''Hawthorne'' is a book of literary criticism by

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

published in 1879. The book was a study of James' great predecessor

Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...

. James gave extended consideration to each of Hawthorne's novels and a selection of his

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...

. He also reviewed Hawthorne's life and some of his nonfiction. The book became somewhat controversial for a famous section in which James enumerated the items of novelistic interest he thought were absent from American life.

Summary and themes

This is the only book-length study James wrote about a fellow novelist, and it is not surprising he picked Hawthorne for such extended treatment. The tradition Hawthorne began in American literature – the morally intense exploration of the universality of guilt and the ambiguities of human choice – was clearly carried on by James. Although James expressed misgivings about some of Hawthorne's more extravagant symbolism and heavy reliance on allegory, he shared his predecessor's constant interest in moral quandaries, divided loyalties, and the inevitable conflicts between imaginative protagonists and intractable reality. James also shared Hawthorne's passion for careful craftmanship and thorough, unsparing analysis of character. James' ranking of Hawthorne's novels, from ''

The Scarlet Letter ''The Scarlet Letter: A Romance'' is a work of historical fiction by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne, published in 1850. Set in the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony during the years 1642 to 1649, the novel tells the story of Hester Prynne, ...

'' down to ''

The Marble Faun ''The Marble Faun: Or, The Romance of Monte Beni'', also known by the British title ''Transformation'', was the last of the four major romances by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and was published in 1860. ''The Marble Faun'', written on the eve of the Amer ...

'', has generally been accepted by later critics. Although James, at least in his earlier work, was more of a consistent realist than Hawthorne, the later novelist's work always betrays the influence of his predecessor's tendency towards metaphorical expression. In James' final novels such as ''

The Golden Bowl ''The Golden Bowl'' is a 1904 novel by Henry James. Set in England, this complex, intense study of marriage and adultery completes what some critics have called the "major phase" of James's career. ''The Golden Bowl'' explores the tangle of int ...

'', this influence becomes even more pronounced in extended metaphor and complex symbolism.

Critical evaluation

By and large James' book has enjoyed favorable reviews from later critics. They have usually recommended the book as one of permanent interest and still well worth reading. Critics have disagreed about how closely James followed Hawthorne's example, though there's general agreement that the influence was considerable, especially as James' fiction became more symbolic and dominated by psychological

introspection Introspection is the examination of one's own conscious thoughts and feelings. In psychology, the process of introspection relies on the observation of one's mental state, while in a spiritual context it may refer to the examination of one's sou ...

. The book is free from critical jargon and easily accessible to readers with little or no knowledge of Hawthorne's works. James can be surprisingly cutting and humorous about some of Hawthorne's more questionable flights of fancy. When Arthur Dimmesdale in ''The Scarlet Letter'' supposedly beholds an immense letter A marked out in dim red lines in the night sky, James says that Hawthorne is "crossing the line which separates the sublime from its intimate neighbor. We are tempted to say that this is not moral

tragedy Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...

, but physical

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

References

* ''Henry James Literary Criticism - Essays on Literature, American Writers, English Writers'' edited by

Leon Edel Joseph Leon Edel (9 September 1907 – 5 September 1997) was an American/Canadian literary critic and biographer. He was the elder brother of North American philosopher Abraham Edel. The ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' calls Edel "the foremos ...

and Mark Wilson (New York:

Library of America The Library of America (LOA) is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature. Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LOA has published over 300 volumes by authors rang ...

1984)

External links

Text of ''Hawthorne'' (1879)Note on the text of ''Hawthorne''
at the

web site {{Henry James 1879 non-fiction books Books by Henry James Books about writers Nathaniel Hawthorne