You may have noticed that I'm still behind, but things are not as bleak as they might appear. I actually finished this book a couple of days ago, and I'm about two thirds of the way through my next one. I expect to finish that book today, although I'm not sure if I'll get to the blog entry until tomorrow. If I can read one more by Saturday, I'll be caught up. By the way, the title of the Blog entry now reflects the book number rather than the week number, seeing as I can't seem to stick to the schedule.
The Blithedale Romance - Nathaniel Hawthorne
This is another book that I had to read for my American Literature course. It is from the same time period as Moby Dick (1852) but it is much shorter and easier to read. The story centers around a group of people who try to build a supposedly model society on a communal farm in New England. It is told in the first person by Miles Coverdale, who portrays himself as a poet, even though very little work of his has actually been published. His tale centers not so much around the commune, but around a love triangle between Hollingsworth, a monomaniacal philanthropist who is bent on turning the commune into a rehabilitation center for prisoners, Zenobia, a feminist of some renown, and Priscilla, a young girl who joins the commune under mysterious circumstances.
Coverdale is easy to hate. He comes across as lazy and weak and distorts time while relating the tale, albeit not overtly. He makes you think that things take longer or shorter than they actually do. Falling ill the first day of his arrival, he convalesces for what seems like an extended period of time, but which was probably only a few days. After recovering, he needs a break from the commune after what turns out to be just a few weeks, but he makes it seem like it's been months since he's been there.
Coverdale is a voyeur who seems to view life from the sidelines, and to exaggerate the importance of his relationships with other people. He is a peeping-tom, and he sets up situations where he can observe his subjects without their knowledge. He sets up a "hermitage" in the branches of a large white pine, where he observes the conversations (and who knows what else) of the other members of the commune. While away from the commune, he sits looking out his hotel room window watching the windows of a boarding house across the way, in a scene that might have inspired "Rear Window." Although Coverdale never describes observing sexual behavior, there is an implied sexuality to these scenes that was probably quite provocative in Hawthorne's time.
Hollingsworth, a bit of a strange man, has a strange hold on both Zenobia and Priscilla. Zenobia is smitten with him and despite her staunch advocacy of feminism, she stands by her man in a way that would make Tammy Wynette proud. Hollingsworth seems to be courting her for her wealth to fund his philanthropic vision. He eventually dumps her for Priscilla, for reasons, and with consequences that might give too much of the story away.
I've never read anything else by Hawthorne, so I don't know how this ranks in relation to his other work. My professor thinks this is a much better book than "The Scarlet Letter," and doesn't understand why so many teachers insist on teaching that book rather than this one. For me, this was a good introduction his work, and certainly showed me why he is considered to be such a great American author. I enjoyed the book, and maybe I'll get around to reading some more of his work one day!
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