A lecture by author Kris Hansen

 

This lecture includes a comparison of the opposing personalities of Elizabeth Manning Hawthorne and her 6-year-younger sister, Maria Louisa, with excerpts from personal letters to illustrate their individual qualities. Extracts from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s writings provide examples where he possibly modelled specific traits of fictional characters from his sisters, such as Hepzibah and Phoebe in The House of the Seven Gables.

Extracts from letters, journal entries, and reminiscences from family and friends reveal Hawthorne’s relationship with his sisters. Their interactions changed over the years as they each matured, particularly after the blossoming courtship between Hawthorne and Sophia Peabody. Regardless of the personal challenges, the brother and two sisters learned to navigate their interactions by accommodating their differences in expectations.

The emergence of Hawthorne’s success as a writer was clouded by the harrowing circumstances surrounding the untimely and tragic death of one of his sisters. The lecture mentions the fates of Hawthorne, his wife, children, and his surviving sister. He dutifully supported this sister for almost 19 years beyond his death, thus fulfilling his mother’s deathbed directive for him to take care of his sisters.

 

Tickets are $25 for the general public and $20 for Gables members. The book will be available for purchase in the Museum Store.

 

About the Presenter 

Kris A. Hansen grew up in the Hudson Valley of New York State. Her business career centered on domestic and international corporate finance, business journalism, including writing a biweekly business column, and university instruction in finance, economics, and financial accounting.

A lifelong interest in the humanities, especially literature, classical music, and American history, led Hansen to write historical, factually based books. Her non-fiction book Death Passage on the Hudson: The Wreck of the Henry Clay focused on a significant but little-known disaster in New York State, which resulted in congressional maritime legislation. The research for this true narrative sparked her interest in the sisters of Nathaniel Hawthorne and writing the biography My Dear Sister: Nathaniel Hawthorne and His Sisters.

Hansen’s lifetime enjoyment of outdoor activities includes swimming, bicycling and kayaking. She and her husband are avid hikers, especially in United States and Canadian national parks.