Article #513-2 | Gutenberg Articles

Excerpt

Excerpt from The snow-image, and other twice-told tales, by Nathaniel Hawthorne

TO HORATIO BRIDGE, ESQ., U. S. N.

MY DEAR BRIDGE:—Some of the more crabbed of my critics, I understand,
have pronounced your friend egotistical, indiscreet, and even
impertinent, on account of the Prefaces and Introductions with which,
on several occasions, he has seen fit to pave the reader’s way into the
interior edifice of a book. In the justice of this censure I do not
exactly concur, for the reasons, on the one hand, that the public
generally has negatived the idea of undue freedom on the author’s part,
by evincing, it seems to me, rather more interest in those aforesaid
Introductions than in the stories which followed; and that, on the
other hand, with whatever appearance of confidential intimacy, I have
been especially careful to make no disclosures respecting myself which
the most indifferent observer might not have been acquainted with, and
which I was not perfectly willing that my worst enemy should know. I
might further justify myself, on the plea that, ever since my youth, I
have been addressing a very limited circle of friendly readers, without
much danger of being overheard by the public at large; and that the
habits thus acquired might pardonably continue, although strangers may
have begun to mingle with my audience.

But the charge, I am bold to say, is not a reasonable one, in any view
which we can fairly take of it. There is no harm, but, on the contrary,
good, in arraying some of the ordinary facts of life in a slightly
idealized and artistic guise. I have taken facts which relate to
myself, because they chance to be nearest at hand, and likewise are my
own property. And, as for egotism, a person, who has been burrowing, to
his utmost ability, into the depths of our common nature, for the
purposes of psychological romance,—and who pursues his researches in
that dusky region, as he needs must, as well by the tact of sympathy as
by the light of observation,—will smile at incurring such an imputation
in virtue of a little preliminary talk about his external habits, his
abode, his casual associates, and other matters entirely upon the
surface. These things hide the man, instead of displaying him. You must
make quite another kind of inquest, and look through the whole range of
his fictitious characters, good and evil, in order to detect any of his
essential traits.

Explanation

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s preface to The Snow-Image, and Other Twice-Told Tales (1852) is a metatextual defense of his authorial voice, particularly his use of prefaces, introductions, and personal asides—elements that some critics of his time deemed egotistical, indiscreet, or impertinent. Written as a letter to his friend Horatio Bridge (a naval officer and fellow writer), the passage blends self-justification, literary theory, and a meditation on the relationship between author, text, and reader. Below is a detailed breakdown of the excerpt, focusing on its rhetorical strategies, themes, literary devices, and broader significance.

1. Context & Purpose

Source & Audience: The preface introduces a collection of Hawthorne’s previously published stories (Twice-Told Tales was first released in 1837; this is a later edition). The epistolary form (a letter to Bridge) creates an intimate, conversational tone, framing the defense as a private discussion rather than a public manifesto.
Critical Backlash: Hawthorne responds to contemporary critics who accused him of over-sharing in prefaces—a charge that touched on 19th-century debates about authorial presence in literature. Romantic and Gothic writers often blurred the line between fiction and autobiography, but Hawthorne’s introspective style made him a target.
Defensive Posture: While he rejects the charges, he does so with humble irony, acknowledging the public’s mixed reception while asserting his artistic intent.

2. Key Themes

A. The Author’s Role & Egotism

Hawthorne grapples with the paradox of self-revelation:

Critics’ Accusation: His prefaces are egotistical—too focused on his personal life.
Hawthorne’s Counterargument:
- Selective Disclosure: He claims he only shares "ordinary facts" that are "perfectly willing [for] my worst enemy to know." This suggests his prefaces are curated, not confessional.
- Surface vs. Depth: The "external habits" (his daily life, home, acquaintances) are not the "essential traits" of his character. True self-revelation, he argues, lies in his fictional characters, not his prefaces.
- Psychological Exploration: As a writer of "psychological romance" (a term he later uses in The House of the Seven Gables), he probes "the depths of our common nature"—not his own narcissism.

B. The Public vs. Private Reader

Limited Circle: Hawthorne describes writing for a "very limited circle of friendly readers", implying his prefaces were originally private communications that accidentally became public.
Strangers in the Audience: Now that his work has a wider readership, he defends his habit of addressing readers as friends, not strangers.
Irony: The preface itself enacts this tension—it’s a public letter that mimics private conversation.

C. Artistic Justification

Idealization of Life: He argues that transforming mundane facts into art is not egotism but craftsmanship. By framing his life "in a slightly idealized and artistic guise," he elevates the ordinary.
Ownership of Experience: He uses his own life because it’s "nearest at hand" and "my own property"—a pragmatic defense of autobiographical material.

3. Literary Devices & Rhetorical Strategies

Device	Example	Effect
Irony	"The public has negatived the idea of undue freedom by evincing more interest in the Introductions than the stories."	Mocks critics by suggesting readers prefer his prefaces to his fiction.
Metaphor	"Pave the reader’s way into the interior edifice of a book."	Compares prefaces to a pathway, framing them as necessary preparation.
Paradox	"These things hide the man, instead of displaying him."	Argues that personal details obscure rather than reveal his true self.
Apologia (Defense)	"I might further justify myself..."	Structured as a legal-like defense, appealing to logic and precedent.
Synecdoche	"The tact of sympathy as well as the light of observation."	Uses "tact" (a part) to represent emotional intuition (the whole).
Conversational Tone	"My dear Bridge," "I am bold to say"	Creates intimacy, making the argument feel personal, not didactic.

4. Significance & Broader Implications

A. Hawthorne’s Authorial Persona

The "Dark Romantic" Mask: Hawthorne was known for his introspective, morally ambiguous narratives. Here, he controls his public image, presenting himself as thoughtful, not self-absorbed.
Prefiguring Modernism: His distinction between surface details (prefaces) and deep truth (fiction) foreshadows modernist ideas (e.g., T.S. Eliot’s "impersonal theory of poetry").

B. The Preface as a Literary Genre

Blurring Boundaries: Hawthorne’s prefaces challenge the divide between author and text, fact and fiction. This was radical in the 19th century, when objectivity was often prized.
Reader Engagement: By addressing the reader directly, he invites collaboration, making the act of reading interactive.

C. The "Psychological Romance"

The passage hints at his literary theory:
- Fiction is a mirror of "common nature", not just personal expression.
- A writer’s true self is dispersed across characters, not confined to autobiography.
This aligns with his allegorical style (e.g., Young Goodman Brown, The Scarlet Letter), where symbols reveal universal truths.

5. Close Reading of Key Lines

"The public generally has negatived the idea of undue freedom..."
- Irony: The public’s preference for his prefaces undermines the critics’ complaint.
- Appeal to Popularity: A rhetorical move—if readers enjoy it, how can it be wrong?
"These things hide the man, instead of displaying him."
- Paradox: The more he writes about himself, the less he reveals.
- Existential Implication: Identity is fragmented; the "true self" is elusive.
"You must make quite another kind of inquest..."
- Legal Metaphor: Suggests deep reading is like a forensic investigation.
- Reader’s Role: The audience must actively interpret his fiction to find meaning.

6. Connection to Hawthorne’s Other Works

The Scarlet Letter (1850): The Custom-House preface similarly blends autobiography and fiction, defending Hawthorne’s use of personal experience.
"The Snow-Image" (Title Story): A fairy-tale-like allegory about art and impermanence, reflecting his belief that truth is found in fiction, not fact.
Young Goodman Brown: The unreliable narrator and psychological depth align with his claim that fictional characters reveal more than prefaces.

7. Why This Matters

Hawthorne’s preface is not just a defense—it’s a manifesto for:

The personal in literature: How much should an author reveal?
The role of the reader: Are they passive consumers or active interpreters?
The nature of truth in art: Is it found in facts or fiction?

His arguments prefigure postmodern debates about authorial intent, reader-response theory, and the boundaries of genre. By justifying his egotism, he redefines it as artistry—a move that would influence later writers like Henry James, Virginia Woolf, and David Foster Wallace.

Final Thought

Hawthorne’s preface is a masterclass in rhetorical self-defense, but it’s also a window into his literary philosophy. He doesn’t just reject the charge of egotism—he reframes it, arguing that true egotism would be hiding behind impersonal prose. Instead, his controlled self-disclosure is a bridge between author and reader, inviting them into a shared exploration of human nature.

In essence, he’s saying: "If you want to know me, don’t read my prefaces—read my stories. But if you read my prefaces, you’ll see why my stories matter."

Questions

Question 1

The passage’s opening sentence employs a rhetorical strategy that primarily serves to:

A. establish Hawthorne’s intellectual superiority over his critics by dismissing their objections as baseless.
B. create a conversational premise that frames the subsequent defense as a reasoned response to a debatable claim.
C. undermine the legitimacy of his critics by portraying them as overly pedantic and out of touch with public opinion.
D. signal Hawthorne’s resignation to the inevitability of public scrutiny, despite his personal preference for privacy.
E. introduce a false dichotomy between the author’s private intentions and the public’s misinterpretation of his work.

Question 2

Hawthorne’s claim that his prefaces reveal only what “the most indifferent observer might not have been acquainted with” is most effectively interpreted as:

A. an admission that his personal disclosures lack originality or depth, rendering them harmless.
B. a strategic limitation of vulnerability, wherein he curates a public persona that is deliberately non-revelatory.
C. an appeal to the reader’s omniscience, suggesting that his life is so widely known that further disclosure is redundant.
D. a challenge to critics to prove their accusations by demonstrating how his prefaces exceed conventional bounds of decorum.
E. a metaphorical assertion that his true self is so obscure that even superficial details fail to illuminate it.

Question 3

The phrase “these things hide the man, instead of displaying him” functions in the passage as:

A. a paradoxical rejection of the critics’ premise, arguing that superficial disclosures obscure rather than expose his essential character.
B. a confession of intentional deception, wherein Hawthorne admits to using misdirection to protect his privacy.
C. an indictment of the reader’s inability to discern depth from surface-level details in literary works.
D. a literal description of his authorial method, in which he employs allegory to conceal autobiographical elements.
E. a critique of the Romantic era’s obsession with authorial transparency, which he views as artistically limiting.

Question 4

Hawthorne’s justification for using personal facts in his prefaces is most fundamentally grounded in the idea that:

A. an author’s life is the most convenient and morally unassailable source material for literary embellishment.
B. the public’s fascination with an author’s biography is a market reality that must be exploited for commercial success.
C. the transformation of mundane reality into art is an inherently virtuous act, regardless of the subject matter.
D. personal experience, when artistically reframed, serves as a vehicle for exploring universal human truths.
E. the critics’ objections stem from a puritanical distrust of creativity, which he seeks to dismantle through logical rebuttal.

Question 5

The passage’s closing argument—that one must examine Hawthorne’s “whole range of his fictitious characters” to detect his “essential traits”—implies which of the following about the relationship between author and text?

A. The author’s true self is irretrievably fragmented across his works, making any unified interpretation impossible.
B. Fictional characters are mere projections of the author’s subconscious, offering direct access to his psyche.
C. The critic’s role is to reconstruct the author’s biography from textual clues, a task Hawthorne invites but complicates.
D. Literary creation is an act of distributed self-revelation, where the author’s identity is diffused through invented personas.
E. The distinction between author and narrator is illusory, as all fiction is ultimately autobiographical in disguise.

Solutions and Explanations

1) Correct answer: B

Why B is most correct: The opening sentence—“Some of the more crabbed of my critics... have pronounced your friend egotistical”—employs a conversational premise that acknowledges the critics’ position as a debatable claim rather than an absolute truth. This sets up Hawthorne’s subsequent defense as a reasoned response to a contentious issue, inviting the reader to weigh the arguments. The tone is dialogic (addressed to Bridge) and provisional (“I do not exactly concur”), which aligns with B’s description of a “conversational premise” framing a defense.