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The Blithedale Romance
A Norton Critical Edition
Series: Norton Critical Editions
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See moreThis new Norton Critical Edition of Hawthorne’s innovative 1852 novel helps readers navigate and appreciate its elusive plot, powerful characters, and maddening narrator.
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Description
This Norton Critical Edition of The Blithedale Romance is based on the Centenary Edition of the Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne, widely considered the best available edition. It is accompanied by explanatory annotations to help readers with Hawthorne's many historical and literary references, as well as with other possible sources of difficulty in the text.
The section on "Contexts" is thematically organised and includes a rich and varied selection of materials, both public and private, focusing on Hawthorne's inspirations for the novel. Included are letters, excerpts from journals, published accounts of Brook Farm and the growth of antebellum social reform, Hawthorne's letters to Sophia Peabody and Louisa Hawthorne about his first days at Brook Farm, and later letters describing his growing reservations about and decision to leave the utopian community. The Blithedale Romance raises interesting questions about the role of women, the popularity of mesmerism, and the growth of cities in mid-nineteenth-century America. Contributions from Margaret Fuller, Charles Baudelaire, and Hawthorne, among others, provide invaluable insight.
The "Criticism" section begins with major contemporary reviews by Herman Melville, William B. Pike, George S. Hillard, James T. Fields, Henry Fothergill Chorley, and others that suggest The Blithedale Romance's initial reception. "Selections from Classic Studies" reprints key excerpts from influential essays published through the 1970s, including those by Henry James, D. H. Lawrence, Irving Howe, and James McIntosh.
"Recent Criticism" collects a striking range of scholarly interpretation by Nina Baym, Joel Pfister, Gillian Brown, Richard H. Brodhead, Lauren Berlant, Russ Castronovo, Robert S. Levine, and Richard H. Millington.
A Chronology and a Selected Bibliography are also included.
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This Norton Critical Edition of The Blithedale Romance is based on the Centenary Edition of the Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne, widely considered the best available edition. It is accompanied by explanatory annotations to help readers with Hawthorne's many historical and literary references, as well as with other possible sources of difficulty in the text. The section on "Contexts" is thematically...Paperback$4699Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
The Blithedale Romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne is praised for its intricate exploration of utopian ideals and human complexities. Reviewers commend Hawthorne for his rich character development and the novel’s depiction of challenges within communal living. Some critiques note the melancholic undertones and Hawthorne's skill in weaving a reflective narrative, highlighting both the optimism and disillusionment in seeking societal reform.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780393928617
Publisher: WW Norton & Co
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 03 January 2011
Country: United States
Imprint: WW Norton & Co
Edition: Critical edition
Contributors:
- Edited by Richard H. Millington
Audience: Adult education
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 25.0mm
Width: 130.0mm
Height: 213.0mm
Weight: 359g
Pages: 432
About the Author
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE was four years old when his father, a sea captain, died in 1808. He grew up under the roof of his maternal uncles in Salem, Massachusetts, and attended Bowdoin College in Maine, where he discovered his vocation as a writer. The publication of his short story “Young Goodman Brown” in 1835 was followed by the collections Twice-Told Tales (1837) and Mosses from an Old Manse (1846). The latter took its name from the house in Concord, Massachusetts, where he and his wife, Sophia, lived after their marriage in 1842. Unable to earn a living from his writing, he sought employment as a government bureaucrat, first in the Salem Custom House and later as United States consul in Liverpool, England. Despite his chronic financial insecurity, he continued to produce such notable works as The Scarlet Letter (1850), The House of the Seven Gables (1851), The Blithedale Romance (1852), and The Marble Faun (1860). He died in Plymouth, New Hampshire, in 1864. Richard H. Millington is Sylvia Dlugasch Bauman Professor of American Studies and Professor of English at Smith College. He is the author of Practicing Romance: Narrative Form and Cultural Engagement in Hawthorne’s Fiction and of essays on Hawthorne and Willa Cather. He co-edited Hitchcock’s America, which includes his essay on North By Northwest.
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