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Private artist, public author: Role conflict in Hawthorne's short fiction
Abstract
Nathaniel Hawthorne's tales and romances create certain tensions--between the private and public self, the ideal and the real, dream and reality, or an individual and society. He advocates balance between the oppositions of human experience. Tragedy or evil arise when this balance is broken, as is portrayed by the isolated and sometimes dehumanized individuals who destroy themselves or others while pursuing an ideal or an absolute. While these conflicts are often a consequence of the artist's search into the human psyche, they are also reflections of Hawthorne's inner conflicts as a professional writer. In a rapidly changing and industrializing America leaning toward pragmatism and realism, Hawthorne struggled to establish his romanticist's artistic vision and imagination while still securing literary fame and the large audience that would make him self-supporting. His themes and characters were affected by this inner struggle between his private artistic ideals and his practical need for a larger public. These tensions began much earlier than most critics, who focus primarily on the romances, have suggested. Thus, this dissertation concentrates on the connections between these tensions and the problems of isolation and dehumanization in his short works. The introductory chapter provides background for Hawthorne's artistic dilemma, highlighting social changes among writers, publishers and readers, and outlining the general structure of the dissertation. Chapter one shows how sketches and the "Oberon" stories reflect Hawthorne's hopes and dejection as a writer. Chapter two treats the dangers of self-seclusion and dehumanization for artists and the importance of vision for both artist and audience. Chapter three explores his moral and didactic stories. The former delve into a deeper stratum of human psyche where morality cannot be measured by conventional standards, whereas the latter--which Hawthorne found less artistically successful--reveal didactic morals to attract a larger readership. Chapter four concerns the pursuers of the absolute: religious and moral perfectionists, cold and inhumane scientists, and observers who sacrifice human warmth for their intellectual observation. In the concluding chapter, Hawthorne's artistic decline in his later years is seen as the result of the fight between his two struggling selves.
Subject Area
American literature
Recommended Citation
Kim, Young Soo, "Private artist, public author: Role conflict in Hawthorne's short fiction" (1989). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8925247.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8925247