Prophetic Pictures: Nathaniel Hawthorne's Knowledge and Uses of the Visual Arts

(Hardback)

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This study takes an unusual approach to Nathaniel Hawthorne's work by exploring his knowledge and uses of the visual arts. The authors trace Hawthorne's encounters with art in his native New England, highlight his determined effort to acquire a taste for painting at the Manchester Exhibition in 1857, explore his responses to art as he traveled through France and Italy, and discuss his continuing interest in the visual arts once he returned to America. In contrast to those who maintain that Hawthorne had little feeling for and appreciation of the arts, the authors argue that Hawthorne repeatedly tried to acquire a taste for the arts and used them frequently in his letters, tales and romances. The study is illuminated by photographs of the many of the works of art that Hawthorne saw and wrote about. Accompanying the biographical exploration of Hawthorne's quest to learn more about the visual arts is a study of how techniques adopted from the visual arts inform the texture and content of Hawthorne's works. The authors examine each relevant tale and romance, paying particular attention to "The Marble Faun", the work which, they assert, most fully exemplifies Hawthorne's knowledge and uses of the visual arts. A special section includes Hawthorne's responses to selected art works as reflected in his fiction and notebooks together with photographs of the works themselves. The volume concludes with a select bibliography and an index that proviedes ready access to specific areas of the text. Students of the American novel as well as specialists in American studies should find this a useful study of the ways in which the visual arts affect literary craftsmanship.

Reviews

Instances where Nathaniel Hawthorne made significant use of his knowledge of the visual arts in such fictions as The House of the Seven Gables, The Marble Faun, and many short stories have been commented upon by a great many scholars and critics, among them the authors of this book. Here they offer a compendium and distillation of the life-time experiences of Hawthorne with painting, sculpture, and art criticism or theory. Chronologically organized and usefully illustrated, there may not be much that is new in this book, but the volume's inclusiveness, solid bibliography, and references to particular works should serve close students of Hawthorne and scholars in American 19th-century literature. Those concerned with the place of the arts in American intellectual life will also find it worth reading. Levels: graduate and upper-division undergraduate.-Choice
"Instances where Nathaniel Hawthorne made significant use of his knowledge of the visual arts in such fictions as The House of the Seven Gables, The Marble Faun, and many short stories have been commented upon by a great many scholars and critics, among them the authors of this book. Here they offer a compendium and distillation of the life-time experiences of Hawthorne with painting, sculpture, and art criticism or theory. Chronologically organized and usefully illustrated, there may not be much that is new in this book, but the volume's inclusiveness, solid bibliography, and references to particular works should serve close students of Hawthorne and scholars in American 19th-century literature. Those concerned with the place of the arts in American intellectual life will also find it worth reading. Levels: graduate and upper-division undergraduate."-Choice

Author Bio

RITA K. GOLLIN is Professor of English at the State University of New York at Geneseo. Her previous books include Portraits of Nathaniel Hawthorne: An Iconography and Nathaniel Hawthorne and the Truth of Dreams. JOHN L. IDOL, Jr., is Professor of English at Clemson University. His previous works include A Thomas Wolfe Companion (Greenwood Press, 1987). STERLING K. EISIMINGER is Professor of English at Clemson University. He is the author of The Consequences of Error and Other Essays (1991) and Wordspinner (1991).