Hawthorne and Thoreau: close encounters of the legendary kind
Jun. 21—SALEM — It was, by all accounts, a mutual admiration.
Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry David Thoreau are today legends of early American literature. But back in the day — their day being the mid-19th century — the two New England scribes were neighbors.
Although Hawthorne is generally identified with Salem, Concord is where he and his new wife Sophia first settled after their wedding. And to welcome them, Thoreau planted their yard with an edible garden from which the two men would later enjoy favorite fruits of summer while conversing on large, small, and monumental matters of the day.
On Wednesday, June 30, from 6 to 7:30 p.m., the 19th century greats will once again meet up — virtually, thanks to the wonders of 21st century technology — to pursue their timeless topics. Sponsored by The House of the Seven Gables, living history performers Rob Velella and Richard Smith bring these literary legends to life in "Singular Characters, " a free 50-minute online theater piece Velella and Smith have been perfecting for almost a decade.
"I always tell people this is the best thing we've ever done," says Smith, who first began interacting with people as Thoreau when he worked as a park ranger at Minute Man National Historic Park and later at Walden Pond. "Living history — what I do — is important because it puts humanity into people...This portrayal makes Thoreau real to fans and also to people who have no idea who the heck this guy is."
"We're fleshing out the relationship between these two men using their words, articles, journals and primary source material from others who were in their lives," says Velella.
As Hawthorne, a man as sartorially composed as Thoreau was unkempt, Velella, dressed elegantly in black with a top hat, captures the middle-aged author who was fascinated by young Thoreau's intimate relationship with nature.
"One of the motivations in doing it is to remove the barriers between the classic authors and modern readers," he says. "When we're forced to read their work in school, we tend to see the authors in little bubbles, isolated from the rest of their world." Hawthorne, he says, "had a 21st century cynicism that any angsty young person living today can understand."
For more information and to register for this online program, visit https://7gables.org/event/singular-characters-hawthorne-and-thoreau/.
