Review article
This Small Man of Yesterday: A Neohistorical Perusal of Nathaniel Hawthorne
Tihomir Živić
orcid.org/0000-0002-6688-6882
; Odsjek za kulturologiju
Abstract
The aim of the research is a circumstantiation that Nathaniel Hawthorne’s literary work, and notably his Scarlet Letter, have always endorsed a clear idea pertaining to the achievement of the New English national unity. A vivid Biblical imagery, or sometimes even the ingrained Puritan prejudices that were still held by most of the New Englanders of Hawthorne’s period, were used to accomplish this purpose. Hawthorne believed that only togetherness could save the Union in crucial political moments, and thus he was ready to forgive his compatriots many costly mistakes that were made during their common history. In what was often referred to as America’s “promised land,” exactly this hereditary trait of Hawthorne’s generosity was paternally demonstrated in many cases. Methodologically, it has also empowered Hawthorne to be the prime torchbearer of Joseph Conrad’s grandiose but slightly diabolical scheme of one’s “heart of darkness” existent in still not gingerly explored and densely populated New England of his times. To Hawthorne, with a resulting implication extended as far as to the present, a new “chosen people” has started to wage a bitter struggle for the assurance of its survival therein while permeating it with its all-pervading gloom.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
135402
URI
Publication date:
24.2.2015.
Visits: 1.277 *