Skip to content

The Marble Faun

The Marble Faun Paperback - 1961

by Hawthorne, Nathaniel


About this book

The fragility-and the durability-of human life and art dominate this story of American expatriates in Italy in the mid-nineteenth century. Befriended by Donatello, a young Italian with the classical grace of the "Marble Faun," Miriam, Hilda, and Kenyon find their pursuit of art taking a sinister turn as Miriam's unhappy past precipitates the present into tragedy.


Hawthorne's 'International Novel' dramatizes the confrontation of the Old World and the New and the uncertain relationship between the 'authentic' and the 'fake' in life as in art. The author's evocative descriptions of classic sites made The Marble Faun a favorite guidebook to Rome for Victorian tourists, but this richly ambiguous symbolic romance is also the story of a murder, and a parable of the Fall of Man. As the characters find their civilized existence disrupted by the awful consequences of impulse, Hawthorne leads his readers to question the value of Art and Culture and addresses the great evolutionary debate which was beginning to shake Victorian society.


Summary

Hawthorne's novel of Americans abroad, the first novel to explore the influence of European cultural ideas on American morality. Although it is set in Rome, the fictive world of The Marble Faun depends not on Italy's social or historical significance, but rather on its aesthetic importance as a definer of 'civilization'. As in The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne is concerned here with the nature of transgression and guilt. A murder, motivated by love, affects not only Donatello, the murderer, but his beloved Miriam and their friends Hilda and Kenyon. As he explores the reactions of each to the crime, Hawthorne dramatizes both the freedoms a new cultural model inspires and the self-censoring conformities it requires. His examination of the influence of European culture on American travellers lay the groundwork for such later works of American fiction as Mark Twain's The Innocents Abroad and Henry James' The Portrait of a Lady.

First Edition Identification

Ticknor and Fields published a First Printing, First Edition in Boston, 1860. The hardcovers are bound in brown cloth and include 16 pages of ads dated February 1860.


Details

  • Title The Marble Faun
  • Author Hawthorne, Nathaniel
  • Binding Paperback
  • Pages 416
  • Language EN
  • Publisher Signet Classics
  • Date December 1, 1961
  • ISBN 9780451510846
Back to Top

More Copies for Sale

No image available

The Marble Faun

by Nathaniel Hawthorne; Murray Krieger [Afterword]

  • Used
  • good
  • Paperback
Condition
Used - Good
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780451510846 / 0451510844
Quantity Available
1
Seller
Houston, Texas, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 4 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
NZ$9.84
FREE shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
Signet Classics, 1961-12-01. Mass Market Paperback. Good. 7x1x5.
Item Price
NZ$9.84
FREE shipping to USA
No image available

The Marble Faun

by Hawthorne, Nathaniel

  • Used
  • good
  • Paperback
Condition
Used - Good
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780451510846 / 0451510844
Quantity Available
3
Seller
Seattle, Washington, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 4 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
NZ$10.45
FREE shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
Signet Classics, 1961. Mass Market Paperback. Good. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
Item Price
NZ$10.45
FREE shipping to USA
The Marble Faun

The Marble Faun

by Hawthorne, Nathaniel

  • Used
  • Acceptable
  • Paperback
Condition
Used - Acceptable
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780451510846 / 0451510844
Quantity Available
2
Seller
Seattle, Washington, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 4 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
NZ$10.45
FREE shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
Signet Classics, 1961. Mass Market Paperback. Acceptable. Readable copy. Pages may have considerable notes/highlighting. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
Item Price
NZ$10.45
FREE shipping to USA
No image available

The Marble Faun

by Nathaniel Hawthorne

  • Used
  • good
  • Paperback
Condition
Used - Good
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780451510846 / 0451510844
Quantity Available
1
Seller
Steubenville, Ohio, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
NZ$10.47
NZ$8.51 shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
Signet Classics, December 1961. Mass Market Paperback. Good. Family-owned bookshop in Steubenville, Ohio: BookMarx Bookstore. Books shipped within 24 hours. No marks or writing observed in text. Binding sound. Some creasing to spine and light wear on cover. Family-owned bookshop in Steubenville, Ohio: BookMarx Bookstore. Books shipped within 24 hours.
Item Price
NZ$10.47
NZ$8.51 shipping to USA
No image available

The Marble Faun

by Hawthorne, Nathanial

  • Used
Condition
Used - Good
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780451510846 / 0451510844
Quantity Available
1
Seller
Reno, Nevada, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
NZ$12.60
FREE shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
Penguin Publishing Group. Used - Good. Used book that is in clean, average condition without any missing pages.
Item Price
NZ$12.60
FREE shipping to USA
No image available

The Marble Faun

by Nathaniel Hawthorne; Murray Krieger [Afterword]

  • New
  • Paperback
Condition
New
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780451510846 / 0451510844
Quantity Available
1
Seller
San Diego, California, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
NZ$174.51
NZ$9.28 shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
Signet Classics. Mass Market Paperback. New. New. In shrink wrap. Looks like an interesting title!
Item Price
NZ$174.51
NZ$9.28 shipping to USA