This study of the short fiction of Nathaniel Hawthorne begins with the recognition of Ovid as a literary progenitor of the American Romantic master, especially as the Roman demonstrated his story-telling skills in his Metamorphoses. Much of Hawthorne's writing--the mythological and other tales and sketches, as well as his romances--reflects similar fascination with transforming traditional Greek material, for evidence indicates it provided much of both the subject matter and the psychological substructure of his narratives. In particular, Hawthorne's use of one myth from the classical tradition, that of Narcissus, appears to have resonated in the consciousness of the nineteenth-century writer to a greater extent than is generally noted by his critics. / After establishing the form of the Narcissus myth itself, particularly as it was presented in the Metamorphoses, and noting its implications for literary analysis, this study examines Hawthorne's short works for specific evidence of both structural affinities with this classical myth and imagery developing the pattern of discernible motifs. By searching for reflections of Narcissus among Hawthorne's fictitious characters--his artists, scientists, questers, and other tormented men and women of all ages--it becomes startlingly evident that in Hawthorne's short fiction the image of the youth beside the mirroring pool obviously haunted the author's mind, manifesting itself repeatedly, in one guise or another, in a significant number of his works. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-06, Section: A, page: 2676. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74471 |
| Contributors | HARMON, MARYHELEN CLEVERLY., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 204 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
Page generated in 0.0024 seconds