the characters walk and talk, but…

Book review:

The Blithedale Romance

by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)

Cambridge, MA: The Riverside Press, 1883

The Blithedale Romance is Hawthorne’s third novel, an exemplar of Romantic Era fiction that has been called his “darkest” novel. It’s respected by modern critics.

It’s not a page turner. Hawthorne has what it takes to make sure that the characters are independently brought to life, but their relationships are not credible. Even a diligent and interested reader can feel that the love of Zenobia and Priscilla for Hollingsworth is downright mysterious and despairingly inarticulate. They love him, in two marvelously different styles, but Hawthorne never gets around to really decently explaining why they love him.

The other principal characters—Miles Coverdale (a somewhat autobiographical avatar of Hawthorne himself), Old Moodie, and Westervelt—are satisfactorily developed. Nevertheless, the plotlines are mechanical and chronological rather than explanatory.

In The Blithedale Romance, the characters walk and talk, and they interact with each other, but credible understanding of their relationships never really blooms.

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Book review: Lafayette by Harlow Unger

He was a great man. Also rich and lucky.

click here

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Above all: Poems of dawn and more with 73 free verse poems,

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