Books and Ideas (20)

I read for ideas. Here are some of the ideas I have found in books.

Tales and Sketches. Parts One, Two, Three and Four. Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Why read it? Thought-provoking ideas on human nature. Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of my favorite authors. He spent his younger years as a recluse and his stories reflect his years of self-reflection. His novels depict the dark side of the human spirit—the unpardonable sin (The Scarlet Letter), the family curse (The House of the Seven Gables), the importance of sin to humanity (The Marble Faun), the inhumanity of reformers and the rejection of women intellectuals as women (The Blithedale Romance), but his tales and sketches reveal the creativity and variety of his ideas about the human race. Following is the title and a brief quote or summary of most of his tales, stories and sketches. I hope these snippets will cause you to want to read the whole tale, story or sketch.

“Mrs. Hutchinson.” “…and ready to propagate the religion of peace by violence.”

“An Old Woman’s Tale.” “She knit the toe-stitch on the day of her death.”

“Sights from the Steeple.” “The full of hope, the happy, the miserable, and the desperate, dwell together within the circle of my glance.”

“The Haunted Quack: A Tale of a Canal Boat.” “Ephraim was no more a doctor than his jack-ass.”

“My Kinsman, Major Molineux.” His kinsman Major Molineux had been taken away and tarred and feathered as a traitor. “Or, if you prefer to remain with us, perhaps, as you are a shrewd youth, you may rise in the world, without the help of your kinsman, Major Molineux.”

“Roger Malvin’s Burial.” “Reuben felt it impossible to acknowledge that his selfish love of life had hurried him away before his father’s fate was decided.”

“The Gentle Boy.” “The heathen savage would have given him to eat of his scanty morsel, and to drink of his birchen cup; but Christian men, alas! had cast him out to die.”

“The Canterbury Pilgrims.” “And a cold and passionless security [the Shakers], he substituted for human hope and fear as in that other refuge of the world’s weary outcasts, the grave.”

“Sir William Pepperell.” “Vaughan, alone, who had been the soul of the deed, from its adventurous conception till the triumphant close, and, in every danger, and every hardship, had exhibited a rare union or ardor and perseverance—Vaughan was entirely neglected and died in London, whither he had gone to make known his claims.”

“Passages from a Relinquished Work.” “I never knew the magic of a name till I used that of Mr. Higginbotham: often as I repeated it, there were loud bursts of merriment.”

“The Haunted Mind.” “Your spirit has departed and strays like a free citizen, among the people of a shadowy world, beholding strange sights, yet without wonder or dismay. So calm, perhaps, will be the final change: so undisturbed, as if among familiar things, the entrance of the soul to the Eternal home!”

“Alice Doane’s Appeal.” “Cotton Mather, proud of his well-won dignity, as the representative of all the hateful features of his time.”

“The Village Uncle: An Imaginary Retrospect.” “I recollect no happier portion of my life, than this, my calm old age.”

“Little Annie’s Ramble.” “Who, of all that address the public ear, whether in church, or courthouse, or hall of state, has such an attentive audience as the town crier.”