Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-07-03
AUTHORS OFTEN HATED.
Salem's Attitude Toward Hawthorne
Has Many Parallels.

From the Columbia Is. c. State.
Salem, Mass. has finally forgiven Ma
thaniel Hawthorne At the beginning of
his career as an author Hawthorne was
employed in the custom house at Salem,
and made good use of his experiences and
his opportunities for observing the life
and customs in that quaint city and for
working up, for literary purposes, certain
events in its history. When he wrote
1.-THE Scarlet Letter he saw fit to prefix
to it Walter-Scottish introduction in
which he succeeded in describing Salem
so accurately as to give lasting offense to
that community. We say community
rather than citizens, because the hatred
or resentment of Salem has been handed
down as civic tradition. The munich
pality, or what may be called the corporate
soul of Salem. has preserved its hatred o.
Hawthorne as one Of its most cherished
assets.
The Ratchet, however, Is buried, the
calumet is smoked. and the citizens of
Salem of the present generation actually
decide to celebrate their reconciliation
with the great New England author by
erecting a monument to him to cost
S25, 600.
Salem has two distinctions-one as be-
ing the birthplace of Nathaniel Haw-
thorne, the other as being the seat OF the
persecution of persons for witchcraft
tinctions. These two are what give it its
historic rank. Salem Is not proud of the
witchcraft tradition, and has spent very
much time and distress in efforts to
the false charge that witches were burned
in that city. We believe they were sub
jected to some other terrible death-"to
encourage the others" Happily. 1T has
been esta blished, we believe, that they
were not actually burned at the stake.
Rlrf herself from HaWfhOrne she could
not free. Hawthorne remains as a citizen
of Salem. He was born there. he lived
there, he wrote his first notable book
there. and. despite his offending descrip-
ton of his native city, he is really what
made Salem famous. Finding that she
could not get rid Of Hawthorne. Salem
has accepted him, and has finally come
to the point Of gloating over him, and
building him monuments. We hope, that
she is also reading him.
The incident is one Of type. 1t is Curl
Gus how communities, cities and coun-
tries cherish the hatred Of certain au-
thors. Probably the most notable case
is the hatred Germany, at least official
Germany, cherishes for the memory Of
Heine. The Germans consider Heine as
unfortunate in two respects. He was a
Jew, and he was, by reason Of the recent
expansion of the Napoleonic empire. born
very difficult for a. German to forgive.
And yet they are precisely the two things
that made Heine the splendid genius and
lyrist that he was. His Jewish tempera-
ment and the Gallo spirit that he ac-
quired during his long residence in Paris
and in his association, with the leading
F'renchmen of his day are what distin-
gush him from other German poets. and
what make his verse original witty and
perfect.
The world remembers the shock with
which it received the news that the pres
ent Kaiser Of Germany had had the
statue Of Heine removed from the i'm
perial villa of Corfu. Following the eX
ample of the emperor and offlcialdOm, the
German people have. a body, refused
to Heine the recognition that his magnifi-
cent genius demands But there are
abundant signs that Germany Is ceasng
to despise the memory of Heine and is
really beginning to honor him as the
third, or perhaps the second, poet in its
brilliant literature.
There are many other instances in lit
erary history in which the memory Of
some great genius has been despised--
such as Milton by one half OF his people,
Rousseau by more than one-haf of his,
Tolstoy by the whole aristocracy and bu-
reaucracy of Russia; but the two cases of
Hawthorne and Heine stand a little
apart. When they are forgiven, there
seems to be hope that the enmity Of
communities and governments may ulti-
mately cease to be wasted upon men
whose lives and works are among their
chief glories.