Passages from a Relinquished Work

by Nathaniel Hawthorne

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

Genres: Short Stories

55 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 2005

About the author

Nathaniel 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.

Reviews

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

These “passages”—first published as “The Story Teller No. I” and “The Story Teller No. I” in the November and December issues of New-England Magazine (1834)—are central to a grand design Hawthorne conceived in his late 20’s: a picaresque narrative featuring a young man named Oberon (a college nickname of Hawthorne’s) who decides to embark on a career as an itinerant entertainer, a creator and dramatic performer of oral tales. Oberon outlines briefly in the first fragment what will consist of:

The following pages will contain a picture of my vagrant life, intermixed with specimens, generally brief and slight, of that great mass of fiction to which I gave existence . . . Besides the occasions when I sought a pecuniary reward, I was accustomed to exercise my narrative faculty, wherever chance had collected a little audience, idle enough to listen. These rehearsals were useful in testing the strong points of my stories; and, indeed, the flow of fancy soon came upon me so abundantly, that its indulgence was its own reward; though the hope of praise, also, became a powerful incitement. . . . With each specimen will be given a sketch of the circumstances in which the story was told. Thus my air-drawn pictures will be set in frames, perhaps more valuable than the pictures themselves, since they will be embossed with groups of characteristic figures, amid the lake and mountain scenery, the villages and fertile fields, of our native land.

Speaking of "the circumstances in which the story was told," Oberon gives us a delightful description of a “village theatre” where he performed “Mr Higginbotham’s Catastrophe,” which—the play-bill announces—”had been received with rapturous applause, by audiences in all the principal cities.”

I found it interesting that Hawthorne also includes in his narrative the shy young itinerant preacher Eliakim, who seems to be both a foil and a doppelganger for Oberon. He “never knew a person”—Oberon tells us—“so unfit to roam the world in solitude, as he was--so painfully shy, so easily discouraged by slight obstacles, and so often depressed by a weight within himself.” Still, the two young men “follow the same road,” while “Eliakim groaned in spirit, and labored, with tears, to convince [Oberon] of the guilt and madness of [his] life." I wonder . . . did Hawthorne intend for Eliakim to become a story teller too, or at least Oberon's partial inspiration? Would he one day tell his congregation the story of “The Minster’s Black Veil.” or "The Hollow of the Three Hills"?

Unfortunately, no manuscript of The Story Teller survives. So what became of the project anway? I suspect the whole thing became too unwieldy, the choice of what stories to include or not to conclude too difficult, and so Hawthorne decided instead to let his magazine pieces loose for a second time upon the world, unframed and unadorned, except for the simple descriptive title Twice-Told Tales.”

[John Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

From Mosses from an Old Manse. Semi autobiographical, self denigratory and a kind of introduction, were it needed, to what Hawthorne and his “romances” were about. Prodigal son versus Puritan elder.

[Sean Harding · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hawthorne Hawks #70
The quest hits the big 70 as this one is basically as the title suggests.
The, for want of a better word sketches, have some interest, and a re well written, and do leave you with a wanting for more that will never eventuate.