the beauty of Poe's art. In spite of occasional vagueness in outline and in details, together with an inclination to allegory which is perhaps too mechanical to be accepted as one of the best methods of literary art, Nathaniel Hawthorne is emphatically our greatest master in romantic fiction; and in that peculiar field in which he worked he remains unique.

The volume of his production is by no means small. It is a wonderful collection -- the product of a wonderful imagination, fantastic, sometimes grotesque, always subtle, always expressing itself in a style of the utmost delicacy and charm.

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