engleski

'This Small Man of Yesterday': A Neohistorical Perusal of Nathaniel Hawthorne

With his literary work, and notably with The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne always endorsed a clear idea pertaining to the achievement of the New English national unity. A vivid Biblical imagery, or sometimes even the ingrained Puritan prejudices that were still held by most of the New Englanders of Hawthorne’s period, were used to accomplish this purpose. Hawthorne believed that only togetherness could save the Union in crucial political moments, and thus he was ready to forgive his compatriots many costly mistakes that were made during their common history. In what was often referred to as America’s “promised land, ” exactly this hereditary trait of Hawthorne’s generosity was paternally demonstrated in many cases. It also empowered Hawthorne to be the prime torchbearer of Joseph Conrad’s grandiose but slightly diabolical scheme of one’s “heart of darkness” existent in still not gingerly explored and densely populated New England of his times. To Hawthorne, a new “chosen people” has started to wage a bitter struggle for the assurance of its survival therein while permeating it with its all-pervading gloom.

Nathaniel Hawthorne; New Historicism; The Scarlet Letter; Mosses from an Old Manse; “Monsieur du Miroir; ” “The Gray Champion; ” “The Maypole of Merry Mount; ” “The Gentle Boy; ” “Young Goodman Brown; ” New England; Puritanization; Master Genius of the Age

Cilj je istraživanja dokazati činjenicu da su književna djela Nathaniela Hawthornea, a osobito Grimizno slovo, uvijek podupirala jasnu ideju postignuća novoengleskog nacionalnog jedinstva. Za ostvarenje te svrhe korišten je životopisni biblijski imaginarij, a ponekad i ukorijenjene puritanske predrasude, koje su još uvijek postojale kod većine stanovnika Nove Engleske Hawthorneova doba. Hawthorne je vjerovao da samo zajedništvo može spasiti Uniju u ključnim političkim trenutcima, te je bio spreman oprostiti svojim zemljacima mnoge skupe pogrješke počinjene tijekom zajedničke prošlosti. Na prostoru često nazivanom američkom „obećanom zemljom“, upravo je ta nasljedna značajka Hawthorneove darežljivosti očinski iskazana u mnogim slučajevima. Metodološki je to Hawthorneu omogućilo da postane nositelj grandiozne ali i pomalo dijabolične ideje Josepha Conrada o „srcu tame“, koje je još uvijek egzistiralo u neistraženim i slabo naseljenim područjima Nove Engleske njegova vremena. S rezultirajućom implikacijom koja se proteže sve do danas, za Hawthornea je novi, odabrani čovjek počeo voditi gorku borbu za osiguranje vlastitog opstanka, istovremeno j