Passages from the French and Italian Note-Books, Vol. I

Passages From The French And Italian Note-Books Of Nathaniel Hawthorne - is the first volume of Hawthorne's collection of materials that are related to his travels to France and Italy. Nathaniel Hawthorne collected information on French and Italian culture, but he also wrote down personal thoughts that were not originally intended for publication. This book describes the daily experience of his stay in France and Italy, the silent life of painting and sculpture in the form in which they were to be considered by his eye, presented exactly as they appeared to him at that time. Hawthorne has seen very little of France, and therefore most of these magazines are devoted to Italy, where he traveled from late January 1858 to mid-May 1859. The French and Italian notebooks were rewritten for publication by his wife Mrs. Hawthorne in London in the winter of 1870-71 was published the following fall after her death. These notes end the series of Hawthorne's diaries, as after his return to America, the civil war so overwhelmed his thoughts that he could not continue such memoranda.