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# 2021-04-28 - Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne
(IMG) 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
(TXT) detail: gopher://gopherpedia.com/0/Twice-Told_Tales
LOC: PS3569.T3887 T88
(DIR) source: gopher://gopher.pglaf.org/1/1/3/7/0/13707/
tags: ebook,fiction,magical realism,transcendental
title: Twice Told Tales
# Tags
(DIR) ebook
(DIR) fiction
(DIR) magical realism
(DIR) transcendental