Delphi Complete Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne (Illustrated) (220 page)
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Authors: NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
Now, as to the arrangement of the Romance; — it begins as an integral and essential part, with my introduction, giving a pleasant and familiar summary of my life in the Consulate at Liverpool; the strange species of Americans, with strange purposes, in England, whom I used to meet there; and, especially, how my countrymen used to be put out of their senses by the idea of inheritances of English property. Then I shall particularly instance one gentleman who called on me on first coming over; a description of him must be given, with touches that shall puzzle the reader to decide whether it is not an actual portrait. And then this Romance shall be offered, half seriously, as the account of the fortunes that he met with in his search for his hereditary home. Enough of his ancestral story may be given to explain what is to follow in the Romance; or perhaps this may be left to the scenes of his intercourse with the old Hospitaller.
The Romance proper opens with Middleton's arrival at what he has reason to think is the neighborhood of his ancestral home, and here he makes application to the old Hospitaller. Middleton shall be described as approaching the Hospital, which shall be pretty literally copied after Leicester's, although the surrounding village must be on a much smaller scale of course. Much elaborateness may be given to this portion of the book. Middleton shall have assumed a plain dress, and shall seek to make no acquaintances except that of the old Hospitaller; the acquaintance of Alice naturally following. The old Hospitaller and he go together to the old Hall, where, as they pass through the rooms, they find that the proprietor is flitting like a ghost before them from chamber to chamber; they catch his reflection in a glass, &c., &c. When these have been wrought up sufficiently, shall come the scene in the wood, where Eldredge is seen yielding to the superstition that he has inherited, respecting the old secret of the family, on the discovery of which depends the enforcement of his claim to a title. All this while, Middleton has appeared in the character of a man of no note; and now, through some political change, not necessarily told, he receives a packet addressed to him as an ambassador, and containing a notice of his appointment to that dignity. A paragraph in the “Times” confirms the fact, and makes it known in the neighborhood. Middleton immediately becomes an object of attention; the gentry call upon him; the Mayor of the neighboring county-town invites him to dinner, which shall be described with all its antique formalities. Here he meets Eldredge, who is surprised, remembering the encounter in the wood; but passes it all off, like a man of the world, makes his acquaintance, and invites him to the Hall. Perhaps he may make a visit of some time here, and become intimate, to a certain degree, with all parties; and here things shall ripen themselves for Eldredge's attempt upon his life.
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This short story collection was first published in two volumes; the first being released in the spring of 1837 and the second in 1842. The stories had all been previously published in magazines and annuals, hence the name ‘twice-told tales’.
Hawthorne had been encouraged to collect these previously anonymous stories by his friend Horatio Bridge, who offered $250 to cover the risk of the publication.
Many had been published in
The Token
, edited by Samuel Griswold Goodrich. When the works became popular, Bridge revealed Hawthorne as the author in a review he published in the
Boston Post.
By June 1847, between 600 and 700 copies were sold but sales were soon halted by the Panic of 1837 and the publisher went out of business within a year.
Hawthorne struggled financially and the editor John L. O'Sullivan suggested he should buy back unsold copies so that they could be reissued through a different publisher. At the time of this suggestion, 1844, there were 600 unsold copies of the book. Hawthorne lamented, “I wish Heaven would make me rich enough to buy the copies for the purpose of burning them.”
After the success of
The Scarlet Letter
in 1850,
Twice-Told Tales
was reissued with the help of publisher James Thomas Fields. In a new preface, Hawthorne wrote that the stories “may be understood and felt by anybody, who will give himself the trouble to read it, and will take up the book in a proper mood.”
About a week after the publication of the book, Hawthorne sent a copy to his fellow classmate from Bowdoin College, the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Longfellow had given a speech at their commencement calling for notable contributions to American literature. By this time, Longfellow was working at Harvard University and was becoming popular as a poet. Hawthorne wrote to him, “We were not, it is true, so well acquainted at college, that I can plead an absolute right to inflict my 'twice-told' tediousness upon you; but I have often regretted that we were not better known.” In his 14-page critique in the April issue of the North American Review, Longfellow praised the book as a work of genius.
“To this little book”, Longfellow wrote, “we would say, 'Live ever, sweet, sweet book.' It comes from the hand of a man of genius.”
Edgar Allan Poe wrote a well-known two-part review of this short story collection, published in the April and May 1842 issues of the
Broadway Journal
. Poe criticised Hawthorne's reliance on allegory and the didactic, something he called a “heresy” to American literature. He did, however, express praise at the use of short stories and said they “rivet the attention” of the reader. Poe added, “The style of Hawthorne is purity itself. His tone is singularly effective — wild, plaintive, thoughtful, and in full accordance with his themes.”
The first edition