HAWTHORNE'S ART AS PHILOSOPHICAL AND SOCIAL METAPHOR (MASSACHUSETTS)
Abstract
This study of the work of Nathaniel Hawthorne places the art in a context that is primarily historical. Drawing on ideas from nineteenth-century social theory and philosophies, the study traces abstract structures in Hawthorne's fiction in order to see relationships between his art and the ideas of his time. By tracing the metaphorical treatment of epistemological problems in Hawthorne's art, this analysis seeks to establish an approach to the fiction that is based on the epistemology Hawthorne enunciates metaphorically. Chapter I deals with the American readership to whom Hawthorne was attempting to sell his art and shows that the genres the artist created were, in part, a result of his awareness that his ideas would not be well received. The second chapter delineates the inner/outer dualism that is at the base of Hawthorne's art and relates that dualism to the role of humankind in society. Chapter III relates the same problem of dualism to the structures of idealism and realism, romantic and common Sense thought. Proposing a hermeneutic circle as the model for Hawthorne's development, this chapter traces his relationship to the epistemologies available in the nineteenth century and places Hawthorne closer to the radical empiricism of William James than to any of the epistemologies current in his time. The final chapters deal with Hawthorne's perspective on two contemporary problems--reform, in Chapter IV, and war, in Chapter V. These chapters present readings of The Blithedale Romance and of three children's books in which Hawthorne puts forth ideas that show he was not as much distanced from the world around him as a great deal of the critical literature has traditionally suggested. Chapter IV is a detailed analysis of the way Hawthorne structured The Blithedale Romance in order to universalize his Brook Farm experience and to discuss aspects of reform movements. Chapter V shows how Hawthorne subtly expressed his pacifist position through the character Laurence, one of the children in the series of books, and provides a reading of "The Gray Champion" that interprets the story as a pacifist statement made during the threats of secession by South Carolina in the 1830s.
Degree
Ph.D.
Subject Area
American literature
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