“THEY TRANSFIGURED THE EARTH, AND MADE IT EDEN AGAIN” – POETIC ALCHEMY IN NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE’S THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES
“They Transfigured the Earth, and Made it Eden Again” – Poetic Alchemy in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s the House of the Seven Gables

Summary/Abstract: The present paper aims to propose a reading of The House of the Seven Gables: A Romance – singled out by T. S. Eliot as “Hawthorne’s best novel” – as a story of initiation and alchemical transmutation, alchemy being understood here as existential poetry, not as the mere conversion of base metals into the gold of the wise. This interpretation is articulated by means of an analysis of the system of the hermetic symbols encoded in the text. Moreover, the heroes and heroines in the story are endowed with attributes which easily lend themselves to an interpretation through the grid of hermetism as they are involved in a mystery drama the significance of which is a mirroring of their progress towards illumination and inner blossoming. Unbeknownst to them, the characters have embarked on a journey of self-realization. The fictional universe unfolds under the sign of an interplay of light and shadows meant to bring to the fore the meaning of the story as one of upward spiritual transformation and advancement towards limpidity and harmony. The lines of the characters’ fictional destinies seem to converge into a climactic point which marks the state of inner fulfillment, the consummation of Magnum Opus, the Great Work of the alchemists.

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