Mark Beauregard

Back in college when I studied American Literature there was no mention of a very close, perhaps intimate, relationship between Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne. When I came across this fictional account of this relationship I found myself intrigued by the idea. I first googled the idea to see if there was indeed any truth to it, and discovered that while there was no concrete proof of an intimate relationship, the letters and journals of Melville, Hawthorne, and their contemporaries did give credence to the idea. Sadly, I found myself disappointed with the novel itself. Melville comes across as a complete wimp. I'd like to think that a man a who sailed across many of the world's oceans and lived amongst cannibals would not have acted like a such a love struck schoolboy. What a let down.… (plus d'informations)

A well written story with lots of historical detail. While it is a work of fiction, it's very easy to imagine that it happened just the way the author has put it down on paper. The selections from Melville and Hawthorne's correspondence to each other helps move the narrative along and helps you understand why the author felt the need to tell this story. While I enjoyed the book, I wished the author had done more with Hawthorne. The story is told from Melville's perspective, but if we'd been allowed to get just a bit more inside Hawthorne's thoughts and emotions it would have helped.… (plus d'informations)

This novel is a fascinating exploration of the possible course of a relationship that the author imagines between Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Mehlville. The story struck me as plausible, and the emotions recognizable. The long delays after Mehlville writes Hawthorne and then waits in vain for a reply; the way Hawthorne responds in person, unable to express his feelings and determined to honor his wife and children; the magnetic connection between the two men and the impossibility of their dilemma--it all felt like what it might have been like for men in this position in the middle of the 19th Century. The lesser characters--the wives, Mehlville's sisters, and the circle of friends and acquaintances in the small circle of literary and publishing figures who congregated in the Berkshire Mountains of Western Massachusetts--come to life in unexpected ways. Strongly recommended for those with an interest in American literature and gay fiction.… (plus d'informations)