The Old Manse by Nathaniel Hawthorne
"The Old Manse" by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a reflective piece that serves as an introduction to his collection "Mosses from an Old Manse," published in 1846. Rather than following the narrative arc typical of short stories, this work is classified as a mood piece, characterized by its tranquil and descriptive nature. It evokes a sense of rustic peace and domestic happiness, detailing Hawthorne's life with his family in Concord, Massachusetts, in a house once owned by the philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. The piece offers vignettes of notable contemporaries, including Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, providing insight into the intellectual milieu of the time. Although it lacks dramatic conflict and climax, "The Old Manse" has been appreciated by literary enthusiasts for its serene portrayal of life and its rich contextual background. This work is particularly relevant for those interested in the Transcendentalist movement and the literary heritage of 19th-century America. The Old Manse itself has been preserved as a national monument, further underscoring its cultural significance.
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The Old Manse by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1846 (collected in Mosses from an Old Manse, 1846)
Type of work: Essay
The Work
“The Old Manse” is an example of the kind of short pieces that Hawthorne published in collections of short stories, although they were not stories but sketches or essays. Other notable examples of such rambling descriptive pieces, which Hawthorne loved to write, are “The Toll Bridge” and “Rills from the Town Pump” in his Twice-Told Tales. As Poe pointed out in his famous review of that book, these nonfiction pieces are characterized by a feeling that Poe called repose. They arc almost in the opposite manner of short stories, in that nothing dramatic ever happens in them. Modern editors frequently refer to such works as “mood pieces.” There is no conflict; they do not have much of a point and do not build to any sort of climax.
Consequently, such pieces are now mostly popular with literary connoisseurs and not with the modern reader conditioned to expect thrills and titillation in his reading matter.
“The Old Manse” was first published as an introduction to a collection of Hawthorne’s short pieces titled Mosses from an Old Manse (1846), which contained such excellent short stories as “The Birthmark” and “Rappaccini’s Daughter.” Although “The Old Manse” is not a short story at all, it does evoke a mood of rustic peace and domestic bliss. It also contains interesting thumbnail descriptions of his famous neighbors Emerson and Thoreau. In this introduction, Hawthorne describes his contented life with his wife and children in a big house in Concord, which had formerly been the home of Emerson. It was called The Old Manse and has been preserved for posterity as a national monument.
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