Selected Tales And Sketches (1987) - Plot & Excerpts
Everything I know about about literary criticism was learned in an amazing class on American Lit I took at the University of Colorado back in the 80s. The class itself was not so stunning. The teacher - if you can call him that - was an unenthusiastic resident assistant, and most of my classmates were bored beyond belief. They gorged themselves on Cliff Notes and Monarch Notes and tried to find the sycophantic path that the teacher was seeking from his bleary-eyed sheep. The subject matter was standard American Lit stuff... and a large portion of it was Hawthorne. I had never really encountered his writing before, but I instantly loved it. What I loved more were the discussions lead by a rebellious class mate of mine named Amy Redford - daughter of Robert and now a brilliant filmmaker herself (The Guitar) - who passionately dissected the themes, and styles, and sheer technical writing with the most incredible display of literary acumen I have ever witnessed. With my input from one side of the room and Amy's even more insightful commentary on the other - we unleashed a cataclysm of insight upon the great American authors - particularly Hawthorne. The teacher and our classmates knew not what hit them. For all of our deconstruction/reconstruction of the texts, the great Hawthorne's work not only survived but thrived within our oh-so-opinionated young minds. Story by story we constantly uplifted the brilliance of the writer - and absolutely devoured his work: May Pole, Goodman Brown, the Minister's Black Veil - and particularly Rappaccini's Daughter among others. These discussions enabled the works to come alive to me and continue to do so to this day. Regardless of our jaded contemporary ear for language, Hawthorne remains absolutely relevant and this is one of his greatest collections. For anyone who enjoys a good story - for any one who enjoys thrilling writing - this is a MUST READ. Hemingway, Twain, Steinbeck, Faulkner - sure - great American authors - but HAWTHORNE! Something a cut above. And I have Amy Redford to thank for opening my eyes to that.
If for no other reason than that you get a whole lot of Hawthorne wrapped up in this collection, it rocks. Most of Hawthorne's writing career was in writing what he called tales and sketches (what we might today just call short stories). Essentially, then, with the diversity of the selection in this collection, you get the full range of Hawthorne's interest and skill. Regardless of whether or not you like Hawthorne I suggest picking up this collection, to have as a reference at least--a reference to the American author that, more than any other skilled American author, wrote about the people and places of this fine country. I hate people who say that Hawthorne is good reading only as a critic of the culture and country of the States; I mean only that he included an incredible amount of American history, culture, and landmarks in his writing. All the well-known and favorite stories of Hawthorne are here from, I think, all of his publications: Young Goodman Brown, Alice Doane's Appeal, The Ambitious Guest, The Celestial Railroad, Rappacini's Daughter, The Bosom-Serpent, and others. It's a long and great selection of pieces.The introduction to this collection is worth reading, too. It's an introduction, which are never anything terribly special, but as far as introductions go, Hawthorne deserves an introduction. Hawthorne is so misunderstood, or not understood in any fashion, and under-read that any introduction would suffice as a good one. I don't particularly agree with the introduction that Penguin provides here but, again, it's a fair introduction worth reading.
What do You think about Selected Tales And Sketches (1987)?
A fine collection of Hawthorne's short stories and sketches. Hawthorne created an all new genre for himself--he was a writer who loved the idea of historical fiction but was also quintessentially American--so he created a series of historical fiction and allegory stories set in the early years of a very young country. It is through his writings that readers of literature (for better or worse) learn of the character of his Puritan forefathers and of the long-unsettled feelings against Mother England years before the Revolution. Hawthorne is an unquestionable cornerstone of American fiction.His stories follow a series of themes--the power of guilt on the human mind, the importance of history in the lives of the American people, human nature's knack for wanting just exactly what it shouldn't have, and, of course, the darkness that lies in the depths of man's nature. Some are notably great ("Young Goodman Brown," "The Minister's Black Veil," "The Artist of the Beautiful), Some are not so much ("The Hall of Fantasy," "Alice Doane's Appeal"). And some are just weird ("Rappaccini's Daughter"). However, this set of short stories does show the range and depth of his work. Also look out for a couple moments when he makes fun of the transcendentalists (take that, Emerson). If you enjoyed Hawthorne's novels (but would love something shorter--come on, admit it, we all struggled with "The Scarlet Letter"), I would recommend this collection of short stories.
—Robin Sencenbach
