About this book
A superb depiction of a utopian community that cannot survive the individual passions of its members. In language that is suggestive and often erotic, Nathaniel Hawthorne tells a tale of failed possibilities and multiple personal betrayals as he explores the contrasts between what his characters espouse and what they actually experience in an 'ideal' community. A theme of unrealized sexual possibilities serves as a counterpoint to the other failures at Blithedale: class and sex distinctions are not eradicated, and communal work on the farm proves personally unrewarding and economically disastrous. Based in part on Hawthorne's own experiences at Brook Farm, an experimental socialist community, The Blithedale Romance is especially timely in light of renewed interest in self-sufficient and other cooperative societies.
From the rear cover
A group of Utopians, dispirited by a mid-nineteenth-century America they view as dissolute, takes to the pastoral life, but finds little satisfaction in its socialist living experiments. Little by little, the members' hypocrisies, contradictions, and ideological and economic paradoxes are exposed--even as they attempt to create the ideal community.
Among the group are Hollingsworth, an idealistic but egotistical reformer; Zenobia, an ardent feminist and exotic beauty; Priscilla, her frail and mysterious sister; Old Moodie, the sisters' manipulative father; Westervelt, a demonic mesmerist; and Miles Coverdale, whose narrative of the Blithedale experiment reveals the sexist and classist oppression permeating the Utopian group.
First published in 1852, The Blithedale Romance was based in part on Hawthorne's disillusioning experiences with the Brook Farm experimental community near Boston in 1841. An engrossing novel about love, idealism, and politics tragically gone amiss, this captivating work bristles with the author's perceptive wit and intelligence.
First Edition Identification
Ticknor, Reed and Fields published a First Printing, First Edition in Coston, 1852. The hardcover is bound in brown cloth, blind stamped boards, and gilt lettering on the spine. Chapman and Hall published a First Edition in London, 1852. The hardcover is bound in brown cloth, stamped blind and lettered in gilt.
Details
- Title The Blithedale Romance
- Author Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Binding Paperback
- Edition [ Edition: Repri
- Pages 176
- Volumes 1
- Language ENG
- Publisher Dover Publications
- Date 2003-07
- ISBN 9780486426846 / 048642684X
- Weight 0.3 lbs (0.14 kg)
- Dimensions 8.22 x 5.3 x 0.43 in (20.88 x 13.46 x 1.09 cm)
- Ages 14 to UP years
- Grade levels 9 - UP
-
Themes
- Chronological Period: 19th Century
- Cultural Region: New England
- Demographic Orientation: Rural
- Geographic Orientation: Massachusetts
- Library of Congress subjects Psychological fiction, Autobiographical fiction
- Library of Congress Catalog Number 2003040966
- Dewey Decimal Code FIC
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