The Artist of the Beautiful by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1844): A Review

Title: The Artist of the Beautiful

Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne

Publication Year: 1844

Rating: ⭐⭐

Genre: Short story, Allegory, Fantasy, Proto-Science Fiction

Let’s begin with what I appreciated: the story’s exploration of the artist, artistic creation, and the struggle to bring an imagined object into existence.

Unfortunately, it began to lose me when it moved toward spirituality and the idea of creating art that possesses some mysterious life force. I have nothing against fictional characters attempting to create life. In fact, I enjoy a mad scientist gradually losing control of both the experiment and the plot. Victor Frankenstein is one of my favourites, despite his extraordinary talent for annoying me.

Owen, however, is a different kind of creator. His artistic vision is entangled with spirituality, unrequited love, disappointment, and the death and resurrection of his creative spirit. It was all very symbolic and meaningful, but my patience was occasionally elsewhere.

I also struggled to connect with the characters. Even the child becomes a tiny agent of destruction, although I understand what that moment represents: innocence can destroy beauty without understanding either its value or the labour required to create it. Or children are just forces of destruction.

And then there is Owen. He loves a woman but effectively drives her away, spends years suffering, repeatedly loses and recovers his artistic spirit, finally creates an extraordinary mechanical butterfly, and then simply gives it away.

Sir, after that much misery, I would have placed it behind glass, purchased insurance, and introduced a strict no-children policy. Sorry for the spoiler!

So perhaps the problem is not the story. Perhaps I am simply less receptive to spirituality and romantic sacrifice than Hawthorne expected or imposed. Apparently, I prefer my artists practical, my inventions protected, and my unrequited love kept at a safe distance.