One of the many books I am currently reading is Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. I have not read it since my freshman year of high school and so was really surprised by the “sketch” that precedes it, “The Custom House.” I had no recollection of this whatsoever. It’s no wonder really since it has not much of anything to do with the novel itself. Yes, there is some set up, but it is mostly Hawthorne writing about his time working at the Custom House as a Customs officer. It is mind numbingly dull for the most part so I skimmed.
I normally don’t skim, but good gravy, Hawthorne really drones on! There are, however, some rather amusing bits. Like when he complains about how soul-sucking his work is:
I had ceased to be a writer of tolerably poor tales and essays, and had become a tolerably good Surveyor of the Customs. That was all. But, nevertheless, it is anything but agreeable to be haunted by suspicion that one’s intellect is dwindling away, or exhaling, without your consciousness, like the ether out of a phial; so that, at every glance, you find a smaller and less volatile residuum.
Now you’d think he spent long days toiling away by the sound of that, yes? Unfortunately I can’t find the highlight in my ebook at the moment, but I burst out laughing as he goes on and on and then comes out that he works about three hours a day and is so exhausted by it that when he gets home he has no energy left to write.
Was time different back then? Was an hour longer than sixty minutes? Three hours of work a day and he can’t muster up the energy to work on his book? I think there aren’t many writers who wouldn’t love the chance to work three hours a day and then have all the rest of the day to themselves! Clearly Hawthorne was a sensitive soul and it is best he lived when he did because he would be completely crushed in today’s world.
Or perhaps he was just making excuses for a bad case of writer’s block. I think that likely to be the case because he touches that note of despair a few times throughout his sketch until he finally decides that he will never get The Scarlet Letter written unless he quits his job. Which he did. And obviously he managed to get the book written too.
But wow, I’d really like one of those three-hour work days to despair over!
Interesting find!
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I read the novel as a high school sophomore, I think, and don’t remember that lead in at all either. Now you have me curious, but it surely doesn’t sound like something that would have left much of an impression on me, so that probably explains why I’ve likely just forgotten it ever existed.
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Sam, yeah, other than it sets up the novel–Hawthorne find a file that belonged to a previous customs official and in it is the faded scarlet letter and a brief outline explaining it–the sketch is pretty pointless. There is a bit of rant against the government though and government jobs being free handouts. This from the man working a government job 🙂
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booksandbuttons, it almost rescues the dullness of the sketch!
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haha, I’d really like a three hour working day too!
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Nish, wouldn’t we all?
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To think the stuff I can accomplish with a 3 hrs work day….or maybe not….you do something if you really want to and our writer I agree with you was just trying to find excuses!
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cirtnecce, all I can think about is how much more time I’d have for gardening, cycling and reading! 🙂
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Ha! That settles it, then. I’m going to start leaving work at noon, putting on my out of office that I had no choice because “I could feel my intellect dwindling away like the ether out of a phial.”
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widget, I know, right? Hawthorne could almost be the model for Melville’s Bartleby, “I prefer not to”! 🙂
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I hate to tell you, but now that I’m almost completely retired, I find myself complaining about never having enough time. I can find all sorts of little chores to do that, if I don’t do them, I feel guilty about. There are still plenty of things I don’t do and feel guilty about. When I’m reading, I feel guilty, thinking I should be doing all those other things. I think I waste time feeling guilty! I sometimes wonder how I managed to work a full 9 to 5 plus day, commute, buy groceries, etc., and still find time to read. Maybe I now feel I haven’t earned the right to get lost in a book?
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Joan, I’ve heard that lament from lots of semi and fully retired people! I know if I didn’t have to work I would have not problem filling my time, there is always so much to do! It does sound like you spend a lot of time feeling guilty! I think you have earned the right to get lost in a book based on all the previous years alone. Seems like you shouldn’t have to earn anything anymore 🙂
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Bahahahaha. There is that idea that if you need something done, ask a busy person, but man, I would love a three-hour workday too!
I have a feeling that most copies of The Scarlet Letter (at least for high school consumption) may excise the Customs-House prelude, or if they don’t, most teachers don’t ask their students to read it, precisely because it’s a bit boring and, more to the point, doesn’t add anything of thematic interest to the novel. I remember it, though! Our teacher must have told us to read it anyway…how odd!
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Elle, I know, right? Hmm, I suspect you are right regarding most high school editions of the book not even having the Custom House part in them. Aren’t you lucky that your teacher made you read it anyway!
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Oh, I adore Hawthorne and Hester Prynne. She may have been the first true feminist that I had encountered in my teenage years. I so admired her defiance and willingness to wear the scarlet A. The reverend was a wimp and not worthy of her. As a teenager, I read his story about the custom house where he worked. As an adult, I visited that custom house and it was so magical to me. It was the first author site that I had ever visited. After that, I visited Hemingway’s house in Key West, which was also so wonderful. Perhaps I am easily impressed.
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Lynnette, it is really interesting reading the book again after all these years. Some things I remember well and others I had not recollection of. That’s really neat you have been to the custom house where he worked!
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I once had a retail job which was 4 hours per day. The money was not great but the free time was fantastic. I even had time to have a second more infrequent casual job. Hawthorne got to work 3 hours a day, and by the sounds of it, he even got to sit down during the job. His customs job sounded really stressful :-).
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Ed, if only we could work for 3 or 4 hours and make decent money too! Hawthorne’s job sounds really stressful, doesn’t? 😉
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Oh I think it’s fair to skim when the author is Nathaniel Hawthorne. I don’t like his rotten books, and I think he himself was a poophead — he’s the one who said lady writers should be scarified with an oyster shell. VIVID, no? Whenever I start to feel faintly anxious about not liking The Scarlet Letter, I remind myself of that oyster shell thing and feel okay about it again.
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Jenny, ouch. I must say I don’t admire Hester like I did in high school on this reading and I am a lot less sympathetic to the reverend. I didn’t know Hawthorne said that about women writers. Must be why he and Margaret Fuller had such a rocky friendship!
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LOL. Delightful comment. I agree he sounds like a sensitive soul.
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Kathleen, isn’t it great? It is really hard to feel sorry for him 🙂
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