Although Poe and Hawthorne were contemporaries and often
reviewed each other’s’ work, they never met face-to-face or put their minds
together in collaboration over a work. That being said, times have changed.
Even if correspondences today are confined to brief emails and witty tweets, a
picture is still worth a thousand words. Therefore, a snapchat conversation
between the two greatest American writers of the time could have spoken
dictionaries of dialogue.
In a review of Hawthorne’s “Twice-Told Tales,” Poe says that
there had been no “American tales of high merit… no skillful compositions –
nothing which could bear examination as works of art,” save for a select few,
until Hawthorne came along. Before him, bookshelves across American homes housed
a “superabundance” of “melodramaticisms” –a “nauseating surfeit of low
miniature copying of low life…” In generous praise for Hawthorne however, Poe
says that within Hawthorne’s work, “there is not a single piece which would do
dishonor to the best of the British essayists.” He deems Hawthorne’s style as
“purity itself.”
While Hawthorne is generally thankful for the favorable
reviews, he confesses to Poe that “I admire you rather as a writer of tales
than as a critic upon them. I might often… dissent from your opinions in the
latter capacity, but could never fail to recognize your force and originality.”
Just as Hawthorne releases a new work, “Mosses from an Old
Manse,” and sends Poe a request to review it, he moves to Concord,
Massachusetts, into the Old Manse house, where Ralph Waldo Emerson had formerly
lived.
Poe, antagonistic toward Emerson’s Transcendentalist work,
then criticizes Hawthorne’s new piece and says, “Let [Hawthorne] mend his pen,
get a bottle of visible ink, [and] come out from the Old Manse.”
However, Hawthorne rejected Transcendentalism as well. He,
like Poe, was a Dark Romantic, a writer who wrote of individualism and
imagination rooted in passion and emotion. Unlike the Romantics and Transcendentalists,
he and Poe weren’t optimistic about humanity. They did not find the beauty in
human nature. Instead, they explored the darker sides of man, the primordial
evil that exists in every man’s chest and ultimately causes his own
destruction.
For example, in “Young Goodman Brown,” Goodman Brown
acknowledges that “evil is the nature of mankind.” After finding his wife in
cohorts with the devil along with the rest of his town, he becomes “maddened
with despair” and rushes onward “with the instinct that guides mortal man to
evil.” In this story, evil is the ultimate equalizer. The hierarchy that
society had established – the church deacons, the reverends, the court leaders
– are all at the mercy of the desire to sin, for “the deep mystery of sin…
supplies more evil impulses than human power.” The devil reveals to Goodman
Brown that though “Ye had still hoped that virtue were not all a dream, now are
ye undeceived… Evil must be your only happiness.” This quote in particular can
perhaps be taken as a manifestation for Hawthorne’s contempt for the Transcendentalists
and traditional Romanics. In this honest revelation about the truth of human
nature, Hawthorne, like Poe in The Black
Cat, draws on the disappointment, that loss of innocence that accompanies
the realization that evil, not inherent goodness, is at the crux of the human
identity.
The two writers were more like-minded than they knew.
Therefore, had they communicated in the 21st century today, perhaps
they could have been friends, if not snapchat buddies. Below is summary of
their dialogue above, represented for the generation of pictures. Had they
possessed such a medium in their day, who knows what kinds of magnificent (if
not downright depressing) works they could have collaborated to produce.
This is another good post. Poe stirred up quite a bit of trouble with his reviews, which were often sharp and biting--even snarky, to use a contemporary idiom. He earned many enemies and much fame, just as people do today when they are bold with their criticism. But there are few critics so honest (or at least negative) today as Poe. We live in an ague of milquetoast reviews and criticism, where being honest about negative views is a rare thing, perhaps because of fear of retribution in the literary world. Poe had no such fears, though judging from his fiction, this may have been the only fear he didn't actually possess. Nice work, Yael.
ReplyDeleteYael, I think your snap chat is so cool! Such a brilliant idea! I love how you incorporate modern day technology to portray a conversation that could have occurred between Hawthorne and Poe. I especially agree with your statement that “a picture is still worth a thousand words.”
ReplyDeleteIn addition I think it is really interesting how you explore the relationship that these two authors may have had. I think by doing this it adds so much more to the readings of the different literature. By understanding where authors stand in a social and historic sense it really adds an appreciation for their works. It helps to understand the perspective of the author and from where they are coming from, ultimately lending itself to understanding their literary works better. For example, you explain how Hawthorne and Poe both rejected Transcendentalism and were also both pessimistic about human nature. You explain how they “explored the darker sides of man.” By understanding the perspective that both Hawthorne and Poe took we can perhaps better understand their writings.
In “Young Goodman Brown,” written by Hawthorne, we see how Goodman Brown finds out that the people he trusts, such as his very own wife, are in fact involved in evil and cooperating with the devil. Hawthorne may be trying to portray the idea that although we may think we know other people, even those closest to us, in truth we do not. Every person has dark skeletons hidden away in their closet. We may or may not discover those carefully guarded secrets, yet according to Hawthorne’s portrayal, the fact remains that humans are not inherently good, and these secrets could well in fact be horrifying to the discoverer. “The Fall of the House of Usher”, written by Poe also depicts this idea of humans being inherently evil and sinister. Throughout the short story it appears as if Usher has some sort of dark secret that he is attempting to hide.
By analyzing the backgrounds of these authors we are better able to grasp the thought processes that must have taken place to enable the writings of these stories. I really like how you began this exploration, and helped me to gain a greater appreciation for the literature we have read thus far.
It is a very creative and interesting idea to place old contemporaries into modern times. I wonder however, if modern technology in fact would have fostered their relationship or hindered it. Poe and Hawthorne were a lot more similar to each other than just their genre of writing. They were both against the Transcendentalist movement, although it is quite likely that Poe didn't realize this and was under the impression that Hawthorne wasn't as anti transcendentalism as he was in reality due to the fact that he moved to Concord, the hometown of Emerson. Perhaps an easier correspondence would've prevented such a miscommunication, changing Poe's somewhat negative review of "Mosses from an Old Manse." Moreover, both Poe and Hawthorne did not approve of the abolitionist movement. Hawthorne seemed downright uninterested in his sister-in-law's, anti-slavery pamphlet. Likewise, Poe responded to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's book of anti-slavery poetry even more negatively stating that it was "intended for the especial use of those negrophillic old ladies of the north." Additionally, the women in each of their lives were supportive of the Transcendentalist movement that they both despised.
ReplyDeleteHowever, often distance can foster admiration and make the heart grow fonder. Although these author's styles are unquestionably similar, perhaps the immediate gratification characteristic of today's social media would've exacerbated their differences rather than have complemented their similarities. Hawthorne often incorporates religion, personal guilt, or a lesson into his works, whereas Poe seems to write solely for the craft itself. Poe concludes his stories darkly like he ended "The Masque of the Red Death" with "and darkness, and decay, and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all," rather than explicitly stating something the reader should learn. By contrast, Hawthorne always includes a moral. In his tale of "Young Goodman Brown," Brown's last words that he shouts before awakening from his nightmare are "look up to heaven and resist the wicked one!" In "Rappaccini's Daughter" there is an obvious allegorical reference to the garden of Eden. Hawthorne is somewhat of an idealist compared to Poe who was a complete realist. The allegorical nature of Hawthorne’s works isn’t prevalent in Poe’s works. Hawthorne’s writings have a more depressing tone compared to the ominous tones incorporated by Poe. Poe’s short stories take one through the process of the narrator’s intellect or craziness, while Hawthorne’s works are less forthcoming. I wonder, would Poe and Hawthorne have held each other in such high esteem given the opportunity to discuss their views on literature as an art in more depth?
I thoroughly enjoyed your post Yael, it was insightful and entertaining. The proposition of placing these two literary contemporaries in modern times is very interesting, more so for our inability to accurately predict if technology would assist or hinder their relationship. As Yael noted, both writers rejected transcendentalism in favor of the Gothic, or Dark Romanticism. Rachel pointed out additional similarities between the two authors like their dislike of the abolitionist movement. Rachel then discusses their differences in regard to the use of allegories and poses the question “would Poe and Hawthorne have held each other in such high esteem given the opportunity to discuss their views on literature as an art in more depth?” I would like to propose that the ability to communicate with greater ease would not foster dislike in Poe and Hawthorne for each other.
ReplyDeletePoe and Hawthorne are not quite so different in regard to the use of allegories. As we discussed in class Poe can’t seem to help himself from weaving allegories into his works. In Poe’s stories evil is always punished, the murderer is found out, the incestuous brother destroyed and the cruel prince gets his just deserts. The resolution of his story is idealistic and contains a moral. While Poe incorporates the moral in a far more subtle matter than Hawthorne and appears more interested in the art of telling the story than in conveying the moral, the moral is nonetheless present. Poe doesn’t completely divorce the aesthetic of storytelling from the moral, thereby exhibiting interest in the moral as well.
Hawthorne and Poe as contemporaries were both interested in the “primordial evil that exists in every man’s chest” as Yael so eloquently put. They both explore the darker sides of man. True enough their stories take on different styles, one might be depressing while the other ominous, but they were both intrigued by the same basic concepts. Perhaps their differences in approaching the literary exploration of man’s dark side would actually serve to make them more interesting to each other. As now they would each have a colleague with the same interest that could offer different insights and propose ideas the other would not have thought of.
Interesting concept, Yael. It's funny to picture the two authors 'hanging-out,' so-to-speak. Their writings do bear some curious similarities, and some interesting points of divergence.
ReplyDeleteFrom what little we've learned about their lives, it seems like Poe wrote more sensationalist stories to market his work, while Hawthorne; old-fashioned, religious, and more financially comfortable, was able to imbue his writings with more social-commentary.
As Sara mentioned above, both make good use of allegories in their work, whether consciously or not. Despite Poe's harsher life circumstance, one could make a case for his greater optimism. Hawthorne's allegorical stories end on depressing notes, perhaps to spur the reader into action. Conversely, while Poe's stories bear a far more ominous tone throughout, his stories always punish the sinners, an interesting gesture giving Poe's lack of faith. One has to wonder why Poe would do this, or who exactly Poe would have as punishing these people.
It could be that Poe is considering his audience and inserting the most dramatic ending he can. Alternatively, you can work off the fact that most of Poe's victims are self-outing and say that the 'spirit-of-perverseness' betrays even its host in the end. All of the situations presented in Poe's stories are untenable in some way or another, and their ultimate destructive ends give the readers a sense of relief.
Given Poe's circumstances, it's not hard to see why relief is the happiest it gets.
While Hawthorne's stories are more pessimistic, his evil is distinct from Poe's in that it tends to come from without. While Goodman Brown ultimately sinned, he was not the source of the sin, and he maintained his moral-sense enough to be depressed with his situation at the end. Giovvanni, while not a particularly nice character, seemed ultimately a pawn in the schemes of Rappaccini and Baglioni. You can sort of see Hawthorne as the impassive observer in these two stories, writing from a standpoint of moralizing or intellectual curiosity, but without a deep emotional connection to the specific form of the evil in the story. (Indeed, the sins of Young Goodman Brown and even Rappaccini and Baglioni are far more ambiguous than most of Poe's characters').
Poe, on the other hand, gets right in the characters’ heads in a consciously uncomfortable way, and one can kind of feel like he might be channeling his experiences with alcoholism.
Really interesting post Yael! I like how you present the relationship between Poe and Hawthorne. Like you and other commentators mentioned, their writings play off of each other very well, considering that they never met face to face.
ReplyDeleteI think they have been compared/contrasted enough, but on a tangential note, I got to thinking about the relationship, or lack of, between the two literary giants.
I always wonder about the contact that existed between famous contemporaries. It makes sense, that if groundbreaking individuals were lauded at the time for being exemplary at their craft, they would have been acquainted with other such praised individuals. It’s not such a far jump to say they these people would have formed groups consisting of other like minded individuals whose craft followed similar philosophies, forming groups of artists musicians and writers. Those groups would foster political and philosophical discussions among influential writers or artists.
Mary Shelly, Percy Shelley, and Lord Byron had spent a summer together, and their discussions galvanized the writing of Frankenstein. The transcendentalists that Poe so despised had their own Transcendentalist Club, of which Emerson was a founding member. They would meet and voice their thoughts and idealisms, and were the root of the transcendentalist movement. In more modern times, literary figures of the post WWI era, called the Lost Generation, assembled as group of expats in Paris, and consisted of such diverse individuals as Hemingway and Fitzgerald. Even more recently, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkien, would join other writers of similar interests in a literary group called The Inklings to discuss narrative fiction and fantasy.
I find it a pity that Poe and Hawthorne had not met face to face. They probably could have benefited immensely from each other’s acquaintance, and would have discovered further intricacies within their abilities, especially because of their similar philosophies. Also, I kind of like the idea of them being able to convene over a cup of tea and a strong pipe to discuss, in mutual respect, how “we like the dark stuff.”
Okay, first and foremost, I LOVE the Snapchat. Great job. References to modern or pop culture used anachronistically gets me every time. So props to you.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Poe, which we will now, reminds me of 12th and 13th century rabbis' works, and how they criticized each other. Specifically, Maimonides, who called out those he disagreed with. In my Talmud class, we just went over a commentator (actually, a collective group of commentators known as 'Tossefot,' meaning "extra" in Hebrew) who spoke about his contemporary scholars and refers to their remarks as "There are those who are mistaken and think that the Talmud intended this and that..." The scholar Abraham Ibn Ezra, who commented on the Bible and considered himself an literal interpreter of the text without assigning it a "meaning" or "lesson", would call out Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchak, better known as Rashi, for his citing Talmudic teachings in place of explaining the literal meanings of the word. To be fair, Rashi and Ibn Ezra were motivated to complete two different tasks.
In any case, Ibn Ezra consturcted a poem about Rashi, and referred to him as "our great teacher" among other beautiful and respectful things. When these scholars criticized each other, they could only do so because they had the utmost respect for each other and their respective works. They shared a love of the Bible and Jewish Law.
I think Poe's critiques can be seen as harsh toward others, but they're rooted in a profound sense of respect and love for what he did.
ReplyDeleteYael, I really appreciate your use of images in this blog post. I want to focus on the last snap chat you created where you have the simple black rose with the caption “we like the dark stuff”. A black rose is typically used as a symbol for black magic, specifically in gothic literature. Poe didn’t invent horror or the gothic, but as we know, Poe gets credit for modern horror stories.
Hawthorne, in his own right, is considered a dark romantic writer. Their styles were similar and lead to common themes, themes that reappear in a lot of gothic literature. The black rose has also, on a universal level, symbolized death or hatred. The image you showed, for me, channeled some of the chilling imagery that Poe and Hawthorne create in their writing think of any gory detail from The Black Cat or Rappaccini's Daughter). The symbol of death is two sided. First, there is the actual death. Second, there is a metaphorical death, the death of one’s identity or thoughts. This thought brought me to another one of your snap chats and an idea you mentioned in your post. You had said, “Poe…criticizes Hawthorne’s new piece and says, ‘Let [Hawthorne] mend his pen, get a bottle of visible ink, [and] come out from the Old Manse’”. This brought me to the thought that Poe may have felt Hawthorne had lost his identity. Professor Miller wrote in his response, “We live in an age of milquetoast reviews and criticism, where being honest about negative views is a rare thing, perhaps because of fear of retribution in the literary world”. That is our time, yet in their time it was more accepted to criticize, and such criticism fostered creativity, genuine questions, and a deeper conversation. If we were that free to antagonize our peers, I wonder if that would foster better relationships or break down our fragile self esteem.
In another section of your blog, Yael, you say, “Hawthorne, like Poe in The Black Cat, draws on the disappointment, that loss of innocence that accompanies the realization that evil, not inherent goodness, is at the crux of the human identity”. Then further down in your snap chat images you emphasize this point by showing Hawthorne saying that “evil is the nature of mankind”. I combined that thought with Tamar’s eloquent comment, “By analyzing the backgrounds of these authors we are better able to grasp the thought processes that must have taken place to enable the writings of these stories”. It makes me think about the difference between their generation and ours. They were inspired by disappointment and evil, and the criticism they received seems to have fueled their imaginations. The difference in their approach to hardships and ours is something I think about a lot. In our generation, to paraphrase what you said, “we don’t like the dark stuff”. We prefer to stay on the safe side of things, the more benign and calm side. We are afraid to channel the darker sides of ourselves and, as a result, we are missing out on a lot of creativity that Hawthorne and Poe, who did channel that inner darkness, were able to utilize and bring out in their literary works.
I loved your post! It was interesting, creative, and informative. With that said, it may be a bit over-assuming to suggest that because both Hawthorne and Poe wrote literature of the darker variety that they should have written something together to make a masterpiece. I think that in doing so, neither's greatness would be able to shine. They had such different styles and views, and although they appreciated the other's work, it does not mean that they could have written well together. Of course the opposite is entirely plausible as well, that they could have come up with a masterpiece that far out-read either of their best works. It is just not my opinion. The modern spin on their would-be dialogue is entertaining. It's an accomplishment to take the old and put a new spin on it and have it still remain authentic. Well done.
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