If a man, sitting all alone, cannot dream strange things, and make them look like truth,
he need never try to write romances.
Nathaniel Hawthorne,
a quote from The Scarlet Letter
On this day in 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter was published. Things that never occurred to Nathaniel Hawthorne:
1. That his book would spawn a mostly dreadful movie starring Demi Moore.
2. That 100 years later, some guy named Clifton Hillegass would find a way to make millions of students happy. Hillegass published what were meant to be study guides to literary classics, but became a way to avoid actually reading books like The Scarlet Letter (CliffsNotes, not Cliff Notes, as so many people say).
3. That he would never be a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award. (Well, it’s true. He wouldn’t. But I just tossed that in here to make Tim laugh.)
4. That 158 years later, his book–a bestseller in its time, heralded as an exploration of philosophical and spiritual themes–would be on the banned books list of his own country and would often be censored for being “pornographic and obscene.”
Nathaniel, you’re still aces to me.
5. That his novel would be featured in a video for the artist Meatloaf
By the way, the book is one of my favorite books of all time. Go Nate!
ps … When you mentioned the movie I was all “Hey, wasn’t Wynona Ryder and Daniel Day Lewis in that too?” Then I remembered, “No, that was The Crucible!” An equally craptastic movie. It was the Salem/Puritan connection. When I went to Salem with the Marine formerly known as my husband, we went to Hawethornes house, it was probably the closest he ever came to reading a book.
Yep, I learned a lot from that man, not only about writing but also the tangled interiors of the human soul and mind. He became my favorite among the American Romantics, probably because he dared to let the dark murk of the subconscious emerge in his work before there was a name for such a thing.
Shamefully I have never read The Scarlet Letter. (Thanks again to my Catholic school education!) I’ll add it to my “must list” of books to read.
The Scarlet Letter has been on my “must get round to reading one day” list for many years – but since it’s you recommending, it might just have moved to the top of the list . . .
If you read it, I hope you enjoy it!