Your Daily Penguin: Nathaniel Hawthorne!
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- čas přidán 4. 09. 2020
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Came for the Hawthorne. Paused it at about 0:27 to comment on your adorable good dog! Awwwww!
My second favorite writer, his writing is incredible.
I am actually reading The House of The Seven Gables right now and really enjoying it. This is an author I've avoided for 20 years for the reason you mentioned, a miserable mandatory reading of The Scarlett Letter in highschool. Talk about backfires!
Hmm... yes, Hawthorne and compulsion don’t go well together. You miss all his nuances/oddities when you are stressed about some exam coming up- but you will love the Scarlet Letter when you revisit it
My favorite fiction writer ever. I fell in love with his style and fecundity when I was a teen, and I will never let him go. I’ve read everything except his notebooks and some of his essays, which are very very difficult to find. Hawthorne was among the absolute finest of artists with language. I’ve collected and been gifted some gorgeous editions, two illustrated, of The Scarlet Letter, my favorite novel, and have beautiful editions of all his other books. And I love all of Henry James’ writings on Hawthorne. 😉 I truly believe that Hawthorne stood taller than nearly every novelist of his era, and he has never (in my not so humble opinion) been surpassed. His world may very well be richer than Byron’s (and, yes, lol, he was even better looking than Byron), and richer than many other poets of his era. A remarkable writer, whose pages will always remain very intimate friends of mine. So glad we agree on his greatness and enjoyability 😄
Fabulous lighting today!
I had a volume of the Scarlet Letter on my shelf for years and only recently slogged through it. I wasn’t terribly gripped by it, though enjoyed his language. Despite that I picked up a copy of House of the Seven Gables, since I heard it was one of the forerunners to the modern tradition of the Weird Tale (Lovecraft raves about it). Aiming to squeeze it in before the year is up, with high hopes!
Totally agree on Penguin's House of the Seven Gables being hideous... glad I picked it up and read it though. Not at all what I was expecting!
More Daily Penguins in 2021!
I am one of those weirdos who has loved The Scarlet Letter forever, perhaps because I did not have it assigned in high school. I was almost afraid to open this video after you trashed my other bud Thomas Hardy.
Oh-and would you recommend the Wineapple bio? (Am I correctly remembering the author?)
A) I didn't trash Thomas Hardy! Hah! I called him a great master of English prose, for Pete's sake! I just said I myself wasn't personally fond of him! B) I do indeed recommend Brenda Wineapple's biography.
Steve Donoghue Yes, you did indeed say he was a master. But if neither Hardy nor Hawthorne were your cup of tea, I still think I would be heartbroken (no matter how ridiculous that might be). And you do in fact like Woolf and George Eliot-newish loves for me-Right?
I was happy to here you love Hawthorne after a tough week of recommendation decisions!
I love Hawthorne’s works. I think the Hawthorne volume in the Viking Portable Library is the only one I read straight through. The stories are marvelous, and the novels are perfect creations.
I’m the rare reader who prefers to read The Scarlet Letter without the opening at the custom house. How essential do you regard that part of it?
Hope you’re having a great day.
Best, Jack
The custom house part is obviously a weird tumorous growth - not necessary to read at all. But it HAS been a rather rough Penguin week, hasn't it? Hah!
If I can intervene, as a university student who absolutely loves Hawthorne, I'm discussing "The Scarlet Letter" among his other novels in my final paper. Believe me, I really understand readers that, like you, consider "The Custom House" unnecessary. Supreficially, it does seem as if it had nothing to do with the novel except introducing the manuscript and a little bit of the setting. However, I personally consider this one of my favourite short pieces by Hawthorne, and I believe its importance should not be underestimated. If you look at it AFTER having read the novel, you will see how in this piece Hawthorne subtly, almost subconsciously, presents all of the main themes of the text. The description of his working environment is actually a pretext, it's almost as if he were subconsciously preparing the reader, giving us 50 pages to slowly put ourselves in the right state of mind to travel back to 17th century Massachussets Bay Colony...
I'm sorry for the long comment, I didn't mean to sound paternalistic. It's just that Hawthorne keeps surprising me with his subtlety...
You must be good if Melville wrote Moby Dick to impress you
Family lore on both sides of the family claims Hawthorne as a relative. I cannot swear to the veracity of this claim.
Another connection to Hawthorne, both incidental and true. I'm unsure which it is as I heard the story over 60 years ago. My Dad was either born in a house with seven gables in Verdigris, Nebraska. Or the family lived in a house with seven gables in Pierce, Nebraska. I'm leaning more to the house being in Verdigris because I got the tour of Pierce as a small child. I don't remember seeing a house in Pierce because I'm sure Dad would have designated it as THE house, and I could've counted the gables.
I like Hawthorne but someone's on the hill so no reading for ever and its a hunters life for me now! goober dog boy