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  • A time capsule

  • Wordy, pedantic, familial soap-opera... yes, yes, and yes.

    As much is made of Hawthorne's mastery of the English language, his style doesn't translate to the modern reader terribly well in The House of the Seven Gables. Many reviews here criticize the slow-moving story line, frequent digress ... Continue

    Wordy, pedantic, familial soap-opera... yes, yes, and yes.

    As much is made of Hawthorne's mastery of the English language, his style doesn't translate to the modern reader terribly well in The House of the Seven Gables. Many reviews here criticize the slow-moving story line, frequent digressions, and over-abundance of adjectives. Be that as it may, it's a wonderful period view of New England society. I, too, found the first half to be difficult going much of the way, but the detailed snapshot of life in the mid-19th century kept me going.

    It's not a horror story, it's a time capsule.

    

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• ― Andyberschauer said on Oct 27, 2009 about the Hardcover edition| Add your feedback

This all-new edition of Hawthorne's celebrated 1851 novel is based on The Ohio State University Press's Centenary Edition of the Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne. It is accompanied by thorough explanatory annotations and an insightful introduction to the novel and antebellum culture by Robert S. Levine.

"Contexts" brings together a generous selection of primary materials intended to provide readers with background on the novel's central themes. Historical documents include accounts of Salem's history by Thomas Maule, Robert Calef, Joseph B. Felt, and Charles W. Upham, which Hawthorne drew on for The House of the Seven Gables. The importance of the house in antebellum America—as a manifestation of the body, a site of genealogical history, and a symbol of the republic's middle class—is explored through the diverse writings of William Andrus Alcott, Edgar Allan Poe, and J. H. Agnew, among others. The impact of technological developments on the novel, especially of daguerreotypy, is considered through the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Gustave de Beaumont, and Alexis de Tocqueville, among others. Also included are two of Hawthorne's literary sketches—"Alice Doane's Appeal" and "The Old Apple Dealer"—that demonstrate the continuity of Hawthorne's style, from his earlier periodical writing to his later career as a novelist.

"Criticism" provides a comprehensive overview of the critical commentary on the novel from its publication to the present. Among the twenty-seven critics represented are Herman Melville, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Henry James, Nina Baym, Eric Sundquist, Richard H. Millington, Alan Trachtenberg, Amy Schrager Lang, and Christopher Castiglia.

A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are also included.

About the Series: No other series of classic texts equals the caliber of the Norton Critical Editions. Each volume combines the most authoritative text available with the comprehensive pedagogical apparatus necessary to appreciate the work fully. Careful editing, first-rate translation, and thorough explanatory annotations allow each text to meet the highest literary standards while remaining accessible to students. Each edition is printed on acid-free paper and every text in the series remains in print. Norton Critical Editions are the choice for excellence in scholarship for students at more than 2,000 universities worldwide.

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• FictionAmerica1001 books to read before you dieGothicClassic