Although it is today considered one of the “great books,” Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick; or, The Whale was not a success during his lifetime. On the contrary, it was a disappointment to his readers that fancied his earlier light-hearted (and largely fictional) travel adventure books set in the South Pacific. During the writing of Moby-Dick (1850-51), Melville met Nathaniel Hawthorne and took time away from his novel in progress to review the short-story collection Mosses From an Old Manse, which just …
Tag: Nathaniel Hawthorne
Hawthorne’s “Rappaccini’s Daughter,” A Tale of A Boy, A Girl, Her Flower & It’s Poison
Aromatica Poetica is delighted to present “Rappaccini’s Daughter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, first published in 1844, and later collected in Mosses From An Old Manse. We were alerted to this stunning gothic tale by Jim Endersby in his fun cultural history of the Orchid, in which he analyzes it as “one of the earliest killer plant stories.” As you know from reading “The Flowering of the Strange Orchid,” we love killer plant stories! But whereas H.G. Well’s story is lighthearted, Hawthorne’s …
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