Emerson in His Own Time: A Biographical Chronicle of His Life, Drawn from Recollections, Interviews, and Memoirs by Family, FRonald A. Bosco, Joel Myerson University of Iowa Press, 2003 M02 26 - 262 pages At his death, Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864) was universally acknowledged in America and England as “the Great Romancer.” Novels such as The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables and stories published in such collections as Twice-Told Tales continue to capture the minds and imaginations of readers and critics to this day. Harder to capture, however, were the character and personality of the man himself. So few of the essays that appeared in the two years after his death offered new insights into his life, art, and reputation that Hawthorne seemed fated to premature obscurity or, at least, permanent misrepresentation. This first collection of personal reminiscences by those who knew Hawthorne intimately or knew about him through reliable secondary sources rescues him from these confusions and provides the real human history behind the successful writer. Remembrances from Elizabeth Peabody, Sophia Hawthorne, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Bronson Alcott, Rebecca Harding Davis, and twenty others printed in Hawthorne in His Own Time follow him from his childhood in Salem, through his years of initial literary obscurity, his days in the Boston and Salem Custom Houses, his service as U.S. Consul to Liverpool and Manchester and his life in the Anglo-American communities at Rome and Florence, to his late years as the “Great Romancer.” In their enlightening introduction, editors Ronald Bosco and Jillmarie Murphy assess the postmortem building of Hawthorne’s reputation as well as his relationship to the prominent Transcendentalists, spiritualists, Swedenborgians, and other personalities of his time. By clarifying the sentimental associations between Hawthorne’s writings and his actual personality and moving away from the critical review to the personal narrative, these artful and perceptive reminiscences tell the private and public story of a remarkable life. |
Contents
Amos Bronson Alcott A Visit to Emerson at Concord in 1837 | 1 |
Ellis Gray Loring A Visit from Emerson in 1838 | 10 |
Richard Frederick Fuller The Younger Generation in 1840 from | 16 |
Copyright | |
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admiration American anecdotes Annie Adams Fields asked audience beautiful Begins lecture series Boston Bronson Alcott brother called Carlyle character Concord conversation Conway death delivered Divinity Edith Edith Emerson Edwin Percy Whipple Ellen Tucker Emerson Emer Emerson's lecture England essays expression eyes F. B. Sanborn face Father felt Franklin Benjamin Sanborn friends gave genius Harvard Hawthorne hear heard Henry Henry Thoreau Hoar intellectual Joel Myerson knew letter listened literary lived look Louisa May Alcott manner Margaret Fuller memory mind morning nature never once Oration Peabody philosopher poems poet poetry Ralph Waldo Emerson remarkable remember Reminiscences Sanborn seemed smile soul speak spoke sweet talk Theodore Parker things Thomas Carlyle Thoreau thought tion told took Transcendental Transcendental Club Transcendentalist truth voice Walden Walden Pond walk William words writings wrote York young