Born in England in 1804, Nathaniel Hawthorne lost his father to yellow fever at a tender age. Following this, the family (the mother and sisters) moved to living with relatives for ten years. He started his career as a writer and contributed to periodicals between 1824 and 1836 where he was an editor of a popular American magazine (Crews 65). At this time he boarded a house with a poet, Thomas green in Boston. He later advances into writing short stories and articles for magazines for entertainment and knowledge. However this does not earn him fame and attention from the authors. He later collects these short stories by the help of Horatio Bridge into one book which sees him gunner fame locally and this marked the start of his career as a renowned writer. Hawthorne published his first novel in 1828 known as Fanshawe. This was a novel he worked on during his college years but did not sell much. This novel initiated friendship with the publisher Samuel Goodrich which proved beneficial over the years. Among the novels written by Hawthorne include the scarlet that was a best seller in America at the time (Cheever 88). This paper explores the critical history of Nathaniel Hawthorne and the critics of his writing especially from his contemporaries.
He derives most of his inspirations from his encounters over time. Events of his life that helped shaping his career include when he was called upon by a friend help find the body of a teenager who had drowned in a nearby pond. This event brought forth writing of a scene in the novel blithe dale a romance novel. Again, the novel the scarlet letter is inspired by his term in the customs office whereby he features this in the preface. This was a novel he published after serving 3 year tenure in office as a surveyor for Salem district (Madison 55).
In critically analyzing Nathaniel's writings his contemporaries like Edgar Poe reviews mosses from an old manse and twice told tales with lots of admiration. He notes hawthorns style as purity itself and tone being very effective in delivering the themes in his writings. However, he criticizes the fact that he is not recognized by the public or the media yet in his opinion deserves praise for his genius works. He is privately admired and publicly ignored. He notes that America has failed to recognize his extraordinary skill and the fact that he has no rival elsewhere. Further, he notes that his treatment of all subjects with the same degree of innuendo is rather rare for previous and the current writers. Poe attributes this unpopularity to his originality of his writings which had a history of lacking recognition from the public. He further attributes this unpopularity to Hawthorne being a poor man (Mcfarland 55).
Emerson Waldo a famous poet wrote that "Nathaniel Hawthorne's reputation as a writer is a very pleasing fact, because his writing is not good for anything, and this is a tribute to the man".[96] Henry James commends Hawthorne, saying, "The fine thing in Hawthorne is that he cared for the deeper psychology, and that, in his way, he tried to become familiar with it" (Madison, 38). He alludes to previous writers who lacked a lighter spirit and praises Hawthorne for his writings that fills readers with smiles most often and very hilarious and humorous. He observes that he is a serene observer and is less agitated by what he sees (Crew 90).
John Whittier a famous poet admires the strange and slight beauty presented in hawthorns stories. Evert Augustus Duyckinck wrote that Mr. Hawthorne was the most original of all writers ever lived in history and one who never imitates any foreign models or plagiarizes any works presented previously. Edwin Percy criticized the novel the scarlet letter saying that it had a dense psychological detail, and wrote that the book "is therefore apt to become, like Hawthorne, too painfully anatomical in his exhibition of them" (Mellow 57). Lawrence D.H. however compliments him for perfect work of imagination ever presented in American history (Mellow 57).
The past criticisms by contemporaries of Mr. Hawthorne's works are portrayed as praising his purity of morals as well as his sentimentality. However modern response to his work portrays his work as focus on dark psychological complexity. Nevertheless both focus on analysis of the use of symbolism (Madison 22).
In sum Nathaniel Hawthorne born in 1804 is a renowned writer who has written several novels and contributed to various magazines articles. He lost his father at tender age and with his mother and sisters move to a relative's house for ten years. In 1828, while in college he wrote the first novel, Fanshawe which does not sell well. Most of his writings were inspired by his experiences in daily life. Some of these events include his three year tenure at customs office, his experience in helping to remove a teenager's body from a pond among others which he features in his ongoing works. Just like any other write, hawthorns works are criticized positively by various contemporaries among them Edgar Poe, John Whittier, Emerson Waldo and D.H. Lawrence who review his works as admirable full of imagination and originality. Negative comments however were received from Edwin Percy. in sum, previous reviews of hawthorns works are seen to be praising his purity of morals while modern ones portrays his works as focusing on dark psychological complexity
