The
fate of Pyncheon exerts a heavy influence on his descendants in the crumbling
mansion for the next century and a half.
But
although a distant family sin appears to have populated the old house with
unhappy ghosts, held tenuously between life and death, the arrival of young
Phoebe Pyncheon from the country breathes fresh air and sunshine into
mouldering lives and rooms, and the novel begins to work against the crushing
weight of history.
The dark and
suppressive nature of a Hawthorne novel is not new to our group. We read The Scarlet Letter a few years ago, so
there were no big surprises this month with our return visit to this American
classic writer.
It could be the time
of year, but most struggled to complete this (what some described as tedious)
novel and were at odds to comprehend exactly where Hawthorne meant to go with
it. The plot seemed non-existent, which didn’t help getting you through the
monotonous rambling descriptions Hawthorne so loves.
We discussed the
style that seemed so popular in the day and compared its likeness to Dickens
and Bronte. In a time when there was little in the way of visual entertainment,
novels of this sort would have been an important diversion from everyday life.
So Hawthorne’s long and illustrative narrative may well be daunting to us modern
readers, but we can see how it worked in a time of romance novels (when in fact
all novels were considered ‘romance’).
The term ‘gothic’ was
also bantered around and Cathy, who did not think she would take to this book, found
herself quite enjoying this dark, boding tale and believes she could be reading
one of the first gothic novels written.
In the end, we
decided Hawthorne was able to weave an exemplary kind of magic with his words
(his many, many words) and that alone is worthy of consideration, and a read.