HAWTHORNE: A Critical Study

by Hyatt H. Waggoner ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

This is a zealous and in some ways fresh study of the New England novelist and writer. Analyzing each story and novel in great detail, Hawthorne is shown as a moralist and allegorist, affiliated with Spenser and Bunyan, and placed in direct relation to orthodox Christianity as opposed to the liberal Christianity which prevailed in his day. Hawthorne is further defined as a conservative and a poet, a moralist of the heart, and an anti-intellectual. In all of these aspects he is seen as having more importance for the future, than for the positivist and behaviorist past. This is Waggoner's theme- and it is argued cogently if without charm. As such it provides a solid place of literary exegesis-- important for students and critics rather than the general reader.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1955

Categories: NONFICTION