I’ve been a little caught up with all the revision for the final draft. The peer review and Natalia’s comments have been incredibly helpful in allowing me to understand some of the problems with my argument. My paper focuses on the commentary on Transcendentalism and Fourierism in The Blithedale Romance, specifically as it relates to the type of society they envision. When I was doing my research, I took it for granted that the apparent reflections of Transcendental and Fourierist philosophy within the novel were indications that he was attacking the social framework they envisioned. For example, I use the similarities between certain personal attitudes of Hollingsworth and Coverdale in Transcendentalist philosophy, which are seen as being personally and socially harmful, as indicating that the social system implied by this ideology was incoherent and incapable of being realized. On reflection, it is unwarranted to make this conclusion. Very little I wrote in my paper actually discussed the relationship between the structure of Blithedale itself and the two philosophies. My research proposal was oriented towards utopian socialism, so naturally I wanted to extend what I noticed in the novel as meaning that the variant of utopian socialism prescribed by these two ideologies is problematic, when in fact I don’t really present much evidence for it.
To remedy this problem, I’m moving towards focusing on the personal aspects of Transcendentalism and Fourierism. What I found critical in The Blithedale Romance of both philosophies was largely focused on the individual. Neither philosophy worked properly in the characters, to the extent they adopted them. I’m not entirely sure to what extent utopian socialism will play a role once I’m done, considering the change of focus. Regardless, I think I have a clearer notion now of what argument I should make.
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