Hawthorne's Conception of the Creative Process

Hawthorne's Conception of the Creative Process
Author: Richard J. Jacobson
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 68
Release: 1965
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9780674382756

Richard Jacobson examines and delineates the processes of mind that Hawthorne conceived of as underlying the creative act. Taking issue with previous studies that have presented the novelist as an adherent of one or another of the particular schools of thought representative of his time, the author demonstrates that Hawthorne's views were, in fact, eclectically formed and were a fusion of classical and romantic attitudes. His intense preoccupation with the relationship between art and morality, and the validation of imaginative insights are central elements, Jacobson maintains, in Hawthorne's theory of the creative process.

Melville's Israel Potter

Melville's Israel Potter
Author: Alexander Keyssar
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 76
Release: 1969
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780674564756

Alexander Keyssar's study focuses on Melville's treatment of the social and existential condition of the American common man--his inability to realize the happiness promised by the American dream and the impurity of democracy in a society with marked economic classes. The author discusses the literary coherence--thematic rather than narrative--of Melville's work as illustrated by Israel Potter and as representative of the novelist's writing during the 1853-1856 period. He includes a brief analysis of Melville's conception of literary "truth" and a discussion of the peculiar role of comedy in the sad story of Israel Potter. Melville's insights into the political and social flaws of America "contain remarkable relevance for the contemporary reader."

The Problem of Shape in The Prelude

The Problem of Shape in The Prelude
Author: Jonathan R. Grandine
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 60
Release: 1968
Genre: Drama
ISBN: 9780674708006

Wordsworth found expression for both his public and his private speech in the expansive form and peculiar organization of The Prelude; this fact, together with the problems and limitations that resulted, is the subject of Jonathan Grandine's study.

The Ridiculous to the Delightful

The Ridiculous to the Delightful
Author: Robert Nicholas Reeves
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 68
Release: 1974
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9780674768901

Sir Philip Sidney's comic technique, in particular the comic characters in the second version of his pastoral romance, is the subject of this ably written essay. Robert Nicholas Reeves begins with a re-examination of comic theory in Sidney's Defense of Poesy, and proceeds to a reading of the humorous in the Arcadia as a happy kind of moral teaching. He discusses devices employed--irony, ridicule, deflation--and the relation of the low comic figures to the delightful elements of the main plot.

Marlowe's "Agonists"

Marlowe's
Author: Christopher G. Fanta
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 76
Release: 1970
Genre: Drama
ISBN: 9780674550605

In his closely argued essay Christopher Fanta maintains that the ambiguity in Marlowe's plays may well result from the duality of Marlowe's thought. Fiery protagonists like Tamburlaine, who are bent on overpowering the limitations of society and nature, are set against what Fanta terms the "agonists": a handful of minor, virtuous characters who by their actions and interaction with the hero express Marlowe's "other," muted voice. Fanta analyzes five "agonists": Zenocrate and Olympia in Tamburlaine, Abigail in The Jew of Malta, Prince Edward in Edward II, and the Old Man in Dr. Faustus.

Equivocal Oaths and Ordeals in Medieval Literature

Equivocal Oaths and Ordeals in Medieval Literature
Author: Ralph J. Hexter
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 84
Release: 1975
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9780674260368

The use of ordeals and sworn oaths to prove one's innocence invites trickery. The guilty trickster cannot influence the judgment of the divine powers, but he can--by disguise or by equivocation in wording the oath--create a presumption of innocence. Ralph Hexter surveys the varieties of such stories in a number of folk literatures and looks at the use of this motif in three important medieval story cycles, with special attention to the way Christian writers handled story material based on a pre-Christian act of truth.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne
Author: Donald J. Crowley
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 540
Release: 2013-01-11
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1134723342

This set comprises 40 volumes covering 19th and 20th century European and American authors. These volumes will be available as a complete set, mini boxed sets (by theme) or as individual volumes. This second set compliments the first 68 volume set of Critical Heritage published by Routledge in October 1995.

The Scarlet Letter and Other Writings (Second International Student Edition) (Norton Critical Editions)

The Scarlet Letter and Other Writings (Second International Student Edition) (Norton Critical Editions)
Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 629
Release: 2017-02
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0393623521

This perennially popular Norton Critical Edition has been revised to reflect the most current scholarly approaches to The Scarlet Letter—Hawthorne’s most widely read novel—as well as to the five short prose works—“Mrs. Hutchinson,” “Endicott and the Red Cross,” “Young Goodman Brown,” “The Minister’s Black Veil,” and “The Birth-mark”—that closely relate to the 1850 novel. This Second Norton Critical Edition also includes: · Revised and expanded explanatory footnotes, a new preface, and a note on the text by Leland S. Person. · Key passages from Hawthorne’s notebooks and letters that suggest the close relationship between his private and public writings · Seven new critical essays by Brook Thomas, Michael Ryan, Thomas R. Mitchell, Jay Grossman, Jamie Barlowe, John Ronan, and John F. Birk. · A Chronology and revised and expanded Selected Bibliography.

A Historical Guide to Nathaniel Hawthorne

A Historical Guide to Nathaniel Hawthorne
Author: Larry John Reynolds
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2001
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780195124149

This historical guide collects a number of original essays by Hawthorne scholars that place the author in historical context. It includes a brief biography and illustrated chronology of the author's life and times.