The Blithedale Romance

by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Hawthorne published The Blithdale Romance in 1852. The inspiration for the book came from his experience joining the Transcendentalist utopian community, Brook Farm in 1841, not because he agreed with the experiment, but because he needed to save money to marry his fiance, Sophia Peabody. Interestingly, this novel was his only published in the first person, Teachers and students looking for further summary and analysis might wish to read D. H. Lawrence's chapter on Hawthorne's The Blithedale Romance from his book Studies in Classic American Literature.

I. OLD MOODIE

II. BLITHEDALE

III. A KNOT OF DREAMERS

IV. THE SUPPER-TABLE

V. UNTIL BEDTIME

VI. COVERDALE'S SICK-CHAMBER

VII. THE CONVALESCENT

VIII. A MODERN ARCADIA

IX. HOLLINGSWORTH, ZENOBIA, PRISCILLA

X. A VISITOR FROM TOWN

XI. THE WOOD-PATH

XII. COVERDALE'S HERMITAGE

XIII. ZENOBIA'S LEGEND

XIV. ELIOT'S PULPIT

XV. A CRISIS

XVI. LEAVE-TAKINGS

XVII. THE HOTEL

XVIII. THE BOARDING-HOUSE

XIX. ZENOBIA'S DRAWING-ROOM

XX. THEY VANISH

XXI. AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE

XXII. FAUNTLEROY

XXIII. A VILLAGE HALL

XXIV. THE MASQUERADERS

XXV. THE THREE TOGETHER

XXVI. ZENOBIA AND COVERDALE

XXVII. MIDNIGHT

XXVIII. BLITHEDALE PASTURE

XXIX. MILES COVERDALE'S CONFESSION