The Blithedale Romance (Penguin Classics)

Book Description

1894. Hawthorne, who, like Edgar Allan Poe, took a dark view of human nature, was a central figure in the American Renaissance. His best-known works include The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables. Renouncing the city for a pastoral life, a group of utopians set out to reform a dissipated America. But the group is a powerful mix of competing ambitions and its idealism finds little satisfaction in farmwork. Instead, of changing the world, the members of the Blithedale community individually pursue egotistical paths that ultimately lead to tragedy. Hawthorne's tale both mourns and satirizes a rural idyll not unlike that of nineteenth-century America at large. The Blithedale Romance shadows the Brook Farm, in Roxbury, which was occupied and cultivated by a company of socialists. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.

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But it was fortunate for us, on that wintry eve of our untried life, to enjoy the warm and radiant luxury of a somewhat too abundant fire. If it served no other purpose, it made the men look so full of youth, warm blood, and hope, and the women--such of them, at least, as were anywise convertible by its magic--so very beautiful, that I would cheerfully have spent my last dollar to prolong the blaze.

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Light and shadow.......2006-07-04

The narrator, a poet, Miles Coverdale, describes Zenobia's bloom as health and vigor. It is determined that they, the community members, would not make good market gardeners and that they should look into the raising of pigs.

Hollingsworth arrives with Priscilla who seeks shelter to be in Zenobia's company. She is a thin pale thing, and her origins are not known. Hollingsworth is not really interested in socialism, he is interested in the reformation of criminals.

A committee is formed to name the community and Blithedale is the result. Hollingsworth joins the group because its members are estranging themselves from the world. Coverdale feels that the man, Hollingsworth, is fast going mad. May Day is to be a movable festival. Coverdale discovers that neither he nor Robert Burns is able to combine farming and poetry.

A stranger, Westevelt, wants to meet with Zenobia privately. It seems that she has another name. Miles Coverdale dislikes the stranger who, among other things, refers to the utopian experiment mockingly. Coverdale overhears Zenobia and Westervelt discussing Priscilla. Zernobia tells the story of the Veiled Lady and throws a piece of gauze over Priscilla who faints.

One has to understand here the context of Hawthorne's writing, his immersion in literature--gothicism, orientalism, romanticism, transcendentalism, even melodrama. Too, the novel is titled a romance. Hawthornes's themes and concerns included issues of identity, claustrophobia, detrimental influence, whiteness, purity.

The community is planning to erect a Philanstery Coverdale relates. The land has not yet been acquired in fee and Hollingswoth wants to take over the site for his project involving the reforming of the wicked. Hollingsworth invites Coverdale to join his enterprise. Miles learns that Zenobia is to be part of the plan. He decides to leave Blithedale. Emotions are fraught. Zenobia says she regrets not taking Coverdale into her confidence.

Situated at a hotel in town, Miles sees Westervelt, Zenobia, and Priscilla. Westervelt has cat-like circumspection and detects Miles's presence. He comes to see that his shadowing of Zenobia at her house in town is absurd and he goes to the house to present himself.

Later, approaching Blithedale again, he feels simultaneously dread and gaiety. A masque is taking place in the woods. Zenobia charges Hollingsworth with self-deception. She claims she is sick of playing at philanthropy and progress. It seems that Hollingsworth has cast her aside. She dies by drowning and Miles Coverdale is led to forgive Hollingswoth for hgis role in the catastrophe. In the end MIles Coverdale confesses to the reader that he loves Zenobia's sister, Priscilla.

This is, of course, famously based upon the experiences of the New Englanders at Brook Farm, a short-lived utopian community. Notwithstanding the early American notion, particularly prevalent in New England, of the farmer-poet, in truth it is difficult to convert intellectuals into effective day laborers.

The Blithedale Romance.......2006-03-23

Isolation and a refusal to see things straight-on are the main themes of this mildly successful novel by Hawthorne. Narrated by Miles Coverdale who comes to the Utopian community of Blithedale for his health (Hawthorne had spent some time at Brook Farm, a communal farm, on which Blithedale is based), we encounter Hollingsworth, who is interested in prison reform, and who uses the wealthy and exotic Zenobia for his own selfish purposes; she drowns herself when Hollingworth shows a romantic interest in Priscilla, Zenobia's half-sister. Priscilla is a true innocent, who is under the influence of the evil mesmerist, Westervelt.

Coverdale is always on the fringe of what's going on, but never a direct participant. He eavesdrops and spies from windows (once even while hiding in a tree), and his inability to take part in the life around him is Hawthorne's central figure of isolation. Even at the end he declares his love for Priscilla - only after she has married Hollingsworth. Hollingsworth, too, spends much of the novel in isolation, pursuing his dream of prison reform; when he gives it up it destroys Zenobia (who has been living in a romantic fantasy of her own), but redeems himself and Priscilla. While Hawthorne deals credibly with the reality vs. fantasy theme of the characters, the plot is somewhat draggy, as is the dialogue. Not among the very best of Hawthorne's works.

Hawthorne's Sleeper.......2006-03-08

Lacking perhaps the ambitious design of other Hawthorne novels, Blithdale makes up for it in first-person freshness. It's witty and straight, take it as you will. And yes, somewhat wickedly tongue in cheek in its engagement with a 19th century American experiment in utopia on earth.

Some reviews on this site are a sad testament to what a new generation has been subjected to by way of heavily idealized and politically ladened literary theory. The subtleties are all on the page but many students lately have apparently been prevented from seeing them by the standard goggles forced on their heads. "Depressing," "cynical" etc are odd ways to approach a text -- I take it the reviewers were disturbed by the Grand Canyon between what was on the page and what was in their teachers' heads and expectations. Taken as a sort of cry of pain (an honest emotional response anyway) I would urge these young readers to try again.

Truth is, utopia has always been the lodestar of the American mind -- inseperable from what brought many here in the first place, from the Declaration and Constitution, from the competing utopias of the civil war, to the published justifications of every one of our wars since. So what if Hawthorne didn't completely succeeed? Who else among our major writers so directly flew right to the heart of things, like a bee to honey?

This is the story of Miles Coverdale, a self-satisfied reformer of his time, a sort of proto-yuppie, comes to Blithedale for reasons as vague as his own dense and unexamined mind. He finds other high minded individuals mouthing platitudes but in full rutting behavior, as would befit dueling moose in the Yellowstone -- mainly over the brazen Zenobia. Why isn't everyone laughing yet? No, of course D.H. Lawrence didn't think it was funny. But yes, all of these admirable characters have a lot to say about social advancement, womens' freedom, etc -- but hasn't anyone told the students of today that serious literature requires we look behind, nay beneath our own self-satisfied justifications? Apparently training in critical thinking has disappeared, replaced with acceptance of the jingoism of all-pervasive advertising: one is what one says one is, since one has the right to say it and thereby define oneself, end of story.

But there's an apple at the end, folks, the punch line, "I was in love with . . . Priscilla . . . !"

Thus the ironic punchline to one of the funniest things I ever read in my life.

An unsatisfying novel........2005-07-13

No one likes "The Blithedale Romance". His publisher didn't like it, most of the critics didn't like it, the former members of the Brook Farm didn't like it, D.H. Lawrence mocked it. John Updike does his best to point out the redeeming features of the novel, even becomes a bit hysterical, calling Zenobia a "Gorgon before whom Coverdale stands transfixed and fascinated." He praises Hawthorne's use of local color, trying to make "The Blithedale Romance" into something more than it is.

So, it is not Hawthorne's best novel, according to the critics. It doesn't stand up to "The House of the Seven Gables", let alone "The Scarlet Letter", the two other Hawthorne novels I have read.

Still, reading it is a worthwhile experience. As Updike says, some of the scenes are very evocative. The carriage ride out to the farm in an April snow storm (compare with a modern Boston commuter's experience!), the farmhouse kitchen scene, the woods around the farm, Coverdale's Boston hotel, the search for Zenobia's drowned body; all are memorable demonstrations of Hawthorne's descriptive powers.

Of the characters, only Zenobia and Coverdale seem like real people. The rest are "types" or only half-sketched.

The worst aspect of the novel is the plot. Of course it is written from Coverdale's point of view, so we only know what Coverdale knows, but still the denouement makes no sense. Compared to the suicide of Emma Bovary, for example, which is perhaps an unfair comparison, the suicide of Zenobia seems completely out of character. One can almost understand D.H. Lawrence's unsympathetic "Boo-hoo!" at the end of his review of "The Blithedale Romance".

Hawthorne writes beautifully. Telling the story from the point of view of a character who has limited knowledge foreshadows in a way the techniques used by later novelists like Joyce and Woolf. He was also no doubt trying to create an atmosphere of mystery and intrigue. But his technique hadn't progressed far enough to make the experiment a success, and he leaves us with too many dangling plot threads and half-formed characters. It is an admirable experiment, if looked at in this way, but it fails to come fully to life.

"Chronicle of Failure and Bet rayal".......2005-03-03

Hawthorne's third novel, THE BLITHEDALE ROMANCE, combines
diverse elements such as mystery, passion, social reform and philosophy-even a ghost story--all blended into a delightful literary patchwork. Set in mid 19th century Massachusetts this novel was inspired by the author's personal sojourn at Brook Farm-an experiment in Socialism and communal living--where he shed the trappings of polite society in order to become an instant farmer in a noble cause. Although he drew upon real life personalities of the 1850's for inspiration, his work was intended to be read and enjoyed as fiction. Despite the obvious parallels between Hawthorne and his protagonist, Miles Coverdale, readers may savor the storyline at face value; while Hawthorne was actually engaged during his time at Brook Farm, Miles remained a "frosty bachelor" all his days, despite his last-line confession.

Functioning partly as narrator and as Greek chorus passive Miles arrives at Blithedale Farm on a snowy evening in mid April, eager to begin his the great social experiment which would benefit all mankind. There he meets his similarly-minded new brethren and sistersbut the undisputed queen at the farmhouse is a beautiful, stately woman known as Zenobia. A sudden, insistent pounding at the door heralds the arrival of a shaggy bear of a man, the reformer Hollingsworth, bearing in his arms a precious burden: a pale, fragile girl, Priscilla, who requires their communal compassion. From that dramatic moment on Miles' mind and heart become entangled in the curious and mysterious affairs of these three. In fact Miles does not bother even to name the other social reformers. He devotes the next months of his life to private sleuthing and speculation on the enigma of these three individuals, although a few peripheral outsiders intrude on Blithedale's fragile harmony.

Unlike Hawthorn's previous novels, this is first-person tale; thus, we do not witness events where Miles himself is not present. Despite the high-minded social motivation of the zealous reformers, personal passions cannot be prevented, nor can their effects on others be denied. Miles undergoes several transformations of opinion and feelings for the three who fascinate him. Unable to escape their mysterious intrigues even in Boston, whence he retires to reconsider his purpose at Blithedale, he is obliged to witness their private machinations in the real world. But who will prove the hero to rescue Priscilla from her hateful life of stage deception? Is kindly Miles up to the task? The dramatic climax of Zenobia's betrayal was based on an actual lugubrious experience of the author's. The novel provides rich insight into the struggle for Women's emancipation in the 19th century, as well as thoughtful judgment on the difficulty of establishing an agrarian Eden on earth.

Nathaniel Hawthorne : Collected Novels: Fanshawe, The Scarlet Letter, The House of the Seven Gables, The Blithedale Romance, The Marble Faun (Library of America)

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Hawthorne the master of "the master" (Henry James)
From a high school English teacher's P.O.V.
The Scarlet Letter - should have been a short story
A Review of The Scarlet Letter
It was touching and really hit the spot!

Nathaniel Hawthorne : Collected Novels: Fanshawe, The Scarlet Letter, The House of the Seven Gables, The Blithedale Romance, The Marble Faun (Library of America)
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Manufacturer: Library of America
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0940450089

Book Description

Here in one volume are all five of Nathaniel Hawthorne's world-famous novels. Written in a richly suggestive style that seems remarkably contemporary, they are permeated by America's and Hawthorne's own history. "The House of the Seven Gables" moves across 150 years from an ancestral crime condoned by the Puritan theocracy to a new beginning in the bustling and democratic Jacksonian era. Hawthorne's masterpiece, "The Scarlet Letter," is a dramatic allegory of the social consequences of adultery and the subversive force of personal desire in a community of laws. "The Blithedale Romance" explores the perils, which Hawthorne knew at first hand, of living in a utopian community, and the inextricability of political, personal, and sexual desires. "Fanshawe" is an engrossing apprentice work which Hawthorne published anonymously and later sought to suppress. "The Marble Faun," his last finished novel, involves mystery, murder, and romance among American artists in Rome.

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Hawthorne the master of "the master" (Henry James).......2006-11-24

I strongly agree with Richard's comments. Hawthorne should be read again and again throughout one's life. Even the great master of the novel, Henry James, found himself coming back time and again to Hawthorne as a touchstone of his creative imagination. We are fortunate to have dedicated teachers lead us through Hawthorne's work while we are teenagers, as adults we can read his work and appreciate it as a great work of art. Those who prefer to run through literature at a rapid pace would be better off staying with Marvel Comics. Library of America has provided a great service by publishing the Centenary Edition of Hawthorne in this beautiful edition. We are the better for it who can meditate deeply on the art and imagination of Nathaniel Hawthorne.

From a high school English teacher's P.O.V........2005-10-29

Please, whatever you do, don't categorize Hawthorne's (or any writer's) work as a long-winded relic from some gradeschool lit class. True, we English teachers are about the only folks left trying to keep this literature alive, but we do it because it's so worth preserving. I'll admit we do a disservice to Hawthorne by "forcing" young people to read it. Often a lack of maturity in the reader only translates to resentment for the writer, which in Hawthorne's case is a real shame. So you were "bored" by The Scarlet Letter when you were 15 years old... What a surprise... Has anything about you changed since then? Have you matured? Is there any possibility that you are more prepared today, as a thirty year old, to read, understand and appreciate Hawthorne's stories (and his brilliant style) than you were fifteen years ago? Give yourself some credit and give these great writers another try. You may be surprised at how deeply Hawthorne's insights into human nature cut after experiencing more of life yourself.

The Scarlet Letter - should have been a short story.......2004-12-29

I am going against the grain here but can anyone explain how this story can take so long to tell. Trying to enjoy the majority of American authors, Hawthornes works have not be an easy go. Though admittedly not a fan of Hawthornes full length works, his short stores can be enjoyable. But a book that begins with 28 pages of 'The Custom House', before the story even begins, is already very dull. I, like many other people, was forced to read this work for a sophomore literature class. That was 31 years ago and I still remember thinking what a moderately entertaining short story this would have made. In its form, its unbearable.

A Review of The Scarlet Letter.......2002-03-15

The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, will intreset readers who like romance and drama. In this novel, not only does romance and drama appear, but questions of morals of the characters. Also, the novel discusses the consequences that the characters must go through for their bad choices and mistakes.
Pearl, the child of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale, was born in jail, when her mother was sentenced for commiting adultury against her husband Roger Chillingworth. Due to her crime, Hester was sentenced to wearing a red scarlet letter A on her chest, and Raising an evil daughter, that refuses to follow the laws.
Pearl as well as the red scarlet letter A is a symbol of wrong doing. Pearl could be described as the scarlet letter in human form. She is a very important character in this novel, she is the person that allows the story to continue. Pearl goes through her life, everyone looking down on her for her parents' crime. The very crime that pushes her father overboard.
Arthur Dimmesdale kept the secret that he was Pearl's father. He didn't want people to know of his sin because he was supposed to be a holy man. The fact that he didn't tell the truth to people, ate him up inside. Finally Dimmesdale admitted to his sin, and thgen died. His part of the story was very real, because if someone keeps a secret for so long they can just burst.
All the events that take place in the novel relate in some manner. Which ends up linking all of the characters together. Hawthorne does a good job of making his characters feel the pain of their mistakes. Each character is trying to overcome their past. Some due to sin, others due to jealousy, and to hatred.
As a result of his jealousy against Dimmesdale, Chillingworth, Hester's ex-husband, ends up having a miserable, torturous life. Chillingworth hates the thought that his wife could have had an affair with Dimmesdale. Then when Arthur Dimmesdale dies, Chillingworth's life also ends, because he cannot destroy his enemy's life anymore.
In addition to Chillingworth's jealousy and hatred for Dimmesdale, there is also Pearl's hatred for her parents. Pearl hates being blamed for her parents' crime, which leads to her hating them. People looked at Pearl the same way they looked at the scarlet letter, a reminder of adultury and sin against the Puritain faith. Hawthorne was able to link all his characters together with all the events that were taking place in the story.
This novel can affect the reader's emotions and fellings. One minute leaving the reader feel bad for one of the characters, and the next hating them, because of something they did. If a reader finds suspense, romance, and emotional ups and downs interesting they should read this book. However, it might not be recommended for younger readers because, it can be a little hard to follow at sometimes, but overall it is a good book.

It was touching and really hit the spot!.......1999-04-30

I love all of Hawthorne's books but this one was his all time best

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The Blithedale Romance

Manufacturer: W.W. Norton & Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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THE BLITHEDALE ROMANCE
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
Manufacturer: James R. Osgood and Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Blithedale Romance
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Manufacturer: Aegypan
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1598181254

Book Description

This book grows out of an experiment in socialism that Nathaniel Hawthorne participated in at Brook Fram. It grows out of that that experiment, but does not, said Hawthorne, record it directly. "Someone of the many cultivated and philosophic minds which took an interest in the Brook Farm enterprise might now give the world its history. Ripley, with whom rests the honorable paternity of the Institution, Dana, Dwight, Channing, Burton, Parker, for instance -- with others, whom he dares not name, because they veil themselves from the public eye -- among these is the ability to convey both the outward narrative and the inner truth and spirit of the whole affair, together with the lessons which those years of thought and toil must have elaborated, for the behoof of future experimentalists. Even the brilliant Howadji might find as rich a theme in his youthful reminiscences of Brook Farm, and a more novel one -- close at hand as it lies -- than those which he has since made so distant a pilgrimage to seek, in Syria, and along the current of the Nile."

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The Blithedale Romance
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Manufacturer: 1st World Library - Literary Society
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Binding: Hardcover

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The evening before my departure for Blithedale, I was returning to my bachelor apartments, after attending the wonderful exhibition of the Veiled Lady, when an elderly man of rather shabby appearance met me in an obscure part of the street. "Mr. Coverdale," said he softly, "can I speak with you a moment?" As I have casually alluded to the Veiled Lady, it may not be amiss to mention, for the benefit of such of my readers as are unacquainted with her now forgotten celebrity, that she was a phenomenon in the mesmeric line; one of the earliest that had indicated the birth of a new science, or the revival of an old humbug. Since those times her sisterhood have grown too numerous to attract much individual notice; nor, in fact, has any one of them come before the public under such skilfully contrived circumstances of stage effect as those which at once mystified and illuminated the remarkable performances of the lady in question. Nowadays, in the management of his "subject," "clairvoyant," or "medium," the exhibitor affects the simplicity and openness of scientific experiment;

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The Blithedale Romance

Manufacturer: Dell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Blithedale Romance
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Manufacturer: BiblioBazaar
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The evening before my departure for Blithedale- I was returning to my bachelor apartments- after attending the wonderful exhibition of the Veiled Lady- when an elderly man of rather shabby appearance met me in an obscure part of the street.\' (Excerpt from Chapter 1)

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The Blithedale Romance
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Manufacturer: Book Jungle
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ASIN: 1594625301

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The Blithedale Romance
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Manufacturer: Dell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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288 page mass market paperback; Laurel Hawthorne edition; published 1960

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This is the first systematic source which tries to explain how and why the 233-year old and the World's oldest merchant bank went into bankruptcy in a few days. It includes three parts with 10 chapters. Part I first describes what happened, then traces back the birth and historical glory of the Barings bank and family, and finally describes how it was sold to the Internationale Nederlanden Groep (ING). As many terms of financial derivatives are used in the first part, we try to provide an easy and systematic way to clarify the related financial derivatives products in Part II. This part first gives a general discussion of financial derivatives and a brief review of the historical development, growth, and magnitude of the financial derivatives markets. It then concentrates on futures and options in two chapters. Finally, we explain the hedging and speculating functions of financial derivatives and how they can be used in combination to achieve particular objectives! . Part III provides necessary information on the Japanese financial markets and then analyzes how a single trader could have so much power as to bring about Barings fall. Finally, we try to provide the lessons from this event.

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When Egos and Arrogance Run Rampant.......1999-05-31

Zhang's Barings Bankruptcy presents a workable, though at times dry treatment of the Barings debacle and financial derivatives. Despite what the web page blurb says, this book only speculates at what caused the Barings bankruptcy. Zhang hints at certain things, but does not give us any real facts beyond what made the headlines throughout the world.

At first glance, the book is organized fairly well. Starting with the fall of the bank in early 1995, the first three chapters of the book give some interesting background on the Barings family and merchant bank. We also learn that at one point, the Barings family was considered to be one of the six great powers of Europe. In part two of the book, readers who are unfamiliar with exotic financial instruments received a thorough and comprehensive introduction to options, futures, and other exotic derivatives. Throughout the explanations Zhang employs vivid analogies and clever examples to get his point across. In part three of the book, Zhang makes a weak though well substantiated attempt to implicate the Japanese economy as the real culprit and devotes nearly a whole chapter to explaining the state of the Japanese economy at the time of the bankruptcy. Zhang gives us a brief history lesson of the Japanese political economy and Japanese financial markets, and a snapshot of Japanese economic and financial activity in and around the first two months of 1995.

Zhang agrees with such financial scholars as Jorion, author of Big Bets Gone Bad, that the people who wield these exotic derivative products are often more dangerous than the products themselves. Here, just as in the case of Robert L. Citron's key role in the Orange county bankruptcy and the rocket scientists at the helm of Long Term Capital Management's financial collapse, this line of reasoning may very well be true.

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