The Marble Faun
First published 1800 · English · 418 pages
- Novels
- Mystery and crime
Hawthorne's last completed novel is set in Rome and draws on his own years in Italy. A small group of artists, the American sculptor Kenyon, the painter Hilda, the dark-spirited Miriam and her friend Donatello, whose looks resemble a statue of a faun, move among ruins, galleries and catacombs. A shared secret changes their lives and raises questions of innocence, conscience and moral growth. The book blends travel description, art talk and gothic mystery, and it is a rich portrait of how Americans saw Europe in the mid-nineteenth century.
Quotes
nobody has any conscience about adding to the improbabilities of a marvellous tale.
It is a suggestive idea to track those worn feet backward through all the paths they have trodden ever since they were the tender and rosy little feet of a baby, and (cold as they now are) were kept warm in his mother's hand.
We do ourselves wrong, and too meanly estimate the Holiness above us, when we deem that any act or enjoyment, good in itself, is not good to do religiously.
Chapter XXXII · Project Gutenberg #2182 (opens in a new tab)
Christian faith is a grand cathedral, with divinely pictured windows. Standing without, you see no glory, nor can possibly imagine any; standing within, every ray of light reveals a harmony of unspeakable splendors.
Chapter XXXIII · Project Gutenberg #2182 (opens in a new tab)