= Twice-Told

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= Twice-Told_Tales =
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Introduction
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'Twice-Told Tales' is a short story collection in two volumes by
Nathaniel Hawthorne. The first volume was published in the spring of
1837 and the second in 1842. The stories had all been previously
published in magazines and annuals, hence the name.

Publication
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Hawthorne was encouraged by friend Horatio Bridge to collect these
previously anonymous stories; Bridge offered $250 to cover the risk of
the publication. Many had been published in 'The Token', edited by
Samuel Griswold Goodrich. When the works became popular, Bridge
revealed Hawthorne as the author in a review he published in the
'Boston Post'.

The title 'Twice-Told Tales' was based on a line from William
Shakespeare's 'King John' (Act 3, scene 4): "Life is as tedious as a
twice-told tale, / Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man." The quote
referenced may also be Hawthorne's way of acknowledging a belief that
many of his stories were ironic retellings of familiar tropes. The
title also alludes to the last four lines of Book XII of the 'Odyssey'
by Homer. In Alexander Pope's translation, Odysseus finishes telling
the tale of his journeys to Queen Arête, King Alkinoös and the
Phaiakian court:

The book was published by the American Stationers' Company on March 6,
1837; its cover price was $1. Hawthorne had help in promoting the book
from Elizabeth Peabody. She sent copies of the collection to William
Wordsworth and to Horace Mann, hoping that Mann could get Hawthorne a
job writing stories for schoolchildren. After publication, Hawthorne
asked a friend to check with the local bookstore to see how it was
selling. After noting the initial expenses for publishing had not been
met, he complained: "Surely the book was puffed enough to meet with
sale. What the devil's the matter?" By June, between 600 and 700
copies were sold but sales were halted by the Panic of 1837, and the
publisher went out of business within a year.

On October 11, 1841, Hawthorne signed a contract with publisher James
Munroe to issue a two-volume edition of 'Twice-Told Tales' with 21
more works than the previous edition. 1,000 copies were published in
December of that year with a cover price of $2.25; Hawthorne was paid
10 percent per copy. Hawthorne complained that he still struggled
financially. Editor John L. O'Sullivan suggested Hawthorne buy back
unsold copies of 'Twice-Told Tales' so that they could be reissued
through a different publisher. At the time of this suggestion, 1844,
there were 600 unsold copies of the book. Hawthorne lamented "I wish
Heaven would make me rich enough to buy the copies for the purpose of
burning them."

After the success of 'The Scarlet Letter' in 1850, 'Twice-Told Tales'
was reissued with the help of publisher James T. Fields. In a new
preface, Hawthorne wrote that the stories "may be understood and felt
by anybody, who will give himself the trouble to read it, and will
take up the book in a proper mood."

Critical response
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About a week after the publication of the book, Hawthorne sent a copy
to the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, his classmate from Bowdoin
College. Longfellow had given a speech at their commencement calling
for notable contributions to American literature. By this time,
Longfellow was working at Harvard University and becoming popular as a
poet. Hawthorne wrote to him "We were not, it is true, so well
acquainted at college, that I can plead an absolute right to inflict
my 'twice-told' tediousness upon you; but I have often regretted that
we were not better known." In his 14-page critique in the April issue
of the 'North American Review', Longfellow praised the book as a work
of genius. "To this little book", Longfellow wrote, "we would say,
'Live ever, sweet, sweet book.' It comes from the hand of a man of
genius." For his review of the second edition, Longfellow noted that
Hawthorne's writing "is characterized by a large proportion of
feminine elements, depth and tenderness of feeling, exceeding purity
of mind." He referred to the collection's "The Gentle Boy" as "on the
whole, the finest thing he ever wrote". The two authors would
eventually build a strong friendship.

Generally, reviews were positive. Park Benjamin, Sr. stated that the
author was "a rose baptized in dew". For the 'Boston Quarterly
Review', Orestes Brownson noted Hawthorne's writings as "a pure and
living stream of manly thought and feeling, which characterizes always
the true man, the Christian, the republican and the patriot." After
reading 'Twice-Told Tales', Herman Melville wrote to Evert Augustus
Duyckinck that the stories weren't meaty enough. "Their deeper
meanings are worthy of a Brahmin. Still there is something lacking--a
good deal lacking to the plump sphericity of the man. What is
that?--He patronise the butcher--he needs roast-beef, done rare."

Edgar Allan Poe wrote a well-known, two-part review of the second
edition of 'Twice-Told Tales', published in the April and May 1842
issues of 'Graham's Magazine'. Poe particularly praised Hawthorne's
originality as "remarkable". He nonetheless criticized Hawthorne's
reliance on allegory and the didactic, something he called a "heresy"
to American literature. He did, however, express praise at the use of
short stories (Poe was a tale-writer himself) and said they "rivet the
attention" of the reader. Poe admitted, "The style of Hawthorne is
purity itself. His tone is singularly effective--wild, plaintive,
thoughtful, and in full accordance with his themes." He concluded
that, "we look upon him as one of the few men of indisputable genius
to whom our country has as yet given birth."

The Grolier Club later named 'Twice-Told Tales' the most influential
book of 1837.

Contents
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*"The Gray Champion"
*"Sunday at Home"
*"The Wedding-Knell"
*"The Minister's Black Veil"
*"The May-Pole of Merry Mount"
*"The Gentle Boy"
*"Mr. Higginbotham's Catastrophe"
*"Little Annie's Ramble"
*"Wakefield"
*"A Rill from the Town-Pump"
*"The Great Carbuncle"
*"The Prophetic Pictures"
*"David Swan"
*"Sights from a Steeple"
*"The Hollow of the Three Hills"
*"The Toll-Gatherer's Day"
*"The Vision of the Fountain"
*"Fancy's Show Box"
*"Dr. Heidegger's Experiment"
*"Legends of the Province-House"
**I. "Howe's Masquerade"
**II. "Edward Randolph's Portrait"
**III. "Lady Eleanore's Mantle"
**IV. "Old Esther Dudley"
*"The Haunted Mind"
*"The Village Uncle"
*"The Ambitious Guest"
*"The Sister Years"
*"Snow-Flakes"
*"The Seven Vagabonds"
*"The White Old Maid"
*"Peter Goldthwaite's Treasure"
*"Chippings with a Chisel"
*"The Shaker Bridal"
*"Night Sketches"
*"Endicott and the Red Cross"
*"The Lily's Quest"
*"Foot-prints on the Sea-shore"
*"Edward Fane's Rosebud"
*"The Threefold Destiny"

Adaptations
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In 1963, United Artists released a horror trilogy film titled
'Twice-Told Tales', with content very loosely adapted from three
Hawthorne stories. The three stories were: "Dr. Heidegger's
Experiment", which actually was one of the "Twice-Told Tales"; the
Hawthorne novel 'The House of the Seven Gables'; and another short
story, "Rappaccini's Daughter". The film is regarded as a classic of
sorts in the field of low-budget Hollywood horror, with Vincent Price,
Sebastian Cabot, and Beverly Garland performing. The 2016 film
'Wakefield' is a modern adaptation of the story of the same name.

External links
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*
*
*
*[https://archive.org/search.php?query=title%3Atwice%20told%20tales%20AND%20mediatype%3Atexts
'Twice-Told Tales'], available at Internet Archive (scanned books
original editions illustrated)
*

License
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Original Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twice-Told_Tales