The Sister Years

by Nathaniel Hawthorne

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Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

28 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 2005

About the author

Nathaniel Hawthorne was a 19th century American novelist and short story writer. He is seen as a key figure in the development of American literature for his tales of the nation's colonial history.

Shortly after graduating from Bowdoin College, Hathorne changed his name to Hawthorne. Hawthorne anonymously published his first work, a novel titled Fanshawe, in 1828. In 1837, he published Twice-Told Tales and became engaged to painter and illustrator Sophia Peabody the next year. He worked at a Custom House and joined a Transcendentalist Utopian community, before marrying Peabody in 1842. The couple moved to The Old Manse in Concord, Massachusetts, later moving to Salem, the Berkshires, then to The Wayside in Concord. The Scarlet Letter was published in 1850, followed by a succession of other novels. A political appointment took Hawthorne and family to Europe before returning to The Wayside in 1860. Hawthorne died on May 19, 1864, leaving behind his wife and their three children.

Much of Hawthorne's writing centers around New England and many feature moral allegories with a Puritan inspiration. His work is considered part of the Romantic movement and includes novels, short stories, and a biography of his friend, the United States President Franklin Pierce.

Reviews

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This New Year’s Day piece was first published with the title “Being the Carrier's Address, to the Patrons of the Salem Gazette, for the First of January, 1839.” Presumably commissioned by Caleb Foote (the editor of The Gazette and a friend of Hawthorne), it tells of the midnight meeting, on the steps of the new city hall, of two sisters: The Old Year 1838 and The New Year 1939. As you might expect, the elder of the two has much to tell her naive sibling.

This is a well executed, amusing trifle, but little more. The sisters briefly discuss the events of the past year, including local and national politics (I was surprised when the elder sister mentioned the “Aristook War” between the U.S. and Canada, for I had forgotten completely about it), countless broken promises, resolutions, and dashed hopes. My favorite part, though, is the advice 1838 has for 1839:

"And now, my dear sister, I must bid you farewell, earnestly advising and exhorting you to expect no gratitude nor good will from this peevish, unreasonable, inconsiderate, ill-intending and worse-behaving world. However warmly its inhabitants may seem to welcome you, yet, do what you may, and lavish on them what means of happiness you please, they will still be complaining,--still craving what it is not in your power to give,--still looking forward to some other Year for the accomplishment of projects which ought never to have been formed, and which, if successful, would only provide new occasions of discontent. If these ridiculous people ever see any thing tolerable in you, it will be after you are gone forever."

[SpookySoto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Relato interesante del encuentro entre el año viejo y el nuevo

[Forked Radish · Rating 4 out of 5]

How little things change.

[Glen Engel-Cox · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not so much a story as an extended metaphor in which the Old Year and the New Year are personified as sisters passing in the night, mainly intended as a method by which to denounce the perfidy of humans, or perhaps a warning or admonition to do better in the coming year. The amusing aside about politics, including the trouble with Texas, was the best part of it.

[Sean Harding · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hawthorne Hawks #41
Time passes, time waits for no man, the years slip away and this short tale gives us some wonderful prose about the passing of time.
His writing is just wonderful.
The quest continues!