May 8, 2023: Spring 2023 Surprises: Hawthorne & History in The American Novel

[Asanother challenging but rewarding semester comes to a close, I wanted toreflect on a handful of moments that particularly surprised me (in good ways).I’d love to hear some of your Spring reflections in comments!]

I firsttaught TheAmerican Novel to 1950 in my first Spring semester at Fitchburg State(Spring 2006, if you want me to feel really old), and in the many sections sinceI’ve switched out almost every book on the syllabus at least once or twice. Withone exception: I’m pretty sure I’ve started every section of this class (afteran introductory week featuring two early 19th century short storiesto get us going a bit) with Nathaniel Hawthorne’s TheHouse of the Seven Gables (1851). I greatly enjoy Hawthorne’shistorical romance and find that it teaches really well, but certainly thatconsistent presence means the couple weeks of conversations about the book tendto feel familiar by now. So I was pleasantly surprised this semester when ourfinal discussion about the novel became a thoughtful, multi-layered deep dive intohistories of the Salem Witch Trials, both in and beyond Hawthorne’s book. I’dclaim that my drawing of the House and its environs on the whiteboard was the key,but really, as usual, this was all about a great group of FSU students andtheir perspectives and ideas. That part is never a surprise!

Nextsurprise tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? Spring semester reflections you’d share?