Inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne’s own experience as a member of the famous Brook Farm Community, which the author describes in his preface as the “most romantic episode” in his life, The Blithedale Romance is one of the most engaging and complex of Hawthorne’s novels. Recounting the hopeful formation and slow fragmentation of a reform-minded socialist community in antebellum Massachusetts, the novel has increasingly preoccupied commentators on American literature and culture over the last few decades.

The editors’ new introduction helps the reader to negotiate Blithedale’s literary difficulties by offering a detailed reflection on the main problems confronted by past and present interpreters of the novel. Appendices expand on the central historical theme of reform, highlighting the novel’s references to women’s emancipation, antislavery, and Utopian socialism.

Nathaniel Hawthorne's profile page

Michael J. Colacurcio's profile page

Luke Bresky's profile page

Michael J. Colacurcio is Distinguished Professor of English at the University of California, Los Angeles.

M. Luke Bresky is Associate Professor of English at St. Mary’s University, Calgary, Alberta.

“The Broadview edition of The Blithedale Romance is an exceptional scholarly achievement. The excellent critical introduction, along with the wealth of biographical and historical materials, at last make it possible to see Hawthorne’s novel in all its complexity and brilliance.” — Eric J. Sundquist, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities, Johns Hopkins University

“The introduction, by Michael J. Colacurcio (a scholar unrivaled in Hawthorne criticism over the past three decades) and Luke Bresky, is a major piece of literary analysis. An authoritative text of the novel, judicious annotations to help readers with historical persons and events, and extensive appendices contextualizing more fully than heretofore the religious, feminist, reformist, and slavery contexts in which the book should be read—all these make this edition of The Blithedale Romance unsurpassed.” — Frederick Newberry, Professor Emeritus, Duquesne University, former editor of The Nathaniel Hawthorne Review

“The Blithedale Romance is a brilliant novel, one that compresses into its reveries and observations some of the most urgent issues troubling antebellum America. With this sparkling new edition, Colacurcio and Bresky not only recognize Hawthorne’s political thoughtfulness, but also include a rich framework of primary sources through which to approach the allusive energy of Hawthorne’s prose. I am looking forward to using this edition in my American Literature courses.” — Dana Medoro, University of Manitoba