Most helpful customer reviews
|
|
1.0 out of 5 stars
A Disappointment, Jul 15 2002
By A Customer
According to Hawthorne, this is not a novel, it's a Romance, and not just a Romance, but an Allegory, fraught with Symbolism, to illustrate a MORAL. The end result being that Hawthorne's characters are a cartoonish, unconvincing bunch, uttering stilted dialogue like a troupe of half-baked Shakspearean hams declaiming away in some tawdry, gaslight melodrama. Hawthorne frequently brings the story to a dead stop so that he can inflict on the reader his generally negative opinions on art, Rome, Italians, etc., reserving most of his venom for Catholicism. In spite of all that, he does succeed in telling a story, even if he does cheat the reader out of a satisfactory ending. If you want to read the Fall of Man, acted out by arty Americans in 19th century Rome, you're better off with "Roderick Hudson" by Henry James. James took the basic elements of Hawthorne's novel and came up with a much more rewarding book.
|
|
|
3.0 out of 5 stars
Innocents Abroad, Mar 16 2002
_The Marble Faun_ concerns three young American artists, Miriam, Hilda and Kenyon, and their Italian faun-like friend, Donatello, whose characters are transformed while on their stay in Rome, the Eternal City. _The Marble Faun_ is very reminiscent of Henry James' novella, "Daisy Miller," where a young and innocent American woman falls under the deleterious spell of this European city. In fact, Hilda, while visiting one of its art galleries is warned by an old German artist to go back to America soon "or you will go never more...The air has been breathed too often, in so many thousand years, and is not wholesome for a little foreign flower like you, my child, a delicate wood-anemone from the western forest-land." Hilda witnesses a serious crime being committed by Donatello and Miriam (supposedly, neither of whom would have done so were it not for the evil influence of Rome's atmosphere) and becomes overwhelmed from ensuing feelings of guilt and depression. Despite her Puritan heritage, Hilda is compelled to unburden herself by seeking confession with a Catholic priest, who suggests that she convert to Catholicism. Hilda seriously considers, but decides to resist this transformation.Hawthorne spends much of the novel in describing in detail Rome's architecture, its art galleries, churches, and its many other landmarks and shrines. When relevant to the story--especially in the author's depiction of the catacombs (from whence Miriam and Donatello commit their unforgivable deed), sunlight streaming through a church's stained glass windows, the extinction of a legendary flame standing before a lofty shrine, and the majestic bronze statue of a pope stretching out his hand in benediction--the effects are quite wonderful. However, a sizable portion of the novel is merely endless travelogue, which seriously detracts from this fairly well-told gothic romance. I did very much like Hawthorne's portrayal of carnival-time in Rome towards the end of the book, and the author's conversation with Kenyon and Hilda at the novel's conclusion is quite charming.
|
|
|
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fulsome praise for Nathaniel Hawthorne, Oct 11 2001
Nathaniel Hawthorne has always been revered as a master of American writing. The theme of young Americans in 19th century Europe has been written many times but the sense of place and time in this novel is unique. It was written when America was still finding out about Europe and travelling was not yet a jaded habit of rich men and women.Hawthorne was hailed as a genius by his contemporaries during his lifetime and this novel was particularly celebrated when first published. I came across an original review of the Marble Faun at The Atlantic Monthly's website. The reviewer wrote "Hawthorne is psychological and metaphysical. Had he been born without the poetic imagination, he would have written treatises on the Origin of Evil. He does not draw characters, but rather conceives them and then shows them acted upon by crime, passion, or circumstance, as if the element of Fate were as present to his imagination as to that of a Greek dramatist." ...
|
|
|
Most recent customer reviews
|
