Response to Melville’s Hawthorne and His Mosses

It seems to me that Melville was trying to question the place of American literature in the canon of global literature and even more so, in America itself. Melville compares the American Hawthorne to the English Shakespeare. However, he doesn’t compare their writing capabilities but more their existence from different countries. It seems to me, from reading this piece that during that time, English literature was more far more wide spread and more recognized than American literature, to the point that Melville felt a need to defend the American literature and maybe help with the recognition of American writers both outside and inside America; actually more so inside America.

I found it interesting that he chose to criticize the great Motherland of America as one that doesn’t provide praise and recognition to its writers but does so to foreign writers, and alternately that other nations accept and commend American writers before their own motherland does so. I thought his criticism was pretty harsh. I don’t know, i think he was writing about Hawthorne, but actually writing about himself, seeking to be recognized as an American writer in America. I found myself wondering how much of an audience he had for this piece and whether his voice was heard, and also whether he was criticized for that. Not sure