The Great Stone Face, and Other Tales of the White Mountains
THE first three numbers in this collection are tales of the White Hills in New Hampshire. The passages from Sketches from Memory show that Hawthorne had visited the mountains in one of his occasional rambles from home, but there are no entries in his Note Books which give accounts of such a visit. There is, however, among these notes the following interesting paragraph, written in 1840 and clearly foreshadowing The Great Stone Face:
‘The semblance of a human face to be formed on the side of a mountain, or in the fracture of a small stone, by a lusus naturae [freak of nature]. The face is an object of curiosity for years or centuries, and by and by a boy is born whose features gradually assume the aspect of that portrait. At some critical juncture the resemblance is found to be perfect. A prophecy may be connected.’
It is not impossible that this conceit occurred to Hawthorne before he had himself seen the Old Man of the Mountain, or the Profile, in the Franconia Notch which is generally associated in the minds of readers with The Great Stone Face.
Book Details
About This Edition
This PDFBooksWorld edition has been prepared for comfortable digital reading, with a clear layout and typography designed for modern screens. It can be read online and is available in supported digital formats.
Public Domain Information: The Great Stone Face, and Other Tales of the White Mountains is identified by us as a public-domain work in the United States based on its publication history and applicable copyright terms. Copyright status can differ between countries, so readers should consider the laws applicable to their location.
Read or Download
Read this edition online or choose a digital format for convenient reading on your preferred device. Registered users can download the available editions, while visitors can read the book online and log in to access the download options.
