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The Blithedale Romance
The Blithedale Romance , considered one of Hawthorne's major novels, explores the limitations of human nature set against an experiment in communal living. From mesmerism to illicit love, The Blithedale Romance represents one of Hawthorne's best and most sharply etched works, one that Henry James called his "brightest" and "liveliest" novel, and that Roy Male, acclaimed Americanist scholar, said is "one of the most underrated works in American fiction."
This Modern Library Paperback Classics edition is set from the definitive Ohio State University Press Centenary edition of the novel.
This Modern Library Paperback Classics edition is set from the definitive Ohio State University Press Centenary edition of the novel.
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1852
About the author
Nathaniel Hawthorne
4,444 books3,301 followersNathaniel 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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March 12, 2021
Hawthorne's third novel, The Blithedale Romance (it's a “romance” in the sense of a tale written in the mode of the Romantic literary school, not in the hearts-and-flowers modern book trade sense) has tended to be overshadowed by the much more popular and better-known first two. Many modern readers have never heard of it, and it hasn't been universally liked by those who've read it, even among those who aren't prejudiced against 19th-century diction. In my Goodreads friends circle, it has only two reviews, neither of them very complimentary, with ratings of two or three stars (and some Goodreaders mistake the latter for the “okay” rating, as it would be on Amazon, rather than “liked”). My own reaction is more favorable, however. I've read it twice, originally around 1970 and later in 1998, when I was teaching American Literature as a homeschooling parent and felt I needed a refresher.
As the author admits in his Preface, he had his own experience at the would-be Utopian community of Brook Farm in 1841 “in his mind” in the writing of this novel, and used his own memories of life there in places to give verisimilitude to his fictional creation. His preface also makes it explicitly clear, however, that the Blithedale community and its inhabitants are not a cloned knock-off of Brook Farm and its people, and that his intention in writing the book is neither to attack nor defend Utopian socialism as such. That point is worth making, since some reviewers assume that Blithedale = Brook Farm, and that the novel is going to be very directly about specific ideas of social organization. Since protagonist Miles Coverdale here serves as first-person narrator (“I”), it's also often mistakenly assumed that he must be Hawthorne's alter ego, and that the “I” here is the author's own voice. In fact, though, there's no real warrant for that assumption; authors frequently employ first-person narration for literary reasons (and there are good ones here, though discussing them would involve spoilers) that have nothing to do with identifying with the narrator. Finally (because Hawthorne himself was skeptical of Utopianism in general, and only stayed at Brook Farm for several months), a common reader perception is that in joining it as long as he did, he was dishonestly sponging off the community as a hypocritical parasite, and that this book is his hatchet job directed against an enterprise that he actually secretly detested. (In his 2005 book Hawthorne in Concord –which I have not read myself-- Philip McFarland apparently makes the claim that Hawthorne joined only to get free board and room to save up money for his impending marriage, and this is repeated on Wikipedia, citing McFarland.) The Internet article “Hawthorne at Brook Farm” by a Terri Whitney, an English instructor at North Shore Community College in Danvers, Massachusetts (http://www.hawthorneinsalem.org/Life&... ) gives a more balanced assessment of this experience in Hawthorne's life. George Ripley, the founder of Brook Farm, wanted the residents to be able to combine intellectual and creative pursuits with manual labor. It was that aspect of the projected life there which appealed to Hawthorne at this stage. He was not disingenuous about his own beliefs with Ripley and the other residents (and, indeed, Brook Farm didn't require its participants to subscribe to any particular belief system); he paid $1,000.00 –which was a more considerable sum of money then than it would be seen as now-- to the community at the outset, and he pulled his weight in the farm labor. That experience soon taught him that he wasn't really suited, by temperament and inclination, to a steady regimen of hard physical work. But he never detested the Brook Farm community or its people as such; indeed, the same preface I mentioned above speaks very positively of both.
What then, IS the purpose of this novel? Based on two readings of it, and my knowledge of Hawthorne's thought expressed in other writings, I'd say that it's to convey a message, but (as Hawthorne himself said) not a message about Utopian socialism per se. The author wasn't against social reform as such; on the contrary, he knew it to be needed. But the message he wanted to drive home to his readers is that, whatever grandiose schemes for the improvement of “society” that we might formulate, they're going to get nowhere unless they start with the foundational moral reformation of individual human hearts –and that if we're serious about that enterprise, the heart we need to start with is our own. (A Utopian community is just a good literary backdrop for setting up a situation that will convey this.)
IMO, the novel does deliver that message effectively –even forcefully-- because Hawthorne lets it arise naturally out of the events of the story itself. These events will center primarily around just four characters (not the whole community, because the author's concern isn't with the dynamics of the community itself): Coverdale, community founder and leader Hollingsworth, the somewhat mysterious young woman Priscilla, and the well-to-do and rather imperious lady who calls herself Zenobia. (Some critics have argued that the latter is based on Brook Farm participant and noted 19th-century feminist Margaret Fuller, but while I'm admittedly not very familiar with her life, I can't say I see a noticeable resemblance; and Hawthorne stated definitely that none of the four main characters were drawn from any single living person at Brook Farm.) The plot has, to my perception, genuine dramatic tension and moves in a well-crafted and plausible progression; the denouement is not predictable, but neither does it violate the logic of the story nor my understanding of who these characters are. (It's also an extremely powerful, even gut-wrenching, scene emotionally.) Hawthorne's characteristic mastery of symbolism is seen, and he makes good use of the device (common in 19th-century fiction) of hidden identity. My reaction to Coverdale, and to his candid narrative voice, was basically positive both times I read the book; I think the negative reaction of some reviewers to him is a direct result of misidentification of him with Hawthorne, coupled with a misperception of Hawthorne's own attitude. (I also appreciated the expression in one place, through Coverdale, of some genuinely feminist sentiments.) Overall, the book held my interest down to the very last sentence (where the author throws us something of a curve ball!)
If 19th-century, Romantic prose isn't your thing, this book won't convert you to liking it. But if you're comfortable with it (or have never tried it), this novel might very well repay a reading.
As the author admits in his Preface, he had his own experience at the would-be Utopian community of Brook Farm in 1841 “in his mind” in the writing of this novel, and used his own memories of life there in places to give verisimilitude to his fictional creation. His preface also makes it explicitly clear, however, that the Blithedale community and its inhabitants are not a cloned knock-off of Brook Farm and its people, and that his intention in writing the book is neither to attack nor defend Utopian socialism as such. That point is worth making, since some reviewers assume that Blithedale = Brook Farm, and that the novel is going to be very directly about specific ideas of social organization. Since protagonist Miles Coverdale here serves as first-person narrator (“I”), it's also often mistakenly assumed that he must be Hawthorne's alter ego, and that the “I” here is the author's own voice. In fact, though, there's no real warrant for that assumption; authors frequently employ first-person narration for literary reasons (and there are good ones here, though discussing them would involve spoilers) that have nothing to do with identifying with the narrator. Finally (because Hawthorne himself was skeptical of Utopianism in general, and only stayed at Brook Farm for several months), a common reader perception is that in joining it as long as he did, he was dishonestly sponging off the community as a hypocritical parasite, and that this book is his hatchet job directed against an enterprise that he actually secretly detested. (In his 2005 book Hawthorne in Concord –which I have not read myself-- Philip McFarland apparently makes the claim that Hawthorne joined only to get free board and room to save up money for his impending marriage, and this is repeated on Wikipedia, citing McFarland.) The Internet article “Hawthorne at Brook Farm” by a Terri Whitney, an English instructor at North Shore Community College in Danvers, Massachusetts (http://www.hawthorneinsalem.org/Life&... ) gives a more balanced assessment of this experience in Hawthorne's life. George Ripley, the founder of Brook Farm, wanted the residents to be able to combine intellectual and creative pursuits with manual labor. It was that aspect of the projected life there which appealed to Hawthorne at this stage. He was not disingenuous about his own beliefs with Ripley and the other residents (and, indeed, Brook Farm didn't require its participants to subscribe to any particular belief system); he paid $1,000.00 –which was a more considerable sum of money then than it would be seen as now-- to the community at the outset, and he pulled his weight in the farm labor. That experience soon taught him that he wasn't really suited, by temperament and inclination, to a steady regimen of hard physical work. But he never detested the Brook Farm community or its people as such; indeed, the same preface I mentioned above speaks very positively of both.
What then, IS the purpose of this novel? Based on two readings of it, and my knowledge of Hawthorne's thought expressed in other writings, I'd say that it's to convey a message, but (as Hawthorne himself said) not a message about Utopian socialism per se. The author wasn't against social reform as such; on the contrary, he knew it to be needed. But the message he wanted to drive home to his readers is that, whatever grandiose schemes for the improvement of “society” that we might formulate, they're going to get nowhere unless they start with the foundational moral reformation of individual human hearts –and that if we're serious about that enterprise, the heart we need to start with is our own. (A Utopian community is just a good literary backdrop for setting up a situation that will convey this.)
IMO, the novel does deliver that message effectively –even forcefully-- because Hawthorne lets it arise naturally out of the events of the story itself. These events will center primarily around just four characters (not the whole community, because the author's concern isn't with the dynamics of the community itself): Coverdale, community founder and leader Hollingsworth, the somewhat mysterious young woman Priscilla, and the well-to-do and rather imperious lady who calls herself Zenobia. (Some critics have argued that the latter is based on Brook Farm participant and noted 19th-century feminist Margaret Fuller, but while I'm admittedly not very familiar with her life, I can't say I see a noticeable resemblance; and Hawthorne stated definitely that none of the four main characters were drawn from any single living person at Brook Farm.) The plot has, to my perception, genuine dramatic tension and moves in a well-crafted and plausible progression; the denouement is not predictable, but neither does it violate the logic of the story nor my understanding of who these characters are. (It's also an extremely powerful, even gut-wrenching, scene emotionally.) Hawthorne's characteristic mastery of symbolism is seen, and he makes good use of the device (common in 19th-century fiction) of hidden identity. My reaction to Coverdale, and to his candid narrative voice, was basically positive both times I read the book; I think the negative reaction of some reviewers to him is a direct result of misidentification of him with Hawthorne, coupled with a misperception of Hawthorne's own attitude. (I also appreciated the expression in one place, through Coverdale, of some genuinely feminist sentiments.) Overall, the book held my interest down to the very last sentence (where the author throws us something of a curve ball!)
If 19th-century, Romantic prose isn't your thing, this book won't convert you to liking it. But if you're comfortable with it (or have never tried it), this novel might very well repay a reading.
July 16, 2015
I usually start my book selections without reading about them or about the authors, but this time I read the Wiki entry for Nathaniel Hawthorne before beginning The Blithedale Romance. I cannot decide if that was a good idea or a spoiler. This book was based on his own short time spent in the utopian community known as Brook Farm, but when I read the article about his life and a separate article about the community, I was surprised to see that he did not believe in the enterprise, he had simply hoped that living there would be a way to save money so he could get married.
So that explained the main character's lack of true enthusiasm for his new life at Blithedale, and the bitter somberness of the entire story. Our poet narrator Coverdale is a young man from the city who decides he can change the world by joining with like-minded individuals at a rural farm. Only he never
truly believes in the project, makes sarcastic remarks about the other members, their beliefs, even himself throughout the story; and is generally a cruel and unlikable wolf in sheep's clothing.He also becomes quite obsessed with the two main female characters, Zenobia and Priscilla. His friend Hollingsworth is not even as likable as Coverdale, and he is obsessed with the idea of creating his own projects, insisting on trying to convince everyone around him to help him achieve his goals.
There is a mystery about the identities of the two women, hints about someone known as The Veiled Lady; and an old man we meet in the very first paragraphs when he is bluntly snubbed by our man Coverdale. It seems the old man needed a favor but Coverdale felt it would be too much trouble to himself to grant the request. Perhaps if he had, the entire story would have turned out differently. Certainly this old man plays a most important role later.
At first, even with my irritation with the main characters and Hawthorne himself, I was quite caught up in the story. The tension builds quickly; I could tell Something Was About To Happen. But it never did....everything fizzles for a bit, and the chapter that explains the old man's history reads like something from a different book entirely. Then when the Something finally happened (an amazingly dramatic, horrible scene) it did not ring true to the way the character had been presented throughout the story. At least not to my way of thinking.
I gave it three stars at first but I've dropped it to two, and I won't be reading it again. I thought I would someday since I was a bit distracted while reading, but I've decided (apologies to his fans here) that I have had quite enough of Hawthorne for one lifetime.
So that explained the main character's lack of true enthusiasm for his new life at Blithedale, and the bitter somberness of the entire story. Our poet narrator Coverdale is a young man from the city who decides he can change the world by joining with like-minded individuals at a rural farm. Only he never
truly believes in the project, makes sarcastic remarks about the other members, their beliefs, even himself throughout the story; and is generally a cruel and unlikable wolf in sheep's clothing.He also becomes quite obsessed with the two main female characters, Zenobia and Priscilla. His friend Hollingsworth is not even as likable as Coverdale, and he is obsessed with the idea of creating his own projects, insisting on trying to convince everyone around him to help him achieve his goals.
There is a mystery about the identities of the two women, hints about someone known as The Veiled Lady; and an old man we meet in the very first paragraphs when he is bluntly snubbed by our man Coverdale. It seems the old man needed a favor but Coverdale felt it would be too much trouble to himself to grant the request. Perhaps if he had, the entire story would have turned out differently. Certainly this old man plays a most important role later.
At first, even with my irritation with the main characters and Hawthorne himself, I was quite caught up in the story. The tension builds quickly; I could tell Something Was About To Happen. But it never did....everything fizzles for a bit, and the chapter that explains the old man's history reads like something from a different book entirely. Then when the Something finally happened (an amazingly dramatic, horrible scene) it did not ring true to the way the character had been presented throughout the story. At least not to my way of thinking.
I gave it three stars at first but I've dropped it to two, and I won't be reading it again. I thought I would someday since I was a bit distracted while reading, but I've decided (apologies to his fans here) that I have had quite enough of Hawthorne for one lifetime.
January 1, 2008
Flat out my favorite Hawthorne, though I end up teaching THE SCARLET LETTER a lot more. This is probably his one work that feels very contemporary, what with the commune setting and the very relevant gender dynamics. The characters are at once stock figures and yet somehow deeply real: Miles, the proto-Nick Carraway; Priscilla, the "light" girl; the monomaniacal Hollingsworth; and, of course, Zenobia, the "dark" woman and ambiguous symbol of feminism. Part of what makes this one fun is that you can debate the actions of these people in ways you really can't with SCARLET or SEVEN GABLES.
December 25, 2011
Rating: 3.25* of five
I read this as part of the RL book circle's festivities. I can't really say I enjoyed it, though I admired it. I thiink I learned a lot from it...for example, there is no new idea anywhere under the sun. Hawthorne (really? no touchstone for Hawthorne?!) wrote of such familiar characters to any modern reader, the creepy pseudo-spiritual control freak, the conflicted feminist, the wishy-washy eternal follower, that it really feels like the book could have been written yesterday.
In the author's preface to the book, he is even very careful to state that he is NOT modeling the characters in the book, nor the community that they inhabit, after his own experiences and the people he knew while living in a Utopian community much like the fictional Blithedale of the title. He goes so far as to say he hopes other specific members of Brook Farm, the real-life communiity Hawthorne lived in during 1841-1842, will write the definitive books about it. Ha. He's already done it. And I venture to say, though without any personal experience to back it up, the definitive history of many another Utopia.
I find the American aversion to all things Socialist very curious. Hawthorne defends himself against as-yet-unleveled accusations of beig an apologist for Socialism in choosing to write about Brook Farm at all. It existed from 1841-1847, and it had as little impact on American culture as the other "Socialist" Utopias before it and after it did. What precisely does America's vast majority fear? The possibility that others could be helped in some way? What is this reactionary terror of social justice about?
Well, it seems that Hawthorne wondered the same thing. He put it inside the struggles of the characters to get their needs met. Conformism is rewarded for flirting with radical thought and then returning to it by gaining a lot of money, access to a comfortable life, and an aura of sanctity that is almost palpable. Americans fear the alternative...shunning and criticism and poverty...so they see the radical and just readjustment of society's power (aka money) as a threat instead of a basic benefit. Hawthorne isn't on board with this, it becomes obvious, though he plays by the rules of his time. It's an interesting thought experiment to imagine what a Hawthorne born in 1904 would have done with this story.
I don't think I'd recommend the book to anyone not already accustomed to nineteenth-century writing. It's not the equal of The Scarlet Letter, so it doesn't transcend its era as effortlessly. But for the initiate, this is some excellent storytelling.
I read this as part of the RL book circle's festivities. I can't really say I enjoyed it, though I admired it. I thiink I learned a lot from it...for example, there is no new idea anywhere under the sun. Hawthorne (really? no touchstone for Hawthorne?!) wrote of such familiar characters to any modern reader, the creepy pseudo-spiritual control freak, the conflicted feminist, the wishy-washy eternal follower, that it really feels like the book could have been written yesterday.
In the author's preface to the book, he is even very careful to state that he is NOT modeling the characters in the book, nor the community that they inhabit, after his own experiences and the people he knew while living in a Utopian community much like the fictional Blithedale of the title. He goes so far as to say he hopes other specific members of Brook Farm, the real-life communiity Hawthorne lived in during 1841-1842, will write the definitive books about it. Ha. He's already done it. And I venture to say, though without any personal experience to back it up, the definitive history of many another Utopia.
I find the American aversion to all things Socialist very curious. Hawthorne defends himself against as-yet-unleveled accusations of beig an apologist for Socialism in choosing to write about Brook Farm at all. It existed from 1841-1847, and it had as little impact on American culture as the other "Socialist" Utopias before it and after it did. What precisely does America's vast majority fear? The possibility that others could be helped in some way? What is this reactionary terror of social justice about?
Well, it seems that Hawthorne wondered the same thing. He put it inside the struggles of the characters to get their needs met. Conformism is rewarded for flirting with radical thought and then returning to it by gaining a lot of money, access to a comfortable life, and an aura of sanctity that is almost palpable. Americans fear the alternative...shunning and criticism and poverty...so they see the radical and just readjustment of society's power (aka money) as a threat instead of a basic benefit. Hawthorne isn't on board with this, it becomes obvious, though he plays by the rules of his time. It's an interesting thought experiment to imagine what a Hawthorne born in 1904 would have done with this story.
I don't think I'd recommend the book to anyone not already accustomed to nineteenth-century writing. It's not the equal of The Scarlet Letter, so it doesn't transcend its era as effortlessly. But for the initiate, this is some excellent storytelling.
April 8, 2017
Mankind has always had, and will always have, a penchant for utopian dreams of one sort or another. It may be that the frustrations of living in an imperfect world cause some to seek a new way of life, by forming a community of like-minded optimists, to live closer to the earth and pursue common ideals. The Blithedale Romance is a story of such a community -- and a reminder that achieving heaven on earth will always be beyond our reach.
Nathaniel Hawthorne experienced this setting in real life, when he spent a few months as a part of a community called Brook Farm. It seems clear that he was less than enchanted with the venture, which may in part account for the sometimes wry and satirical tone with which he describes Blithedale, the fictional community of his novel.
This is an occasionally dark and unusual story of 4 main characters whose lives intersect at Blithedale: Miles Coverdale, the intensely observant narrator; Zenobia, the tempestuous and mysterious feminist of sorts; her younger half-sister Priscilla, whom Coverdale compares to “a leaf in the wind”, and Hollingsworth, an idealist and philanthropist, who is loved by both women.
Some of the twists, as well as the ending, surprised me. And, of course, the 19th century pace of the writing is leisurely, to say the least. But the story is easy to follow, and Hawthorne’s beautifully turned and insightful phrases are everywhere. The story is both a love triangle, of sorts, and a deep, sometimes stark look into the human psyche. I’ll never see a flower in a woman’s hair without thinking of Zenobia, and while this novel was different that I expected, I’m glad I experienced it.
Nathaniel Hawthorne experienced this setting in real life, when he spent a few months as a part of a community called Brook Farm. It seems clear that he was less than enchanted with the venture, which may in part account for the sometimes wry and satirical tone with which he describes Blithedale, the fictional community of his novel.
This is an occasionally dark and unusual story of 4 main characters whose lives intersect at Blithedale: Miles Coverdale, the intensely observant narrator; Zenobia, the tempestuous and mysterious feminist of sorts; her younger half-sister Priscilla, whom Coverdale compares to “a leaf in the wind”, and Hollingsworth, an idealist and philanthropist, who is loved by both women.
Some of the twists, as well as the ending, surprised me. And, of course, the 19th century pace of the writing is leisurely, to say the least. But the story is easy to follow, and Hawthorne’s beautifully turned and insightful phrases are everywhere. The story is both a love triangle, of sorts, and a deep, sometimes stark look into the human psyche. I’ll never see a flower in a woman’s hair without thinking of Zenobia, and while this novel was different that I expected, I’m glad I experienced it.
April 24, 2017
Hawthorne's mellifluous voice is clearly recognizable here, but I did not like this as much as The Scarlet Letter. Coverdale, as a narrator, is a passive presence and at times is somewhat of a creeper. He is ultimately outside the circle of true action and from his own account, never accomplishes much of anything with his life. The other characters are difficult to get a true fix on due to the unreliability of Coverdale's reportage.
There are some insightful psychological observations made, but my personal opinion is that it is weaker than TSL.
There are some insightful psychological observations made, but my personal opinion is that it is weaker than TSL.
April 9, 2017
*This review contains some spoilers*
Well, this was an odd piece of work. This was my first Hawthorne, and while his writing made me want to read his other books, this particular book left me....I don't know. I finished it with interest, but at the same time, I felt removed.
Hawthorne begins with a disclaimer: that the events and people were not based on real life. Since everyone knew of his time at Brook Farm (a Utopian socialist community), this naturally caused everyone to be especially attuned to how much it WAS based on his time there. Was this just a bit of his rather odd humor? I tend to think it was.
His characters are complex caricatures, if that makes sense. When reading, I had to keep reminding myself that Hawthorne was writing in the Romantic period. Some of his characters were stock figures of a sort. Priscilla, for instance, the frail, pale, but filled with a spiritual life force slip-of-a-girl. Hollingsworth represents the Transcendentalist. But he is consumed with a natural, compassionate impulse to the point that it is no longer natural and he alienates almost everyone in his pursuit of his ideal. What makes them complex, though, and one reason I thought so much of Hawthorne's writing, was because of the psychological insights and observations he makes through his characters.
The story itself earns two stars only. Was a trite love triangle the only option for fictionalizing his experience? Surely not. A redeemable aspect of the story was the narrator. His self-deprecating humor became a bit tiresome toward the end, but it made me snort enough times to raise the story rating from one to two stars. I also think he brings out the strengths and weaknesses of the ideal through this bit of fiction, though he could have been a bit more innovative with the plot??
The reason for my four star rating is because of his writing. I loved it. His imagery was poetic, but not overly so, with enough rambling descriptions of nature to make him Romantic, but not enough to make him Transcendental (as far as I understand Transcendentalism).
An example:
"A wild grapevine, of unusual size and luxuriance, had twined and twisted itself up into a tree, and, after wreathing the entanglement of its tendrils around almost every bough, had caught hold of three or four neighboring trees, and married the whole clump with a perfectly inextricable knot of polygamy."
Nice. Also, perfect symbolism.
This made me wonder what it was about his writing that I really enjoyed. And I suppose this topic has been discussed to death, but still, here are my thoughts from this particular reading experience. Leonard Bernstein once talked about what made Beethoven great using his Fifth Symphony as an example. His rhythyms, harmonies, and melodies were absolutely ordinary. What made him great? He knew exactly which note should follow another.
I guess this is how I felt about Hawthorne. He knew exactly which word should follow another. If The Scarlet Letter is the zenith of his work, I cannot wait to read it.
Well, this was an odd piece of work. This was my first Hawthorne, and while his writing made me want to read his other books, this particular book left me....I don't know. I finished it with interest, but at the same time, I felt removed.
Hawthorne begins with a disclaimer: that the events and people were not based on real life. Since everyone knew of his time at Brook Farm (a Utopian socialist community), this naturally caused everyone to be especially attuned to how much it WAS based on his time there. Was this just a bit of his rather odd humor? I tend to think it was.
His characters are complex caricatures, if that makes sense. When reading, I had to keep reminding myself that Hawthorne was writing in the Romantic period. Some of his characters were stock figures of a sort. Priscilla, for instance, the frail, pale, but filled with a spiritual life force slip-of-a-girl. Hollingsworth represents the Transcendentalist. But he is consumed with a natural, compassionate impulse to the point that it is no longer natural and he alienates almost everyone in his pursuit of his ideal. What makes them complex, though, and one reason I thought so much of Hawthorne's writing, was because of the psychological insights and observations he makes through his characters.
The story itself earns two stars only. Was a trite love triangle the only option for fictionalizing his experience? Surely not. A redeemable aspect of the story was the narrator. His self-deprecating humor became a bit tiresome toward the end, but it made me snort enough times to raise the story rating from one to two stars. I also think he brings out the strengths and weaknesses of the ideal through this bit of fiction, though he could have been a bit more innovative with the plot??
The reason for my four star rating is because of his writing. I loved it. His imagery was poetic, but not overly so, with enough rambling descriptions of nature to make him Romantic, but not enough to make him Transcendental (as far as I understand Transcendentalism).
An example:
"A wild grapevine, of unusual size and luxuriance, had twined and twisted itself up into a tree, and, after wreathing the entanglement of its tendrils around almost every bough, had caught hold of three or four neighboring trees, and married the whole clump with a perfectly inextricable knot of polygamy."
Nice. Also, perfect symbolism.
This made me wonder what it was about his writing that I really enjoyed. And I suppose this topic has been discussed to death, but still, here are my thoughts from this particular reading experience. Leonard Bernstein once talked about what made Beethoven great using his Fifth Symphony as an example. His rhythyms, harmonies, and melodies were absolutely ordinary. What made him great? He knew exactly which note should follow another.
I guess this is how I felt about Hawthorne. He knew exactly which word should follow another. If The Scarlet Letter is the zenith of his work, I cannot wait to read it.
July 28, 2019
I’ve been meaning to read this novel for quite some time. Firstly, I have a particular interest in stories about communal life since I came close to joining a commune when I was a teenager. Hawthorne based the novel’s intentional community of Blithedale on the real utopian farming commune Brooke Farm which Hawthorne helped to establish (although apparently he didn’t adhere too strongly to its values.) Secondly, the second novel in Joyce Carol Oates’ Gothic Quintet is called “A Bloodsmoore Romance”. I’m not sure if Oates’ book plays upon Hawthorne’s novel at all (other than in its title) but I figured it’s best to read the classic novel first. Perhaps my motivations for reading this novel slightly soured my experience of it because the story is more Romance than it is about the actual community of Blithedale.
It begins with its narrator Miles travelling to the newly founded intentional community of Blithedale in the dead of winter. He’s a poet so isn’t accustomed to the rigorous work of agricultural life which meets him when he gets there. Like many well-meaning intellectuals who go to found alternative societies, he quickly finds the practicalities of the enterprise overwhelm him: “we had pleased ourselves with delectable visions of the spiritualization of labor… matters did not turn out quite so well as we anticipated.” Therefore, it’s quite funny he quickly becomes ill and spends all his time in bed rather than working the fields or milking cows. But few details are given about the structure of the community or its core values. Instead the story becomes consumed with a beautiful resident named Zenobia who always has an exotic flower in her hair as well as a mysterious young woman named Priscilla who arrives. The novel primarily concerns the mysterious backstory of these women’s lives and Miles rivalry with a philanthropist and fellow resident Hollingsworth.
Read my full review of The Blithedale Romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne on LonesomeReader
It begins with its narrator Miles travelling to the newly founded intentional community of Blithedale in the dead of winter. He’s a poet so isn’t accustomed to the rigorous work of agricultural life which meets him when he gets there. Like many well-meaning intellectuals who go to found alternative societies, he quickly finds the practicalities of the enterprise overwhelm him: “we had pleased ourselves with delectable visions of the spiritualization of labor… matters did not turn out quite so well as we anticipated.” Therefore, it’s quite funny he quickly becomes ill and spends all his time in bed rather than working the fields or milking cows. But few details are given about the structure of the community or its core values. Instead the story becomes consumed with a beautiful resident named Zenobia who always has an exotic flower in her hair as well as a mysterious young woman named Priscilla who arrives. The novel primarily concerns the mysterious backstory of these women’s lives and Miles rivalry with a philanthropist and fellow resident Hollingsworth.
Read my full review of The Blithedale Romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne on LonesomeReader
July 3, 2009
The more I read Hawthorne, the more I like him--the person I believe him to have been. He has a nice bite, as evidenced by the following passage, narrated by Coverdale (who is equated with Hawthorne)that made me cackle aloud:
"While our enterprise lay all in theory, we had pleased ourselves with the delectable visions of the spiritualization of labor. It was to be our form of prayer and ceremonial worship. Each stroke of the hoe was to uncover some aromatic root of wisdom, heretofore hidden from the sun. Pausing in the field, to let the wind exhale the moisture of our foreheads, we were to look upward and catch glimpses into the far off soul of truth. In this point of view, matters did not turn out quite so well as we had anticipated."
At Brook Farm, a collective and model for Blithedale, Hawthorne endeavored to find a community of like-minded persons: a place where he could both work, provide for a family, and tend to his writing. As I know many of my contemporaries and I do, he found that the writing life can suffer in relationship to the work that is providing a steady income or reliable means. After ten days at the farm, he writes: "It is an endless surprise to me how much work there is to be done in the world." A familiar feeling that and one I find refreshing to know someone as accomplished as Hawthorne struggled against.
"While our enterprise lay all in theory, we had pleased ourselves with the delectable visions of the spiritualization of labor. It was to be our form of prayer and ceremonial worship. Each stroke of the hoe was to uncover some aromatic root of wisdom, heretofore hidden from the sun. Pausing in the field, to let the wind exhale the moisture of our foreheads, we were to look upward and catch glimpses into the far off soul of truth. In this point of view, matters did not turn out quite so well as we had anticipated."
At Brook Farm, a collective and model for Blithedale, Hawthorne endeavored to find a community of like-minded persons: a place where he could both work, provide for a family, and tend to his writing. As I know many of my contemporaries and I do, he found that the writing life can suffer in relationship to the work that is providing a steady income or reliable means. After ten days at the farm, he writes: "It is an endless surprise to me how much work there is to be done in the world." A familiar feeling that and one I find refreshing to know someone as accomplished as Hawthorne struggled against.
February 6, 2024
This is the first-person story of Miles Coverdale, and his experience in the fictional utopian community of Blithedale, and the evolution of his relationships with three friends – Zenobia, Hollingsworth, and Priscilla. In 1841 Hawthorne himself was one of the founders of the Transcendentalist utopian community of Brook Farm, just outside of Boston. The principles of the community of Blithedale seem to center around an outdoor agrarian life, and shared ownership and responsibilities. As the story unfolds, Hawthorne shows how the idealized Blithedale conflicts with the human needs of its inhabitants, how it has not eliminated the influence of class and wealth, and generally fails to measure up to its ambitious ideals. It is a story with fictional events and its own themes, but is also partially a commentary on Brook Farm and Charles François Fourier’s social philosophy.
This dark romance was not what I was expecting, and that’s probably my own fault for not understanding the proper meaning of the word “romance” in the title. My only prior experience with Nathaniel Hawthorne’s writing was The Scarlet Letter, which was ruined for me by being required reading in high school. In fact, at the beginning of The Blithedale Romance, I also found this novel to be kind of dull with overly detailed descriptions of inconsequential things. The characters express painfully obsolete perspectives on the intrinsic differences between men and women. (Probably this was visionary for its time.) But then, in Chapter 13 “Zenobia’s Legend”, Zenobia improvises a story she calls The Silvery Veil, and I realized there was some powerful stuff going on in this writing. The mystery of meaning drove me to the end. I’m glad I diverged from my usual comfort zone in reading.
This dark romance was not what I was expecting, and that’s probably my own fault for not understanding the proper meaning of the word “romance” in the title. My only prior experience with Nathaniel Hawthorne’s writing was The Scarlet Letter, which was ruined for me by being required reading in high school. In fact, at the beginning of The Blithedale Romance, I also found this novel to be kind of dull with overly detailed descriptions of inconsequential things. The characters express painfully obsolete perspectives on the intrinsic differences between men and women. (Probably this was visionary for its time.) But then, in Chapter 13 “Zenobia’s Legend”, Zenobia improvises a story she calls The Silvery Veil, and I realized there was some powerful stuff going on in this writing. The mystery of meaning drove me to the end. I’m glad I diverged from my usual comfort zone in reading.
October 12, 2022
I listened to the story — all the way to the end, which didn’t even hold any surprises for me. The storyteller was such a pompous a** that I just hated the novel all the way through.
May 24, 2012
After reading “The Scarlet Letter” years ago in school, and now “The House of Seven Gables” and “The Blithedale Romance” in relatively close conjunction, there seems to be a common theme running throughout much of Hawthorne’s longer fiction: namely, the deep and abiding mistrust in ideas of utopia, progress or perfectibility, especially of the human kind. Hawthorne came from a long line of Puritans, one of whom even presided over some of the Salem witch trials. Now writing on the cusp of the Civil War, he feels the renewed need for the kind of pragmatic skepticism which, one generation later, an entire generation of American philosophers will call for.
Coverdale, the naïve narrator in search of an agrarian source of truth, discovers Blithedale (the name itself should set off bells of suspicion), a community built around the ideals of Fourier, the utopian French social theorist. Fourier thought that life could be optimized through a kind of rationalistic social engineering, the basic living unit of which he called the “phalanstere.” The hilarious (hilarious in that subtle, dowdy, Puritan way that was uniquely Hawthorne’s) part is that, once everyone in Blithedale is introduced into the mix, tensions, different ideas, passions, and ideologies start to bubble to the surface showing just what a pipedream Fourier’s utopia really is. Hawthorne’s point seems to be that holding rationality primary over contingency and human emotion is shortsighted and silly. Not only is Blithedale a folly, but the very idea of a utopia is a sheer impossibility. I’m sure that Hawthorne would have us remember the clever lesson from Thomas More’s “Utopia” – that it means, quite literally, “no place.”
I’ll forego a lot of the plot details because I read this several months ago, and wouldn’t be able to do them justice without re-reading it. What I have unpacked here is just what jumped out at me the most. There is a strange woman named Zenobia who always wears a fresh flower in her hair, who turns out being the half-sister of a Blithedale foundling named Priscilla. The novel culminates in a set of philosophical disagreements between Coverdale and Hollingsworth, the ironically patriarchal figure whose presence hangs over Blithedale. I found the plot somewhat contrived and unrealistic, even for Hawthorne, but still very much worthwhile.
The action is based on Hawthorne’s experiences at Brook Farm, a well-known utopian community in its own right, where he spent most of 1841, largely in an effort to save money for his marriage. He would marry Sophia Peabody (of the famous Peabody sisters) in July of the next year.
Coverdale, the naïve narrator in search of an agrarian source of truth, discovers Blithedale (the name itself should set off bells of suspicion), a community built around the ideals of Fourier, the utopian French social theorist. Fourier thought that life could be optimized through a kind of rationalistic social engineering, the basic living unit of which he called the “phalanstere.” The hilarious (hilarious in that subtle, dowdy, Puritan way that was uniquely Hawthorne’s) part is that, once everyone in Blithedale is introduced into the mix, tensions, different ideas, passions, and ideologies start to bubble to the surface showing just what a pipedream Fourier’s utopia really is. Hawthorne’s point seems to be that holding rationality primary over contingency and human emotion is shortsighted and silly. Not only is Blithedale a folly, but the very idea of a utopia is a sheer impossibility. I’m sure that Hawthorne would have us remember the clever lesson from Thomas More’s “Utopia” – that it means, quite literally, “no place.”
I’ll forego a lot of the plot details because I read this several months ago, and wouldn’t be able to do them justice without re-reading it. What I have unpacked here is just what jumped out at me the most. There is a strange woman named Zenobia who always wears a fresh flower in her hair, who turns out being the half-sister of a Blithedale foundling named Priscilla. The novel culminates in a set of philosophical disagreements between Coverdale and Hollingsworth, the ironically patriarchal figure whose presence hangs over Blithedale. I found the plot somewhat contrived and unrealistic, even for Hawthorne, but still very much worthwhile.
The action is based on Hawthorne’s experiences at Brook Farm, a well-known utopian community in its own right, where he spent most of 1841, largely in an effort to save money for his marriage. He would marry Sophia Peabody (of the famous Peabody sisters) in July of the next year.
April 6, 2012
the three stars are all for the consummate writing skill that hawthorne commands, but with this novel i've come to realize i don't really like his novels. i like his short stories, and i think he was attracted to that form, in his time a new one that he helped define in the US, because i feel he chafed against the conventions of the novel in his day. as with what i experienced in reading the house of the seven gables, the prose of the blithedale romance is dense, molasses thick, and while artful, a strain to my attention span.
even when the characters dialogue, it is work because their conversations are peppered with so much contemporary content without being contextualized -- the stuff about fournier here required more than any footnote provided in my edition, for example, i had to go do some serious research to understand the protagonist's allusion to him -- all he mentions is turning water into lemonade, not fournier's attitude toward open sexytimes which is what the other character hollingsworth, a religious conservative, is ostensibly responding to... i have to read all these words, and then do all this research to understand them? it made my brain hurt, but not in a good way.
and while i was happy to finally read about zenobia, a character name that has long haunted me, in the end, i just found it all very tiring. so i will continue to admire the hell out of hawthorne's abilities as a writer, and love his short stories, but i don't think i'm going to go out of my way to read any more of his novels. i think i'm too modern, and too impatient for them.
even when the characters dialogue, it is work because their conversations are peppered with so much contemporary content without being contextualized -- the stuff about fournier here required more than any footnote provided in my edition, for example, i had to go do some serious research to understand the protagonist's allusion to him -- all he mentions is turning water into lemonade, not fournier's attitude toward open sexytimes which is what the other character hollingsworth, a religious conservative, is ostensibly responding to... i have to read all these words, and then do all this research to understand them? it made my brain hurt, but not in a good way.
and while i was happy to finally read about zenobia, a character name that has long haunted me, in the end, i just found it all very tiring. so i will continue to admire the hell out of hawthorne's abilities as a writer, and love his short stories, but i don't think i'm going to go out of my way to read any more of his novels. i think i'm too modern, and too impatient for them.
November 26, 2013
Free download available at Project Gutenberg.
Page 5:
The greatest obstacle to being heroic is the doubt whether one may not be going to prove one's self a fool; the truest heroism is to resist the doubt; and the profoundest wisdom to know when it ought to be resisted, and when to be obeyed.
Page 29:
"When, as a consequence of human improvement," said I, "the globe shall arrive at its final perfection, the great ocean is to be converted into a particular kind of lemonade, such as was fashionable at Paris in Fourier's time. He calls it limonade a cedre. It is positively a fact! Just imagine the city docks filled, every day, with a flood tide of this delectable beverage!"
Page 92:
But a great man—as, perhaps, you do not know—attains his normal condition only through the inspiration of one great idea.
5* The Scarlet Letter
4* Rappaccini's Daughter
3* Wakefield ; Ethan Brand
3* Wakefield - Il velo nero del pastore
3* The Ambitious Guest
3* The Blithedale Romance
TBR The House of the Seven Gables
TBR The Marble Faun
TBR Fanshawe
Page 5:
The greatest obstacle to being heroic is the doubt whether one may not be going to prove one's self a fool; the truest heroism is to resist the doubt; and the profoundest wisdom to know when it ought to be resisted, and when to be obeyed.
Page 29:
"When, as a consequence of human improvement," said I, "the globe shall arrive at its final perfection, the great ocean is to be converted into a particular kind of lemonade, such as was fashionable at Paris in Fourier's time. He calls it limonade a cedre. It is positively a fact! Just imagine the city docks filled, every day, with a flood tide of this delectable beverage!"
Page 92:
But a great man—as, perhaps, you do not know—attains his normal condition only through the inspiration of one great idea.
5* The Scarlet Letter
4* Rappaccini's Daughter
3* Wakefield ; Ethan Brand
3* Wakefield - Il velo nero del pastore
3* The Ambitious Guest
3* The Blithedale Romance
TBR The House of the Seven Gables
TBR The Marble Faun
TBR Fanshawe
February 18, 2020
My first Nathaniel Hawthorne's and I really don't know what to think. In a way, I thought this one looks to be the least depressing but... that ending was... pointless!
The novel was primarily told from the point of view of a young man, Miles Coverdale, and I feel it was quite messy a lot of the time so all I really heard was:
Zenobia. Priscilla. Hollingsworth.
Hollingsworth. Zenobia. Priscilla.
Priscilla. Hollingsworth. Zenobia.
Really, the main thought that come to mind is posturing males
Yes, I guess the title told you to expect it to be a Romance but it really does not read like a romance. I couldn't appreciate the plot and I especially could not appreciate that ending which just did not feel right to me. I actually do like some of the characters though at the end, they surprised me so not sure if I do! Yep, let's just say that I'm rather confused about this novel.
The novel was primarily told from the point of view of a young man, Miles Coverdale, and I feel it was quite messy a lot of the time so all I really heard was:
Zenobia. Priscilla. Hollingsworth.
Hollingsworth. Zenobia. Priscilla.
Priscilla. Hollingsworth. Zenobia.
Really, the main thought that come to mind is posturing males
Yes, I guess the title told you to expect it to be a Romance but it really does not read like a romance. I couldn't appreciate the plot and I especially could not appreciate that ending which just did not feel right to me. I actually do like some of the characters though at the end, they surprised me so not sure if I do! Yep, let's just say that I'm rather confused about this novel.
April 21, 2013
This remains one of the finest examples of literature, not just of the 19th century but of all time. Actually, I don't know if that's true, but I do know that I researched Brook Farm like crazy after reading this book, and I had an unbridled enthusiasm for months to come about communes, and starting one. One day, I proclaimed to anyone who would listen, I would make that dream of a utopian intellectual society REAL, dammit! Then I realized I knew nothing about farming, and I really liked Dunkin Donuts, and yeah, that was that. Oh, but you should definitely read this book!
February 19, 2022
I honestly do not think I would enjoy this one as much if I read it alone.
However, I had the possibility to read this in my Utopians and Dystopians literature class, and it was so much fun to read and talk about!
First and foremost I did not expect this to be GAY?! And I also did not expect it to be such a soap opera like story haha.
Overall I really enjoyed it, and if you want to start reading more classics, I think this is a great place to start since it is so short:)
However, I had the possibility to read this in my Utopians and Dystopians literature class, and it was so much fun to read and talk about!
First and foremost I did not expect this to be GAY?! And I also did not expect it to be such a soap opera like story haha.
Overall I really enjoyed it, and if you want to start reading more classics, I think this is a great place to start since it is so short:)
April 12, 2017
The story of the experiment of Blithedale farm is really the story of four characters, none of which is fully fleshed out. Hawthorne writes well, but the plot of this novel is lacking substance.
June 4, 2015
This novel made me think of Shakespeare's so-called "problem plays" with their uneasy mixture of light and dark themes . Hawthorne's third novel mixes satiric and tragic moods and they don't fully merge either. Here, the narrator, Miles Coverdale, a self-satisfied bachelor who likes his comfort and his drinks, sets out on a summer's sojourn to Blithedale, a back-to-the-land commune. But he can quickly become serious, looking forward to getting away from the "falsehood,, formality, and error, like all the air of the dusky city"
What does he expect to find? He's open-minded and mildly hopeful that this possible daydream of a better life might become a reality. At Blithedale, he meets an odd group of people. three in particular who become the central figures in the novel. Hollingsworth is a strong-minded individual who is more interested in reforming criminals than he is in communal utopias. He's attracted to Zenobia , a beautiful woman who puts fresh flower in her hair every day, as if to emphasize her beauty. She often teases Miles, telling him he is the poet who must do justice to the Blithedale experiment. The third is Priscilla, a waif-like pale young woman who comes from the city.
Miles becomes impressed by the communal activity, saying, "We sought our profit by mutual aid, instead of wresting it by the strong hand from an enemy, or filching it craftily from those less shrewd than ourselves, or winning it by selfish competition with a neighbor," all of which sounds like a criticism of capitalism. He especially gets to know Hollingsworth well, but they come to a parting of the ways when Hollingsworth wants him to join him in his schemes to reform criminals. In fact,, he thinks Hollingsworth is not only mad, but in his obsession he's an "intolerable bore" as he allows for no opinions that don't match his own.
He also becomes exasperated with Zenobia who seems to have given her heart to Hollingsworth and worse, is taking advantage of the strangely passive Priscilla. Fed up with these people, he quits Blithedale, considering that this philanthropic scheme is folly, trying to transmit "a great black ugliness of sin. . . into virtue."' He returns to his comfortable lodgings in the city, but Miles has some quirks of his own. He can't help thinking about these people and wonders what is going to happen tot hem.
To this point, the plot has been fairly straightforward, but here the novel takes an odd turn and grafts a gothic back story onto the main plot. It involves a sinister mesmerist, Westerfelt,, who has had past dealings with both Zenobia and Priscilla. There is an old man who tells Miles a fantastic story about the pasts of of Zenobia and Priscilla The "noble-minded" reformer, Hollingworth, is not all that he has purported to be. A suicide ends the book on a grim note, with a kind of afterthought by Miles that his own fault was in being too passive and withdrawing from interaction with others. Most of the other characters in the novel took actions, yes, but out of motivations of pride and selfishness.
All of this, it seemed to me, was Hawthorne's way of extricating himself from a dilemma of his making. From what I've read of Hawthorne's life, he took a dim view of commune life based on the ideals of the French socialist, Charles Fourier (in fact, there's a specific discussion of Fourier's ideas in the story), but he never directly shows any shortcomings of Blithedale. What he does, though, is to point out with his gothic backdrop of greed and selfishness, that all individuals are flawed, and given these flaws, such an experimental community, based on unselfish sharing, could never work. The actions of the characters ar interesting enough in themselves, but they don't directly have much bearing on why the commune didn't work out. I think it's an awkward ending to an often interesting book.
What does he expect to find? He's open-minded and mildly hopeful that this possible daydream of a better life might become a reality. At Blithedale, he meets an odd group of people. three in particular who become the central figures in the novel. Hollingsworth is a strong-minded individual who is more interested in reforming criminals than he is in communal utopias. He's attracted to Zenobia , a beautiful woman who puts fresh flower in her hair every day, as if to emphasize her beauty. She often teases Miles, telling him he is the poet who must do justice to the Blithedale experiment. The third is Priscilla, a waif-like pale young woman who comes from the city.
Miles becomes impressed by the communal activity, saying, "We sought our profit by mutual aid, instead of wresting it by the strong hand from an enemy, or filching it craftily from those less shrewd than ourselves, or winning it by selfish competition with a neighbor," all of which sounds like a criticism of capitalism. He especially gets to know Hollingsworth well, but they come to a parting of the ways when Hollingsworth wants him to join him in his schemes to reform criminals. In fact,, he thinks Hollingsworth is not only mad, but in his obsession he's an "intolerable bore" as he allows for no opinions that don't match his own.
He also becomes exasperated with Zenobia who seems to have given her heart to Hollingsworth and worse, is taking advantage of the strangely passive Priscilla. Fed up with these people, he quits Blithedale, considering that this philanthropic scheme is folly, trying to transmit "a great black ugliness of sin. . . into virtue."' He returns to his comfortable lodgings in the city, but Miles has some quirks of his own. He can't help thinking about these people and wonders what is going to happen tot hem.
To this point, the plot has been fairly straightforward, but here the novel takes an odd turn and grafts a gothic back story onto the main plot. It involves a sinister mesmerist, Westerfelt,, who has had past dealings with both Zenobia and Priscilla. There is an old man who tells Miles a fantastic story about the pasts of of Zenobia and Priscilla The "noble-minded" reformer, Hollingworth, is not all that he has purported to be. A suicide ends the book on a grim note, with a kind of afterthought by Miles that his own fault was in being too passive and withdrawing from interaction with others. Most of the other characters in the novel took actions, yes, but out of motivations of pride and selfishness.
All of this, it seemed to me, was Hawthorne's way of extricating himself from a dilemma of his making. From what I've read of Hawthorne's life, he took a dim view of commune life based on the ideals of the French socialist, Charles Fourier (in fact, there's a specific discussion of Fourier's ideas in the story), but he never directly shows any shortcomings of Blithedale. What he does, though, is to point out with his gothic backdrop of greed and selfishness, that all individuals are flawed, and given these flaws, such an experimental community, based on unselfish sharing, could never work. The actions of the characters ar interesting enough in themselves, but they don't directly have much bearing on why the commune didn't work out. I think it's an awkward ending to an often interesting book.
September 29, 2021
At the start of The Blithedale Romance, the first-person narrator, Miles Coverdale, is about to forsake city life and join a group of people bent on establishing a rural utopian community at a place called Blithedale Farm. Coverdale is a poet, and embarks on this social experiment as an adventure. The members of the community are going to learn how to farm, keep livestock, and grow their own food. But Coverdale’s adventure does not get off to a propitious start. He arrives at Blithedale Farm after a walk in a snowstorm and anticipates—accurately, as it turns out—that he will be sick on the next day.
Meanwhile, he meets the other main characters of the story at the farm: Hollingsworth, Zenobia, and Priscilla. Readers soon learn that Hollingsworth, a philanthropist and social reformer, has a hidden agenda of what he would really like to do with the farm. Beautiful and wealthy Zenobia emerges as a confident, outspoken woman of the times, well aware of the impact of her charms. Waif-like Priscilla is timid and impressionable, and she is influenced by both Hollingsworth and Zenobia. There are two other minor characters who are important to the plot of the story, Professor Westervelt, and Mr. Moodie.
The plot, readers will discern, concern the mysterious pre-existing connections that seem to exist between Zenobia and Priscilla, and indeed, some new connections that begin to surface as the community settles in. At one point, Westervelt unexpectedly shows up at the farm, and Coverdale sees him and Zenobia in a clandestine meeting. Meanwhile, both Zenobia and Priscilla harbor romantic notions for Hollingsworth. Even Coverdale thinks favorably of Hollingsworth, especially after the latter nursed him through his initial illness. However, Coverdale is not sympathetic to Hollingsworth’s notions of turning the farm into a criminal rehabilitation facility, and after some tense exchanges between the two, Coverdale returns to the city.
Coincidentally, the paths of these four people quickly cross again. Zenobia engineers it such that Priscilla becomes part of a stage act concocted by Westervelt, in which she is a “Veiled Lady” performing acts of clairvoyance. At one performance, Hollingsworth shows up and “rescues” Priscilla away from Westervelt. Meanwhile, Moodie reveals to Coverdale the true connections between Zenobia and Priscilla, which influences him to return to Blithedale. There, he witnesses confrontation when Zenobia asks whom Hollingsworth really loves, herself or Priscilla. His answer leads to a tragedy.
The Blithedale Romance is an entertaining read, and a fairly fast one. The characters are credible and memorably portrayed. The mystery of the Veiled Lady, the activity of the experimental community farm, and the inevitable tensions between the main characters make for a lively story. As the plot plays out, Hawthorne drifts a little from drama into melodrama, which tends to telegraph to readers the ultimate fates of the players, including the denouement of Coverdale’s own not-so-secret secret in the last sentence of the novel!
Meanwhile, he meets the other main characters of the story at the farm: Hollingsworth, Zenobia, and Priscilla. Readers soon learn that Hollingsworth, a philanthropist and social reformer, has a hidden agenda of what he would really like to do with the farm. Beautiful and wealthy Zenobia emerges as a confident, outspoken woman of the times, well aware of the impact of her charms. Waif-like Priscilla is timid and impressionable, and she is influenced by both Hollingsworth and Zenobia. There are two other minor characters who are important to the plot of the story, Professor Westervelt, and Mr. Moodie.
The plot, readers will discern, concern the mysterious pre-existing connections that seem to exist between Zenobia and Priscilla, and indeed, some new connections that begin to surface as the community settles in. At one point, Westervelt unexpectedly shows up at the farm, and Coverdale sees him and Zenobia in a clandestine meeting. Meanwhile, both Zenobia and Priscilla harbor romantic notions for Hollingsworth. Even Coverdale thinks favorably of Hollingsworth, especially after the latter nursed him through his initial illness. However, Coverdale is not sympathetic to Hollingsworth’s notions of turning the farm into a criminal rehabilitation facility, and after some tense exchanges between the two, Coverdale returns to the city.
Coincidentally, the paths of these four people quickly cross again. Zenobia engineers it such that Priscilla becomes part of a stage act concocted by Westervelt, in which she is a “Veiled Lady” performing acts of clairvoyance. At one performance, Hollingsworth shows up and “rescues” Priscilla away from Westervelt. Meanwhile, Moodie reveals to Coverdale the true connections between Zenobia and Priscilla, which influences him to return to Blithedale. There, he witnesses confrontation when Zenobia asks whom Hollingsworth really loves, herself or Priscilla. His answer leads to a tragedy.
The Blithedale Romance is an entertaining read, and a fairly fast one. The characters are credible and memorably portrayed. The mystery of the Veiled Lady, the activity of the experimental community farm, and the inevitable tensions between the main characters make for a lively story. As the plot plays out, Hawthorne drifts a little from drama into melodrama, which tends to telegraph to readers the ultimate fates of the players, including the denouement of Coverdale’s own not-so-secret secret in the last sentence of the novel!
August 13, 2016
Although the most singular thing about the book is its setting in, and critique of, a New England Transcendentalist utopian community of the mid-19th century, of just the sort Hawthorne was briefly associated with, it is also very much a somewhat melodramatic story typical of its era, with misplaced love, misunderstood parentage and other such confusions which are gradually revealed. Not that the portrayal of middle-class idealists who don't know which way to hold a hoe trying to get "back to the land" is anything other than still perfectly relevant!
The importance of not confusing the narrator with the author is also key, unless we are to remember Hawthorne as a pompous fool who misunderstood the motivations of everyone around him - probably not his intent, as the portrayal of such a self-satisfied narrator is one of the formal innovations that has made the book significant.
The importance of not confusing the narrator with the author is also key, unless we are to remember Hawthorne as a pompous fool who misunderstood the motivations of everyone around him - probably not his intent, as the portrayal of such a self-satisfied narrator is one of the formal innovations that has made the book significant.
April 27, 2017
I loved the prose style and the ambiguity of Miles Coverdale, the narrator, who is aptly named. The narrative arc is not atypical of romance, but the novel turns out to be more of a psychological portrait of Coverdale than a finely polished example of the genre. I started the book with the idea that it would be a comment on the Brook Farm commune popularized by 19th century American transcendentalism, and maybe it is in a very subtle way, but I found myself stretching to make a finding on that count. I enjoyed it nevertheless.
January 23, 2014
To put it mildly, Hawthorne can be a bit of a slog. And I was definitely prepared for that with this lesser known work. I was, however, pleasantly surprised. Not only is it a faster paced, less obtuse work than some he's done, it's also a delightfully Gothic mystery and an interesting commentary on philanthropy and utopianism. It's certainly not as memorable as The Scarlet Letter, but it's a nice little read.
April 3, 2022
I am in sad boi hours 😪
RTC
RTC
October 4, 2013
I read it for my English class. I can't say it was terrible, but, stylistically, I wan't into it. I'm not too into Romantic literature.
There are a few interesting parts, but on the whole I never really identified with any of the characters. I suppose the premise is interesting: the story of a utopia called Blithedale, and the ways in which people morph themselves to fit this new life. Perhaps it's one of those cases where the idea is better than the actual thing? I don't know, all of it is just rather underwhelming and the ending is one of the most "are-you serious?" anti-climactic endings I've ever read.
I couldn't give it one star because it wasn't utterly horrible, but, put it this way...I don't have the desire to ever read it again.
There are a few interesting parts, but on the whole I never really identified with any of the characters. I suppose the premise is interesting: the story of a utopia called Blithedale, and the ways in which people morph themselves to fit this new life. Perhaps it's one of those cases where the idea is better than the actual thing? I don't know, all of it is just rather underwhelming and the ending is one of the most "are-you serious?" anti-climactic endings I've ever read.
I couldn't give it one star because it wasn't utterly horrible, but, put it this way...I don't have the desire to ever read it again.
March 2, 2019
Miles Coverdale is a pathetic wannabe who not only has no purpose in life, but resents those around him for having purpose in their lives. He can't make up his mind about anything, and somehow this doesn't bother him. Though he technically has emotions, they don't seem to ever correspond to his actions. Not looking forward to the essay I have to write on this.
July 18, 2017
How could such an interesting subject be made into such a dull tale?
March 23, 2018
I just didn't like this at all. I am not a Hawthorne fan overall, so I just forced myself to finish this :/
July 28, 2021
Well, I think Hawthorne himself says it all
“My book was of the dullest, yet had a sort of sluggish flow, like that of a stream in which your boat is often aground as afloat” (p. 147)
“My book was of the dullest, yet had a sort of sluggish flow, like that of a stream in which your boat is often aground as afloat” (p. 147)
November 27, 2022
I’ve been trying to wrap my mind around this novel since finishing. From what I gather and have read about, this was a much more personal novel for Nathaniel Hawthorne from previous works in that the basis for this novel is represented largely by what he took place in in his own time and his own life. The Blithedale Romance is historically based on the utopian (and, in Hawthorne’s mind, mostly failed) community experiment of the Brook Farm in Massachusetts in the 1800s which Hawthorne was a part of. And the novel gives us a glimpse into Hawthorne’s impressions of this experience.
I think what we can always take from Hawthorne is prevalent themes and symbolism. Themes just as gender roles, traditional vs non-traditional opinions, the sustainability of a utopia, and secrecy are among the issues that that are present or come into question. There’s also quite a bit of symbolism and allegorical elements, one interesting examples concerns the whereabouts and mysteriousness of a “veiled lady.”
And, as always with Hawthorne, get your dictionary or thesaurus ready with the vocabulary.
In the grand scheme of things, this one just didn’t gel for me as much as The Scarlet Letter or The House of Seven Gables, both of which I enjoyed overall. It could be, perhaps, due to the style of narration (this one is written in a first person, and Miles Coverdale is definitely representative of an “unreliable” narrator of sorts) as well as characters who did not strike me as noteworthy. I think with the previous works you could take a character you would more likely identify with or root for.
Also, it felt like the novel didn’t really “get going” for quite a while, until the final tragic parts where things start breaking up at the end. I did think, however, that the second half was much more engaging and some of the ambiguous points explained. And much like The Scarlet Letter, there is a definite tragic feel to the finale.
I think what we can always take from Hawthorne is prevalent themes and symbolism. Themes just as gender roles, traditional vs non-traditional opinions, the sustainability of a utopia, and secrecy are among the issues that that are present or come into question. There’s also quite a bit of symbolism and allegorical elements, one interesting examples concerns the whereabouts and mysteriousness of a “veiled lady.”
And, as always with Hawthorne, get your dictionary or thesaurus ready with the vocabulary.
In the grand scheme of things, this one just didn’t gel for me as much as The Scarlet Letter or The House of Seven Gables, both of which I enjoyed overall. It could be, perhaps, due to the style of narration (this one is written in a first person, and Miles Coverdale is definitely representative of an “unreliable” narrator of sorts) as well as characters who did not strike me as noteworthy. I think with the previous works you could take a character you would more likely identify with or root for.
Also, it felt like the novel didn’t really “get going” for quite a while, until the final tragic parts where things start breaking up at the end. I did think, however, that the second half was much more engaging and some of the ambiguous points explained. And much like The Scarlet Letter, there is a definite tragic feel to the finale.
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