The Marble Faun By Hawthorne

The book features picturesque descriptions of historic art and architecture in rome as a backdrop to a tale of mystery murder and romance.

The marble faun by hawthorne.

Or the romance of monte beni novel by nathaniel hawthorne published in 1860 it is one of the works hawthorne called romances unrealistic stories in exotic settings. In the other he holds the fragment of a pipe or some such sylvan instrument of music. One hand hangs carelessly by his side. The marble faun in full the marble faun.

The marble faun was a delightful read. The description of rome and its art is so detailed and full of passion that travelers have taken to using this novel as a tour guide through the eternal city. An early chapter is extremely disappointing. Chapter vi the virgin s shrine which is a long fantasizing over the virginal hilda in which hawthorne writes.

He is able to communicate with depth and yet with a clarity that does not imprison you in a mire of verbose minutiae. The marble faun is a gothic romance concerning three young americans and one young italian count who meet in rome. The marble faun written on the eve of the american civil war is set in a fantastical italy the romance mixes elements of a fable pastoral gothic novel and travel guide. The faun is the marble image of a young man leaning his right arm on the trunk or stump of a tree.

This detailed analysis of art that takes up long passages of the. Hawthorne is one of the greatest american novelists and his place in fiction is well established with the scarlet. Or the romance of monte beni is a novel by british author nathaniel hawthorne published in 1860. Or the romance of monte beni also known by the british title transformation was the last of the four major romances by nathaniel hawthorne and was published in 1860.

Hawthorne s last published novel finds him at the zenith of his skill as a writer. In the faun s fusing of animal and human characteristics hawthorne found an. The novel s central metaphor is a statue of a faun by praxiteles that hawthorne had seen in rome. One can tell that this is hawthorne honed by decades of refining his craft.

But hawthorne in the marble faun clearly reveals his sexist prejudices in ways that a woman reader cannot gloss over or ignore and which must diminish him in my estimation. Since mine is the first review of this edition of the marble faun i would advise the reader to read reviews of other editions as well.