The Marble Faun; Or, the Romance of Monte Beni - Volume 2
1860
The Marble Faun; Or, the Romance of Monte Beni - Volume 2
1860
Published in 1860, 'The Marble Faun; Or, the Romance of Monte Beni - Volume 2' by Nathaniel Hawthorne explores the lives of American expatriates in Italy, particularly focusing on the sculptor Kenyon and his friend Donatello. Set against the backdrop of Italy's art and beauty, the novel delves into themes of identity, isolation, and the darker aspects of human experience, including murder and tragedy. Hawthorne's work juxtaposes the Old World with the New, questioning the authenticity of art and culture while reflecting on the fragility of life. This psychological fiction is notable for its rich descriptions and symbolic narrative, making it a significant exploration of 19th-century societal issues.
Editions
X-Ray
“A forced smile is uglier than a frown.””
— Nathaniel Hawthorne
“Every young sculptor seems to think that he must give the world some specimen of indecorous womanhood, and call it Eve, Venus, a Nymph, or any name that may apologize for a lack of decent clothing. I am weary, even more than I am ashamed, of seeing such things. Nowadays people are as good as born in their clothes, and there is practically not a nude human being in existence. An artist, therefore, as you must candidly confess, cannot sculpture nudity with a pure heart, if only because he is compelled to steal guilty glimpses at hired models. The marble inevitably loses its chastity under such circumstances. An old Greek sculptor, no doubt, found his models in the open sunshine, and among pure and princely maidens, and thus the nude statues of antiquity are as modest as violets, and sufficiently draped in their own beauty. But as for Mr. Gibson's colored Venuses (stained, I believe, with tobacco juice), and all other nudities of to-day, I really do not understand what they have to say to this generation, and would be glad to see as many heaps of quicklime in their stead.””
— Nathaniel Hawthorne
“Nobody, I think, ought to read poetry, or look at pictures or statues, who cannot find a great deal more in them than the poet or artist has actually expressed.””
— Nathaniel Hawthorne
“It is the surest test of genuine love, that it brings back our early simplicity to the worldliest of us.””
— Nathaniel Hawthorne
“Oh Hilda, what a treasure of sweet faith and pure imagination you hide under that little straw hat!””
— Nathaniel Hawthorne
“They stopped on the bridge to look into the swift eddying flow of the yellow Tiber, a mud puddle in strenuous motion;””
— Nathaniel Hawthorne
“It depresses me to look at old frescos," responded the Count; "it is a pain, yet not enough of a pain to answer as a penance.””
— Nathaniel Hawthorne
“And, in truth, while our friend smiled at these wild fables, he sighed in the same breath to think how the once genial earth produces, in every successive generation, fewer flowers than used to gladden the preceding ones. Not that the modes and seeming possibilities of human enjoyment are rarer in our refined and softened era,”
— Nathaniel Hawthorne
“Nevertheless, in spite of all these professional grudges, artists are conscious of a social warmth from each other's presence and contiguity. They shiver at the remembrance of their lonely studios in the unsympathizing cities of their native land. For the sake of such brotherhood as they can find, more than for any good that they get from galleries, they linger year after year in Italy, while their originality dies out of them, or is polished away as a barbarism.””
— Nathaniel Hawthorne
Link to this book
Add a free, dofollow link to Lex on your blog, forum, syllabus, or reading list.
<a href="https://lex-books.com/book/the-marble-faun-or-the-romance-of-monte-beni-volume-2-bee189b1-01ab-4182-8064-8df6e02394c2"><img src="https://lex-books.com/badges/read-on-lex.svg" alt="Read The Marble Faun; Or, the Romance of Monte Beni - Volume 2 by Nathaniel Hawthorne free on Lex" width="160" height="40"></a>[](https://lex-books.com/book/the-marble-faun-or-the-romance-of-monte-beni-volume-2-bee189b1-01ab-4182-8064-8df6e02394c2)[url=https://lex-books.com/book/the-marble-faun-or-the-romance-of-monte-beni-volume-2-bee189b1-01ab-4182-8064-8df6e02394c2][img]https://lex-books.com/badges/read-on-lex.svg[/img][/url]Read The Marble Faun; Or, the Romance of Monte Beni - Volume 2 by Nathaniel Hawthorne free on Lex: https://lex-books.com/book/the-marble-faun-or-the-romance-of-monte-beni-volume-2-bee189b1-01ab-4182-8064-8df6e02394c2Cite this book
Reading this edition for a paper or guide? Copy a citation.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Marble Faun; Or, the Romance of Monte Beni - Volume 2. Lex, lex-books.com/book/the-marble-faun-or-the-romance-of-monte-beni-volume-2-bee189b1-01ab-4182-8064-8df6e02394c2.Hawthorne, N. (1860). The Marble Faun; Or, the Romance of Monte Beni - Volume 2. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/the-marble-faun-or-the-romance-of-monte-beni-volume-2-bee189b1-01ab-4182-8064-8df6e02394c2Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Marble Faun; Or, the Romance of Monte Beni - Volume 2. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/the-marble-faun-or-the-romance-of-monte-beni-volume-2-bee189b1-01ab-4182-8064-8df6e02394c2.
