NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE'S SKETCHES: DEFINITION, CLASSIFICATION, AND ...

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NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE'S SKETCHES: DEFINITION, CLASSIFICATION, AND ANALYSIS

THESIS

Presented to the Graduate Council of the North Texas State University in Partial

Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the Degr.ee of

MASTER OF ARTS By

Kathleen 0. Kelly, B. A. Denton, Texas May, 1975

Kelly, Kathleen 0., Nathaniel"a thorne's Sketches: Definition, Classification, and Analysis. Master of Arts (English), May, 1975, 122 pp., bibliography, 119 titles.

Nathaniel Hawthorne's sketches, as distinguished from his tales, fall into three main types: the essay-sketch, the sketch-proper, and the vignette-sketch. A definition of these works includes a brief discussion of their inception, source, and development, and a study of the individual pieces as representative of types within each of the three main divisions.

A consideration of the sketches from their inception through their final form reveals a great deal of the formative process of some of Hawthorne's ideas of literature and of the development of specific techniques to cope with his themes. A study of the sketches as a group and individually provides a clearer basis for a study of Hawthorne's other works.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter

Page

I. INTRODUCTION..0.

........*.. . .... .0 1

II. DEFINITION OF THE SKETCH AND DISTINCTION FROM

THE TALE PROPER . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4

III. DEVELOPMENT OF STYLE: PRECEDENTS, INFLUENCES,

AND INNOVATION ....... ...........

18

IV. THE ESSAY SKETCH ..................

38

V. THE SKETCH PROPER ...

.....

.

67

VI. THE VIGNETTE SKETCH . . . . .. 0.0.0.. . .

87

VII. CONCLUSION...........................

106

APPENDIX ....

a 0 ..a . . . . . . . . . . . .

109

BIBLIOGRAPHY . . 0.0.0 .

.111

iii

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Nathaniel Hawthorne's shorter narrative works form an important area for consideration as a step in the development of the American short story. Many of Hawthorne's most famous tales, "My Kinsman, Major Molineaux" and "Young Goodman Brown," for example, are easily recognized as completely unified and distinctly whole artistic creations capable of standing on the merits of their fully developed plot structures and the details of characterization, narrative flow, and neatly-tied conclusions of the modern short story genre. Many of Hawthorne's short works, however, do not fit into this short story or "tale proper" category. Hawthorne often referred to these works merely as "articles"; however, more distinct labelling appears justifiable upon closer examination. An analysis of his works' early acceptance, a study of the sources from which he drew his materials, and a close look at the methods through which the individual sketches (as classified into the groups of essay, sketch proper, and vignette sketch) achieve their specific goals will define the sketch as a unique contribution to American literature.

A survey of the opinions that Hawthorne's works first met with reveals that the acceptance of the sketch as Hawthorne

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wrote it was slow in coming. Early critics praised Hawthorne's originality; a few of them analyzed his work and appreciated its uniqueness, but the general reception of his work was, as Hawthorne admitted, restrained. Furthermore, Hawthorne's own analysis of his early sketches reveals an increasing concern over their acceptance and a continual striving for a fit medium for the themes and effects he was concerned with presenting. Chapter one of this study, "Definition of the Sketch and Distinction from the Tale Proper," delineates the progress of Hawthorne's first works, including contemporaneous critical reviews and Hawthorne's own estimation of the success of the sketches. This chapter also seeks to define the sketch, using Poe's definition of the tale proper as a basis for definition, and to differentiate it from the short story.

Chapter two, entitled "Development of Style: Precedents, Influences, and Innovation," deals with various influences on Hawthorne's work, tracing sources and briefly discussing the biographical factors involved in Hawthorne's development as a writer. A brief survey of his study and admiration of earlier literary figures, an analysis of his experiences as editor, a recognition of the extent to which his travels influenced his writing, and a look at his personal notebooks as depositories of ideas recorded at various stages of his life comprise an adequate background for the sources of Hawthorne's sketches.

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