About This Book
'Beatrix Randolph' Mr. Hawthorne has returned to his true sphere—the sphere in which he moves most freely—that of Romance. His two last novels were 'mixed;' that is, they united utter extravagance in situation and conception, with a perverted realism and a quick insight into character. Here, the atmosphere of romance obtains, and colours all; and the sense of unity is derived from the almost faultless character of the heroine, who is not the less interesting because of her pure womanliness and nobility. We must not toll how it is that Beatrix Randolph, the American, comes to personate tho famous Russian prima donna, Marana, further than to say that it was to save the reputations of father and brother, and that thus, though she became the unwilling instrument of a New York speculator and could not draw back, she preserved her footing and exercised an admirable influence. Her musical genius was at once her fate and the medium of her freedom. Mr. Hawthorne has written nothing finer, more true and subtle, and full of insight, than the passages in which he indicates her experiences as the sense of power came to support her love for Bellingham, and the causes which for a time separated them. When she sang, the glitter and movement of outward things did not disturb her: they were but an illusion; the story of which she sang alone was real. The scene in which Bellingham reproaches her on account of visits from Mr. Randolph are marked by compressed dignity, which is enhanced by the irony and humour of the misunderstanding which Beatrix cannot explain. The descriptions of places and scenes are inimitable, whether the scenes of Beatrix's earlier life, or that picturesque Irish village by the sea to which Bellingham retired disappointed, to meet with an unexpected surprise and the solution of a mystery. On the whole, we regard this as being artistically as complete a bit of work as Mr. Hawthorne has done, full of passion, knowledge, and resource—notwithstanding the limitation of his field of interest. It is clear that within that field he has made use of almost every available resource.
—The British Quarterly Review, Volume 79 [1884]
