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It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.

Herman Melville, 'Hawthorne and His Mosses', 1850

Literature

The story behind the card

Melville wrote this in 'Hawthorne and His Mosses', a review of Nathaniel Hawthorne's stories printed in The Literary World in August 1850 and signed only 'a Virginian Spending July in Vermont'. The two writers had met on 5 August on a hike up Monument Mountain in Massachusetts. Melville called for American writers who did not copy English models, and aimed this line at a popular author usually taken to be Washington Irving. Moby-Dick followed in 1851, dedicated to Hawthorne, and was little valued until long after his death.

Türkçe oku
Özgün olmaya çalışıp başarısız olmak, taklit ederek başarılı olmaktan iyidir.
Herman Melville, “Hawthorne and His Mosses”, 1850

Melville bu sözü, Nathaniel Hawthorne'un öyküleri üzerine yazdığı “Hawthorne and His Mosses” başlıklı eleştiride söyler. Yazı Ağustos 1850'de The Literary World dergisinde çıktı; altında yalnızca “Temmuzu Vermont'ta geçiren bir Virginialı” imzası vardı. İki yazar o ayın 5'inde, Massachusetts'teki Monument Dağı'na yapılan bir yürüyüşte tanışmıştı. Melville, İngiliz örneklerini taklit etmeyen Amerikalı yazarlar görmek istiyordu. Bu cümleyi de adını vermediği ünlü bir yazar için kurar; bunun genellikle Washington Irving olduğu düşünülür. Melville'in Moby Dick'i ertesi yıl Hawthorne'a ithafla çıktı, ama değeri ancak yazarın ölümünden çok sonra anlaşıldı.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Herman Melville
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