Telling Her Own Side of the Story: Notes in England and Italy by Sophia Peabody Hawthorne

Year 2020, Issue: 52, 25 - 44, 01.01.2020

Elisabetta Marino

Abstract

While she is often regarded as merely Nathaniel Hawthorne’s
ailing wife—ignoring her careful (albeit secret) editing of his
publications—Sophia Peabody Hawthorne nurtured artistic ambitions
of her own. She was both a talented painter and writer. When she
moved to Europe, with her family, she meticulously kept a journal and
penned travel notes, which she later published as installments and then
as a volume (in 1869), under the title Notes in England and Italy.
By focusing on the Italian part of her literary endeavor, this paper
sets out to demonstrate that Sophia’s experience abroad—especially
in the Peninsula—enabled her to assert her identity as both a woman
(beyond the customary depiction of a selfless and dutiful wife and
mother) and an artist, capable of expressing her authoritative opinion,
while sponsoring other fellow women artists based in Italy. As will be
shown, Sophia Peabody’s story narrated by Nathaniel Hawthorne—
through the character of Hilda (a copyist) in The Marble Faun (a novel
inspired by the same sojourn in Italy)—offers but a partial version of
her life, which needs to be complemented with Sophia’s own words.

Keywords

Sophia Peabody, Nathanial Hawthorne, Travel Writing, Gender, Women’s Writings

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