Chapter XXI: More on the Poultry

[pmath]

I had intended to bring this up, but forgot: was NH making a statement here about fertility?

Very soon after their change of fortune, Clifford, Hepzibah, and little Phoebe, with the approval of the artist, concluded to remove from the dismal old House of the Seven Gables, and take up their abode, for the present, at the elegant country-seat of the late Judge Pyncheon. Chanticleer and his family had already been transported thither, where the two hens had forthwith begun an indefatigable process of egg-laying, with an evident design, as a matter of duty and conscience, to continue their illustrious breed under better auspices than for a century past.

BTW, Bob, why do you think THotSG is strange?

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fanuzzir wrote:
Yes, it really does exist, and you can visit it. You can also read the strange novel by Hawthorne about life in Salem.

[Laurel]

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pmath wrote:
I had intended to bring this up, but forgot: was NH making a statement here about fertility?

Very soon after their change of fortune, Clifford, Hepzibah, and little Phoebe, with the approval of the artist, concluded to remove from the dismal old House of the Seven Gables, and take up their abode, for the present, at the elegant country-seat of the late Judge Pyncheon. Chanticleer and his family had already been transported thither, where the two hens had forthwith begun an indefatigable process of egg-laying, with an evident design, as a matter of duty and conscience, to continue their illustrious breed under better auspices than for a century past.

BTW, Bob, why do you think THotSG is strange?

---

fanuzzir wrote:
Yes, it really does exist, and you can visit it. You can also read the strange novel by Hawthorne about life in Salem.

---

He certainly was, Pmath. The Pynchion family would continue now, with fresh new blood, and even a new name.

[fanuzzir]

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Laurel wrote:

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pmath wrote:
I had intended to bring this up, but forgot: was NH making a statement here about fertility?

Very soon after their change of fortune, Clifford, Hepzibah, and little Phoebe, with the approval of the artist, concluded to remove from the dismal old House of the Seven Gables, and take up their abode, for the present, at the elegant country-seat of the late Judge Pyncheon. Chanticleer and his family had already been transported thither, where the two hens had forthwith begun an indefatigable process of egg-laying, with an evident design, as a matter of duty and conscience, to continue their illustrious breed under better auspices than for a century past.

BTW, Bob, why do you think THotSG is strange?

---

fanuzzir wrote:
Yes, it really does exist, and you can visit it. You can also read the strange novel by Hawthorne about life in Salem.

---

He certainly was, Pmath. The Pynchion family would continue now, with fresh new blood, and even a new name.

---

Well, Pmath, that's one answer: I've never seen a novel discuss fertility so directly, particularly one focussed on spinsters. I found the whole setting of the house strange and forbidding, as it was deliberately keeping our the modern world; the family history and secrets strange and powerful, bearing on the earliest stages of New England history; and nearly all the characters strange, with hypnosis only being the most normal eccentricity.

[pmath]

Thanks, Laurel: I hadn't thought of Phoebe and Holgrave. Talking of names, I wonder why Holgrave has only one.

Bob, Judge Pyncheon is certainly creepy!

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fanuzzir wrote:
I found the whole setting of the house strange and forbidding, as it was deliberately keeping our the modern world; the family history and secrets strange and powerful, bearing on the earliest stages of New England history; and nearly all the characters strange, with hypnosis only being the most normal eccentricity.

---

Laurel wrote:
He certainly was, Pmath. The Pynchion family would continue now, with fresh new blood, and even a new name.

---

pmath wrote:
I had intended to bring this up, but forgot: was NH making a statement here about fertility?

Very soon after their change of fortune, Clifford, Hepzibah, and little Phoebe, with the approval of the artist, concluded to remove from the dismal old House of the Seven Gables, and take up their abode, for the present, at the elegant country-seat of the late Judge Pyncheon. Chanticleer and his family had already been transported thither, where the two hens had forthwith begun an indefatigable process of egg-laying, with an evident design, as a matter of duty and conscience, to continue their illustrious breed under better auspices than for a century past.

BTW, Bob, why do you think THotSG is strange?

---

fanuzzir wrote:
Yes, it really does exist, and you can visit it. You can also read the strange novel by Hawthorne about life in Salem.

[Choisya]

Is it also a comment on the barreness of the 'old world' of England, upon which Americans should now turn their backs and forge ahead with 'an illustrious new breed'?

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fanuzzir wrote:

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Laurel wrote:

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pmath wrote:
I had intended to bring this up, but forgot: was NH making a statement here about fertility?

Very soon after their change of fortune, Clifford, Hepzibah, and little Phoebe, with the approval of the artist, concluded to remove from the dismal old House of the Seven Gables, and take up their abode, for the present, at the elegant country-seat of the late Judge Pyncheon. Chanticleer and his family had already been transported thither, where the two hens had forthwith begun an indefatigable process of egg-laying, with an evident design, as a matter of duty and conscience, to continue their illustrious breed under better auspices than for a century past.

BTW, Bob, why do you think THotSG is strange?

---

fanuzzir wrote:
Yes, it really does exist, and you can visit it. You can also read the strange novel by Hawthorne about life in Salem.

---

He certainly was, Pmath. The Pynchion family would continue now, with fresh new blood, and even a new name.

---

Well, Pmath, that's one answer: I've never seen a novel discuss fertility so directly, particularly one focussed on spinsters. I found the whole setting of the house strange and forbidding, as it was deliberately keeping our the modern world; the family history and secrets strange and powerful, bearing on the earliest stages of New England history; and nearly all the characters strange, with hypnosis only being the most normal eccentricity.

---

[fanuzzir]

To the extent that the Pynchons have not properly "assimilated" into the American mainstream and remain infertile as a family, then yes, Hawthorne is making one of many derogatory comments made by mid-nineteenth century American writers about the decripitude of English/European stock and the fertility of America. (Melville does a number on Spain in the short story "Benito Cereno.")

[ziki]

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Laurel wrote:
Melville and Hawthorne were good companions, so I think I'll add Seven Gables to my present repertoire. It will be interesting to compare the House and the Whale. As I recall, a certain element of gloom hovers over each. I hope they won't be too overwhelming for me during these drizzly November days in the Pacific Northwest.

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Laurel, and did you compare it yet?

ziki

[ziki]

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fanuzzir wrote:
Maybe we should divide the novel into three acts, and check in after we read the first third of it. It's a short work; that shouldn't take too long.

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Sooo that is seven chapters at a time...OK.

ziki

[ziki]

What is NH actually saying about romance as a genre? It's far too convoluted for me.

These two friends HM +NH will be the death of me. ;-)

ziki

[Choisya]

These quotes by NH on 'lurv' might help:-

All brave men love; for he only is brave who has affections to fight for, whether in the daily battle of life, or in physical contests.
Nathaniel Hawthorne

Caresses, expressions of one sort or another, are necessary to the life of the affections as leaves are to the life of a tree. If they are wholly restrained, love will die at the roots.

Love, whether newly born, or aroused from a deathlike slumber, must always create sunshine, filling the heart so full of radiance, this it overflows upon the outward world.

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ziki wrote:
What is NH actually saying about romance as a genre? It's far too convoluted for me.

These two friends HM +NH will be the death of me. ;-)

ziki

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[fanuzzir]

Ziki! I'm shocked you're going for such a land-locked novel. It thought you would be ready for more sea adventure, like Billy Budd or Benito Cereno, also by Melville. This is a strange novel, you'll see, and it went through a good discussion mill. I'll make sure I check back here to see how you're weaving the threads.

[ziki]

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fanuzzir wrote:
Ziki! I'm shocked you're going for such a land-locked novel. It thought you would be ready for more sea adventure, like Billy Budd or Benito Cereno, also by Melville. This is a strange novel, you'll see, and it went through a good discussion mill. I'll make sure I check back here to see how you're weaving the threads.

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OK, just some New England Chowder and a shared bed before I'll head south again. I wanted to check up on Melville's neighbour....

but gimme hand: what of his 'definition of romance' in that preface. He's nothing but complicated there.

Thanks Choisya. I try the keys to that house.

ziki

Message Edited by ziki on 02-08-200706:18 AM

[historybuff234]

I think I will order The House of the Seven Gables this summer, it sounds quite interesting. Hawthorne's other classic The Scarlet Letter will not be in my book order this summer, my mom thinks it inappropriate

[Indigo-Dragonf…]

Hello - You can visit the Hawthorne house in Salem Mass, and I believe take a tour. I walked the grounds around the house some years ago. The house is said to be haunted.