Books with title The Marble Faun

The Marble Faun is Hawthorne's most unusual romance, and possibly one of the strangest major works of American fiction. Writing on the eve of the American Civil War, Hawthorne set his story in a fantastical Italy. The romance mixes elements of a fable, pastoral, gothic novel, and travel guide. The climax comes less than halfway through the story, and Hawthorne intentionally fails to answer many of the reader's questions about the characters and the plot.

"An 'odyssey of artistic, sexual and spiritual discovery..." ***** (Reader Review)Edmund Payne runs from a job as an art school teacher following suspicions surrounding a relationship with a talented and sensitive schoolboy. As Edmund attempts to reconstruct his journey through the Mediterranean, he recalls friendships, sexual thrills, and lovers along the way. It is primarily a story of a winter's journey into darkness and exile, illuminated only by the Classical landscapes of North Africa, Italy and Greece, until, that is, he finds a new world of light, and love. But, having found a new home, and new love, Edmund must believe in it, and accept it.FULLY REVISED"The Marble Boy is a novel about infatuation and longing: a sensual, sexual pot-boiler of a man waiting to explode, waiting to find true love, waiting to find who he is. It’s a novel brilliantly disguised as a travel book written by a burnt-out middle-aged man, Edmund, with a possibly dodgy past. He writes letters home and we learn there’s distance between those in the past, his ex-wife, particularly. We travel with Edmund through the streets, nature and architecture of Greece and the Mediterranean, and read every vivid detail of his 'journal' and act as tourists overseeing, sometimes literally, his drawings, and his infatuations with the young men he encounters. A strong recommendation." (Reader Review)"This aptly titled book successfully portrays the landscapes, art and architecture and compares them to his past. Depiction of Mediterranean architecture and his interpretations are compelling enough to awaken an urge to see it yourself. His humility about his art, confessions of lust and susceptibility to love left me spellbound and yet curious, given that it's semi-autobiographical. Abrupt, and failure to find a closure is struggle sails through and at last accepts for it to be a continuous process. Looking forward to reading other books of his." **** (Reader Review)"A book for every gay man wondering where his life is heading. Its fragile, melancholic mood resonated beautifully with my own middle-age-crisis state of mind. Part travelogue and part psychoanalysis, The Marble Boy skilfully weaves the protagonist's assessment of his mindset with penetrating examination of his past relationships and lyrical exploration of the often less visited Mediterranean landscape he travels through. Introspective and perceptive, but generally not self-indulgent, beautifully written and compelling; I found it uplifting." ***** (Reader Review)"The Marble Boy by Andrew Daws is a very original work. It's a kind of combination gay sex odyssey/travel diary. Much of the time the writing is absolutely exquisite. The author has the unique ability to make the reader believe for the moment that he is actually visiting these exotic locations. This is a talent often claimed by writers and publishers but rarely achieved. Along the way Edmund has several sexual encounters with younger men. The description of these scenes is insightful, often beautiful and utterly convincing." ***** (Reader Review)

The Marble Faun: Or, The Romance of Monte Beni, also known by the British title Transformation, was the last of the four major romances by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and was published in 1860. The Marble Faun, written on the eve of the American Civil War, is set in a fantastical Italy. The romance mixes elements of a fable, pastoral, gothic novel, and travel guide.

It is now seven or eight years (so many, at all events, that I cannot nrecisely remember the epoch) since the author of this romance last appeared before the Public. It had grown to be a custom with him to introduce each of his humble publications with a familiar kind of preface, addressed nominally to the Public at large, but really to a character with whom he felt entitled to use far greater freedom. He meant it for that one congenial friend, more comprehensive of his purposes, more appreciative of his success, more indulgent of his short-comings, and, in all respects, closer and kinder than a brother, that all-sympathizing critic, in short, whom an author never actually meets, but to whom he implicitly makes his appeal whenever he is conscious of having done his best. The antique fashion of Prefaces recognized this genial personage as the Kind Reader, the Gentle Reader, theB eloved, the I ndulgent, or, at coldest, the Honored Reader, to whom the prim old author was wont to make his preliminary explanations and apologies, with the certainty that they would be favorably received. I never personally encountered, nor corresponded through the post with this representative essence of all delightful and desirable qualities which a reader can possess. But, fortunately for myself, I never therefore concluded him to be merely a mythic character. I had always a sturdy faith in his actual existence, and wrote for him year after year, during which the great eye of the Public (as well it might) almost utterly overlooked my small productions. Unquestionably, this gentle, kind, benevolent, indulgent, and most beloved and honored Reader did once exist for me, and (in spite of the infinite chances against a letters reaching its destination without a definite address) duly received the scrolls which I flung upon whatever wind was blowing, in the faith that they would find h(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)

Nathaniel Hawthorne was one of the greatest American writers of the nineteenth century. Hawthorne's writing is unique as it often featured moral struggles among the Puritans in and around New England. Hawthorne's books became some of the most famous works of dark romanticism and his novel The Scarlet Letter is considered a classic in American literature. The Marble Faun, published in 1860, is a Gothic novel that is set in Italy. The book tells the story of a group of art students who befriend a mysterious Italian named Donatello.

Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic "international novel" showcases the durability of life and art, chronicling the adventures of a group of American expatriates in Italy. Befriended by the handsome Donatello, who possesses all the grace of a marble statue of a faun, the Americans find themselves swept up in events beyond their reason and expectations. Italy and Rome become characters in this witty and symbolic romance, drawing on art, literature, and the Fall from Grace as its themes.

Excerpt: ...every two touches of his brush, in order to have made the finished picture such a visible prayer as we behold it, in the guise of a prim angel, or a saint without the human nature. Through all these dusky centuries, his works may still help a struggling heart to pray. Perugino was evidently a devout man; and the Virgin, therefore, revealed herself to him in loftier and sweeter faces of celestial womanhood, and yet with a kind of homeliness in their human mould, than even the genius of Raphael could imagine. Sodoma, beyond a question, both prayed and wept, while painting his fresco, at Siena, of Christ bound to a pillar. In her present need and hunger for a spiritual revelation, Hilda felt a vast and weary longing to see this last-mentioned picture once again. It is inexpressibly touching. So weary is the Saviour and utterly worn out with agony, that his lips have fallen apart from mere exhaustion; his eyes seem to be set; he tries to lean his head against the pillar, but is kept from sinking down upon the ground only by the cords that bind him. One of the most striking effects produced is the sense of loneliness. You behold Christ deserted both in heaven and earth; that despair is in him which wrung forth the saddest utterance man ever made, "Why hast Thou forsaken me?" Even in this extremity, however, he is still divine. The great and reverent painter has not suffered the Son of God to be merely an object of pity, though depicting him in a state so profoundly pitiful. He is rescued from it, we know not how.

The Marble Faun: Or, The Romance of Monte Beni, also known by the British title Transformation, was the last of the four major romances by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and was published in 1860. The Marble Faun, written on the eve of the American Civil War, is set in a fantastical Italy. The romance mixes elements of a fable, pastoral, gothic novel, and travel guide. This Romance focuses on four main characters: Miriam, Hilda, Kenyon, and Donatello. Miriam is a beautiful painter with an unknown past. Throughout the novel, she is compared to many other women including Eve, Beatrice Cenci, Judith, and Cleopatra. Miriam is pursued by a mysterious, threatening man who is her “evil genius” through life. Hilda is an innocent copyist. She is compared to the Virgin Mary and the white dove. Her simple, unbendable moral principles can make her severe in spite of her tender heart. Miriam and Hilda are often contrasted. Kenyon is a sculptor who represents rationalist humanism. He cherishes a romantic affection towards Hilda. Donatello, the Count of Monte Beni, is often compared to Adam and is in love with Miriam. Donatello amazingly resembles the marble Faun of Praxiteles, and the novel plays with the characters’ belief that the Count may be a descendant of the antique Faun. Hawthorne, however, withholds a definite statement even in the novel’s concluding chapters and postscript. Nathaniel Hawthorne ( July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel Hathorne and the former Elizabeth Clarke Manning. His ancestors include John Hathorne, the only judge involved in the Salem witch trials who never repented of his actions. Nathaniel later added a "w" to make his name "Hawthorne" in order to hide this relation. He entered Bowdoin College in 1821, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in 1824, and graduated in 1825. Hawthorne published his first work, a novel titled Fanshawe, in 1828; he later tried to suppress it, feeling it was not equal to the standard of his later work. He published several short stories in various periodicals which he collected in 1837 as Twice-Told Tales. The next year, he became engaged to Sophia Peabody. He worked at a Custom House and joined Brook Farm, a transcendentalist 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 their return to The Wayside in 1860. Hawthorne died on May 19, 1864, and was survived by his wife and their three children. Much of Hawthorne's writing centers on New England, many works featuring moral allegories with a Puritan inspiration. His fiction works are considered part of the Romantic movement and, more specifically, Dark romanticism. His themes often center on the inherent evil and sin of humanity, and his works often have moral messages and deep psychological complexity. His published works include novels, short stories, and a biography of his friend Franklin Pierce. Hawthorne's works belong to romanticism or, more specifically, dark romanticism, cautionary tales that suggest that guilt, sin, and evil are the most inherent natural qualities of humanity. Many of his works are inspired by Puritan New England, combining historical romance loaded with symbolism and deep psychological themes, bordering on surrealism. His depictions of the past are a version of historical fiction used only as a vehicle to express common themes of ancestral sin, guilt and retribution. His later writings also reflect his negative view of the Transcendentalism movement.

The Marble Faun: Or, The Romance of Monte Beni, also known by the British title Transformation, was the last of the four major romances by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and was published in 1860. The Marble Faun, written on the eve of the American Civil War, is set in a fantastical Italy. The romance mixes elements of a fable, pastoral, gothic novel, and travel guide.

When the frozen body of a murder victim--a smuggler from Quebec and the patriarch of a powerful crime syndicate--turns up on a Vermont mountain, Lieutenant Joe Gunther of the Vermont Bureau of Investigation uncovers links to a priceless mask sculpted by Michelangelo that mysteriously vanished during the World War II Italian campaign. 20,000 first printing.