I found it curious that Hawthorne chose to put so much emphasis on Fourier toward the beginning of the novel. (He wasn't referring to the mathematician, but the socialist philosopher Charles Fourier).
Fourier is one of the more bizarre socialist thinkers in history. His ideas are so strange that I don't really see how anyone could take him seriously. The recounting of his ideas given in the book (that the oceans would turn to lemonade) is accurate. When I first heard of him a while back, I almost thought that he was satirizing some of the other socialist thinkers that came before him, but as far as I know he was, in fact, being serious.
I think it's significant that Hawthorne used Fourier as an example, because of what he wrote about sex. According to Wikipedia, "He had a touching concern for the sexually rejected - jilted suitors would be led away by a corps of 'fairies' who would soon cure them of their lovesickness, and visitors could consult the card-index of personality types for suitable partners for casual sex. He also defended homosexuality as a personal preference for some people."
The whole thing about fairies is just as bizarre as the idea of lemonade oceans, but the rest of his sexual morality stands out in stark contrast to the traditional Christian morality which was prevalent in the culture when he was writing. In my mind, this stands as a parallel to the major sexual themes in the book.
1 comment:
Oh, fairies were big in the nineteenth century. -- On which perhaps more later.
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