2021-04-28 - Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne ==================================================== Maypole with rainbow colors This collection of short stories is set around the time of the American revolution. It reminded me a little of The Twilight Zone. Among the stories are historical subjects and various religious sects found in colonial times. These were often combined with fantastical or supernatural elements. Some elements offend modern sensibilities. I detected a mystical thread of transcendentalism woven throughout these stories. I was drawn to this collection by The Maypole of Merrymount, which dramatizes an early Pagan settlement near to the place and time of the Puritans. The second paragraph describes the maypole, topped with a silk banner and colored like a rainbow. Likewise, the lord and lady of the May wore a scarf with a rainbow pattern. The lord of the May had long hair, like a hippy. The ceremonies were conducted by a Pagan priest wearing vines and flowers. "Not far from Merry Mount was a settlement of Puritans, most dismal wretches, who said their prayers before daylight, and then wrought in the forest or the cornfield till evening made it prayer time again. Their weapons were always at hand to shoot down the straggling savage. When they met in conclave, it was never to keep up the old English mirth, but to hear sermons three hours long, or to proclaim bounties on the heads of wolves and the scalps of Indians. Their festivals were fast days, and their chief pastime the singing of psalms. Woe to the youth or maiden who did but dream of a dance!" In Little Annie's Ramble, the stern, old narrator goes on a walk with an unusual friend: a young child named Annie. The story tells of circus animals, candy stores, and other magical wonders in Annie's world. I felt charmed by the story's conclusion that Annie was the greatest wonder of them all. The Great Carbuncle starts out with an unlikely party of treasure hunters. Their epic quest reminds me a little of a D&D campaign. The Vision of the Fountain has enchanting descriptions of natural settings combined with haunting, dream-like visions. Could this be considered magical realism? Peter Goldthwaite's Treasure is a story of a man who inherits much from his Grandfather, including a house with a legend of treasure hidden somewhere within its construction. I took it as an allegory for the folly of hoarding and prizing Earthly treasures too highly. Chippings With A Chisel documents conversations between a narrator and a professional carver of tombstones. I enjoyed the dry observations and philosphical perspectives from the narrator. "... to be quite sincere with you, I care little or nothing about a stone for my own grave, and am somewhat inclined to scepticism as to the propriety of erecting monuments at all over the dust that once was human. The weight of these heavy marbles, though unfelt by the dead corpse or the enfranchised soul, presses drearily upon the spirit of the survivor and causes him to connect the idea of death with the dungeon-like imprisonment of the tomb, instead of with the freedom of the skies. Every gravestone that you ever made is the visible symbol of a mistaken system. Our thoughts should soar upward with the butterfly, not linger with the exuviæ that confined him. In truth and reason, neither those whom we call the living, and still less the departed, have anything to do with the grave." From Night Sketches: > He fears not to tread the dreary path before him, because his > lantern, which was kindled at the fireside of his home, will light > him back to that same fireside again. And thus we, night-wanderers > through a stormy and dismal world, if we bear the lamp of Faith > enkindled at a celestial fire, it will surely lead us home to that > heaven whence its radiance was borrowed. Footprints In The Sand is a story about a narrator who every so often must seek solitude away from civilization to meditate and renew himself. He describes outdoor recreation in the original sense. He wrote that primeaval forest or the seashore both serve the purpose, but it the it was easier for him to reach the ocean than to find old growth forest. Coincidentally, this story refers to Robinson Crusoe, which i have just recently read. The Threefold Destiny was the final story, which i took to be an allegory for people who seek happiness in the wrong places, expecting to find it in external accomplishments, when they should inquire within. I loved how the protagonist became disillusioned with his childhood fancies, only to find that his fancies were correct after all. His young heart had told him no lies. His perspective was his only mistake. author: Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864 detail: LOC: PS3569.T3887 T88 source: tags: ebook,fiction,magical realism,transcendental title: Twice Told Tales Tags ==== ebook fiction magical realism transcendental