LITR 4232 American Renaissance

Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Minister’s Black Veil” & "Young Goodman Brown"

Tuesday, 4 November: Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1272-76 introduction +  1311-20: “The Minister’s Black Veil.”

Thursday, 6 November: Hawthorne continued 1289-98: “Young Goodman Brown.”

Text-Objective Discussion: Veronica Nadalin

introduce Hawthorne

1804-64; compare Emerson 1803-83

Irving b. 1793, Cooper 1789

Hawthorne as breakthrough for American letters--career as serious writer of highest quality

compare Irving, European delicacy or finish of style + range of reference applied to American subject matter

moral seriousness, irony, humor, intelligence, overall quality

1830s-40s, single man, career as short story writer > marriage, career as novelist

Scarlet Letter 1850 immediately recognized as important book

1850-52 three novels, but growing family

in and out of government work

1852-56 US presidency of Hawthorne's college friend Franklin Pierce

Hawthorne as US Consul to Liverpool > Rome

one more novel: The Marble Faun (1860)

Hawthorne as "classic" author--perfection of style, moral seriousness + wit, historical depth, symbolic power

popular + teaching Hawthorne: application of gothic to American past + moral depth

assignments, schedule

Thursday, 13 November: Whitman continued: “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” 2263-7

Whitman Style Sheet

Text-Objective Discussion: Cortney Kaighen

Tuesday, 18 November: Abraham Lincoln 1627-37: "House Divided speech," “Gettysburg Address,” + “Second Inaugural Address.” Research Project due.

Whitman Style Sheet

Text-Objective Discussion: Cathrine Marie Nunn

Thursday, 20 November: conclude Whitman: “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” 2282-8

Whitman Style Sheet

Text-Objective Discussion: Lisa Wilson

Tuesday, 25 November: Emily Dickinson first meeting

Emily Dickinson style sheet

Introduction 2554-58; Poems: "I like a look of Agony" (2558); "Wild Nights" (2565); "There's a certain slant of light" (2567); "I felt a Funeral, in my Brain" (2568)

Text-Objective Discussion: Bethany Roachell

Tuesday 18 Nov.

First half of class: conclude Whitman, Lincoln--presentations by Cathrine & Lisa

2nd half of class: begin Dickinson--Bethany presentation

25 November--no meeting Thanksgiving week

midterm update

All but a couple of midterm exams in

I intend to read submissions by end of weekend and return before next Tuesday's class

check email

note and grade

+ invitation to review, follow-up via email, phone, conference

This includes in-class exams--Adrian, Cathrine, Cheryl

Cathrine Nunn's email

Hawthorne as gothic

What are identifiable gothic elements, techniques?

What peculiar spin on gothic for Hawthorne? What does he use the gothic to achieve?

some typical gothic materials, but treated lightly, quickly compared to Poe; fanciful rather than absorbed
"Black Veil"  customary walk to graveyard
dead maiden risen from the grave
decay: "good Mr. Hooper's face is dust, but awful is still the thought, that it mouldered beneath the Black Veil!"

gothic as light and dark = states of mind
as in Poe, "correspondence" implied between outward physical world and inner metaphysical world

as with Poe, psychological interests
"Black Veil" perhaps a symptom of mental disease

light and dark as "shades of gray"
"Black Veil" a cloud into the sunshine, an ambiguity of sin and sorrow

intrusion of red, pink, scarlet colors (the "scarlet letter"; Faith's ribbon in "Young Goodman Brown")

Hawthorne as recognizable stylist

Hawthorne has one of the most distinctive, influential, and widely admired styles in literature--a good way to learn about what's meant by "style."

typical question on GRE's (Graduate Record Exams) in English / Literature Subject Test:

Quoted passage . . . .

Who wrote it? What qualities identify?

Basically, such questions ask you to be able to identify style.

What is style?

What is style?

possible synonyms: character, personality, tone, taste, flair

obviously a complex concept

most start with style as technique, flash

but style also as subject matter

Literary style

"Style": combination of literary techniques and subject matter or themes that are associated with a particular writer, which the writer develops over his or her career. With the best writers, it is sometimes impossible to disentangle literary techniques from subject matter (as in Hawthorne's development of the Gothic or Henry James's explorations of consciousness through point-of-view).

Review Poe's Style

Poe's literary techniques:

Musicality, dreaminess, sensory pleasure in language

European gothic: ancient buildings, family curses, esoteric learning

Gothic color scheme: black and white + red or other lurid color ("blood-red moon" at conclusion of "Usher," "drop of ruby fluid" in "Ligeia")

romance narrative as desire & loss

"Excess": Poe piles on superlatives ("the most . . . ") in effort to push consciousness to extremes of fear, sublime, etc.

Poe's subject matter:

Origination and development of popular genres: detective story, science fiction, gothic / horror

death of beautiful woman

Gothic as psychology: haunted castle as haunted mind (correspondence between internal and external worlds)

What about Hawthorne's style and subject are distinctive? How do you recognize a passage as Hawthorne's?

Influence of Puritanism (Reformed or Calvinist Protestantism) in New England: "Original Sin," vanity of human wishes even as we try to build heaven on earth
"Black Veil" The subject had reference to secret sin

ransience, impermanence of truth, beauty--appears always "on the wing" (cf. Emily Dickinson, Melville, Wallace Stevens)
Scarlet Letter: momentary beauty when Hester & Dimmesdale meet in the woods
"Black Veil" A sad smile gleamed faintly from beneath the black veil, and flickered about his mouth, glimmering as he disappeared.

Acknowledgement of human sinfulness, frailty, failure can lead to human unity, fellowship; humility as unifying force (Recognizable in Christianity and other world religions)
Scarlet Letter: Hester's humility makes the "A" stand for "Angel"
"Black Veil"Each member of the congregation, the most innocent girl, and the man of hardened breast
Its gloom, indeed, enabled him to sympathize with all dark affections.

Vanity, pride, certainty as divisive, arrogant, controlling of others rather than sharing with others
Scarlet Letter: Dimmesdale's suffering becomes selfish, self-aggrandizing; Chillingworth's sense of being wronged leads him to manipulate Dimmesdale for sake of vengeance
"Black Veil" love could never reach him (cf. Brown)

gender:
vain, delusionary, obstinate man; sensible, flexible woman who resists categories, fantasies
Scarlet Letter: Hester & Dimmesdale
"Black Veil" [Elizabeth] entered upon the subject, with a direct simplicity . . . .
And with this gentle, but unconquerable obstinacy, did he resist all her entreaties

No final conclusion or "moral" to dilemmas
"Black Veil" love could never reach him (cf. Brown)
a very efficient clergyman

Representation of human consciousness as complex, flawed, adventurous but failing--cf. Henry James

correspondence between interior and exterior
"Black Veil" dimmed the light of the candles
the Earth, too, had on her Black Veil

symbols foregrounded, must be interpreted (but act of interpretation never completed)
"Black Veil" symbol of a fearful secret
this veil is a type and a symbol
only a material emblem had separated him from happiness
by the aid of this mysterious emblem . . . .

shifting viewpoint
"Black Veil" [viewpoint] [thrice]
[viewpoint shifts thrice again]

truth as evanescent, ephemeral, transient, elusive: "flickering," "glimmering"
"Black Veil" A sad smile gleamed faintly from beneath the black veil, and flickered about his mouth, glimmering as he disappeared.
glimmered faintly

qualifiers—may have, could have
(Look for in "Young Goodman Brown"; also see in Melville)

"something"--Hawthorne leaves a void that reader participates in filling
"Black Veil" . . . there was something, either in the sentiment of the discourse itself, or in the imagination of the auditors, which made it greatly the most powerful effort that they had ever heard from their pastor's lips.
2203 What, but the mystery . . has made this piece of crape so awful
cf. Poe, "Ligeia" : "What was it--that something . . . which lay far within the pupils of my beloved? What was it? . . . we often find ourselves on the very verge of remembering
anticipates Whitman in "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry": "What is it then between us?"

assignment

Thursday, 23 March: Hawthorne, “Young Goodman Brown.” (2258-67)

Reader: Amanda Hanne

Continue gothic and style

How can you tell both stories are written by the same author?

Why does Hawthorne matter? Even if you might not read him otherwise, why do English teachers constantly return to him?

"style": compare Hawthorne and Poe

examples of critical terms from this course that you can relocate to new subject matter:

Romanticism, Romantic

the romance, gothic, sublime

correspondence, parallelism

today: "style"

Purpose of lesson:

Hawthorne has one of the most distinctive, influential, and widely admired styles in literature--a good way to learn about what's meant by "style."

review Poe, preview Hawthorne  

"personal style"

both "Byronic"

dark, handsome, haunted men of "genius"

Literary style

"Style": combination of literary techniques and subject matter or themes that are associated with a particular writer, which the writer develops over his or her career. With the best writers, it is sometimes impossible to disentangle literary techniques from subject matter (as in Hawthorne's development of the Gothic or Henry James's explorations of consciousness through point-of-view).

Review Poe's Style

Poe's literary techniques:

Musicality, dreaminess, sensory pleasure in language

European gothic: ancient buildings, family curses, esoteric learning

Gothic color scheme: black and white + red or other lurid color ("blood-red moon" at conclusion of "Usher," "drop of ruby fluid" in "Ligeia")

romance narrative as desire & loss

"Excess": Poe piles on superlatives ("the most . . . ") in effort to push consciousness to extremes of fear, sublime, etc.

Poe's subject matter:

Origination and development of popular genres: detective story, science fiction, gothic / horror

death of beautiful woman

Gothic as psychology: haunted castle as haunted mind (correspondence between internal and external worlds)

Hawthorne’s themes / subject matter

(just a start . . . )

Influence of Puritanism (Reformed or Calvinist Protestantism) in New England: "Original Sin," vanity of human wishes even as we try to build heaven on earth
"Black Veil" 2197 The subject had reference to secret sin

some typical gothic materials, but treated lightly, quickly compared to Poe; fanciful rather than absorbed
"Black Veil"  2201 customary walk to graveyard
2198 dead maiden risen from the grave
2201 decay: "good Mr. Hooper's face is dust, but awful is still the thought, that it mouldered beneath the Black Veil!"

gothic as light and dark = states of mind
as in Poe, "correspondence" implied between outward physical world and inner metaphysical world

as with Poe, psychological interests
"Black Veil" 2200 perhaps a symptom of mental disease

light and dark as "shades of gray"
"Black Veil" 2201 a cloud into the sunshine, an ambiguity of sin and sorrow

intrusion of red, pink, scarlet colors (the "scarlet letter"; Faith's ribbon in "Young Goodman Brown")

Hawthorne’s themes / subject matter

Influence of Puritanism (Reformed or Calvinist Protestantism) in New England: "Original Sin," vanity of human wishes even as we try to build heaven on earth
"Black Veil" 2197 The subject had reference to secret sin

Thus imperfection amidst strivings, but can be strangely positive: "tragic beauty"

transience, impermanence of truth, beauty--appears always "on the wing" (cf. Emily Dickinson, Melville, Wallace Stevens)
Scarlet Letter: momentary beauty when Hester & Dimmesdale meet in the woods
"Black Veil" 2197 A sad smile gleamed faintly from beneath the black veil, and flickered about his mouth, glimmering as he disappeared.

Acknowledgement of human sinfulness, frailty, failure can lead to human unity, fellowship; humility as unifying force (Recognizable in Christianity and other world religions)
Scarlet Letter: Hester's humility makes the "A" stand for "Angel"
"Black Veil"2197 Each member of the congregation, the most innocent girl, and the man of hardened breast
2201 Its gloom, indeed, enabled him to sympathize with all dark affections.

Vanity, pride, certainty as divisive, arrogant, controlling of others rather than sharing with others
Scarlet Letter: Dimmesdale's suffering becomes selfish, self-aggrandizing; Chillingworth's sense of being wronged leads him to manipulate Dimmesdale for sake of vengeance
"Black Veil" 2201 love could never reach him (cf. Brown)

gender:
vain, delusionary, obstinate man; sensible, flexible woman who resists categories, fantasies
Scarlet Letter: Hester & Dimmesdale
"Black Veil" 2199 [Elizabeth] entered upon the subject, with a direct simplicity . . . .
2200 And with this gentle, but unconquerable obstinacy, did he resist all her entreaties

No final conclusion or "moral" to dilemmas
"Black Veil" 2201 love could never reach him (cf. Brown)
2201 a very efficient clergyman

Representation of human consciousness as complex, flawed, adventurous but failing--cf. Henry James

Hawthorne's literary techniques

some typical gothic materials, but treated lightly, quickly compared to Poe; fanciful rather than absorbed
"Black Veil"  2201 customary walk to graveyard
2198 dead maiden risen from the grave
2201 decay: "good Mr. Hooper's face is dust, but awful is still the thought, that it mouldered beneath the Black Veil!"

gothic as light and dark = states of mind
as in Poe, "correspondence" implied between outward physical world and inner metaphysical world

as with Poe, psychological interests
"Black Veil" 2200 perhaps a symptom of mental disease

light and dark as "shades of gray"
"Black Veil" 2201 a cloud into the sunshine, an ambiguity of sin and sorrow

intrusion of red, pink, scarlet colors (the "scarlet letter"; Faith's ribbon in "Young Goodman Brown")

correspondence between interior and exterior
"Black Veil" 2198 dimmed the light of the candles
2199 the Earth, too, had on her Black Veil

symbols foregrounded, must be interpreted (but act of interpretation never completed)
"Black Veil" 2199 symbol of a fearful secret
2200 this veil is a type and a symbol
2201 only a material emblem had separated him from happiness
2201 by the aid of this mysterious emblem . . . .

shifting viewpoint
"Black Veil" 2196 [viewpoint] [thrice]
2198 [viewpoint shifts thrice again]

truth as evanescent, ephemeral, transient, elusive: "flickering," "glimmering"
"Black Veil" 2197 A sad smile gleamed faintly from beneath the black veil, and flickered about his mouth, glimmering as he disappeared.
2200 glimmered faintly

qualifiers—may have, could have
(Look for in "Young Goodman Brown"; also see in Melville)

"something"--Hawthorne leaves a void that reader participates in filling
"Black Veil" 2196 . . . there was something, either in the sentiment of the discourse itself, or in the imagination of the auditors, which made it greatly the most powerful effort that they had ever heard from their pastor's lips.
2203 What, but the mystery . . has made this piece of crape so awful
cf. Poe, "Ligeia" 2392: "What was it--that something . . . which lay far within the pupils of my beloved? What was it? . . . we often find ourselves on the very verge of remembering
anticipates Whitman in "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry": "What is it then between us?"

“The Minister’s Black Veil,” 2216-2224.

2196 [viewpoint] [thrice]

2196 something

2197 The subject had reference to secret sin

2197 Each member of the congregation, the most innocent girl, and the man of hardened breast

2197 lighter spirits, the moment they lost sight of the black veil

2197 [physical explanation]

2197 flickered

2197 influence [correspondence]

2197 funeral of a young lady [cf Poe]

2198 [viewpoint shifts thrice again]

2198 a fancy [vision of minister and dead maiden]

2198 dimmed the light of the candles

[romantic correspondence between interior and exterior]

2198 dead maiden risen from the grave

2199 catching a glimpse of [himself], the black veil involved his own spirit

2199 the Earth, too, had on her Black Veil

2199 symbol of a fearful secret

2199 [Elizabeth as sensible woman]

2200 let the sun shine

2200 glimmered faintly

2200 this veil is a type and a symbol

[idea that man is vain, woman sensible]

2200 like a faint glimmering of light

2200 for secret sin, what mortal might not do the same?

2200 so dark a fantasy

2200 perhaps a symptom of mental disease

2200-01 dialogue, cf. Katrina in "Sleepy Hollow"

2201 customary walk to graveyard

faces behind the grave-stones, peeping at his black veil

2201 x-mirror, still fountain

2201 a cloud into the sunshine, an ambiguity of sin and sorrow

2201 love could never reach him (cf. Brown)

2201 a very efficient clergyman

2201 sympathize

influence on legislative measures

shaded candlelight

deepen the gloom of his darksome chamber

corpse sits up

glimmer

What, but the mystery . . has made this piece of crape so awful

decay