Hawthorne's Theory of Art

I HE FOCUS OF HAWTHORNE CRITICISM in recent years has been on L his thought rather than on his art. Hawthorne's theology and philosophy, his social and political ideas, his attitude toward Puritanism and Transcendentalism-these have been analyzed with a minuteness which one may at times find overpowering. But his theory of art, which is unquestionably central to an understanding of his work, has not received the attention it deserves.' And yet the subject is of sufficient importance to call for exploration in depth and detail. For, as Virginia Woolf says, until we know how the novelist orders his world, the ornaments of that world, which the critics press upon us, the adventures of the writer, to which biographers draw attention, are superfluous possessions of which we can make no use.2 A study of Hawthorne's theory of art will highlight his artistic preferences, illuminate major aspects of his literary technique, and thus give us a clearer view of the way in which he