#I’ve only ever seen their meeting include ‘hiding from a thunderstorm’ in articles so I’m unsure if it truly happened but | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ahabsleg · 7 months

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“If ever, my dear Hawthorne, in the eternal times that are to come, you and I shall sit down in Paradise, in some little shady corner by ourselves; and if we shall by any means be able to smuggle a basket of champagne there (I won't believe in a Temperance Heaven), and if we shall then cross our celestial legs in the celestial grass that is forever tropical, and strike our glasses and our heads together, till both musically ring in concert, — then, O my dear fellow-mortal, how shall we pleasantly discourse of all the things manifold which now so distress us, — when all the earth shall be but a reminiscence, yea, its final dissolution an antiquity. … Let us swear that, though now we sweat, yet it is because of the dry heat which is indispensable to the nourishment of the vine which is to bear the grapes that are to give us the champagne hereafter.”

Herman Melville in a letter to Nathaniel Hawthorne, June 1851.

#AUUUUUGH #Melville has such a way with words #“in some shady corner by ourselves” reminds me of how Melville and Hawthornes first meeting included a hike #part way through a thunderstorm came and they ended up taking shelter together. imagine that as a meet cute #I’ve only ever seen their meeting include ‘hiding from a thunderstorm’ in articles so I’m unsure if it truly happened but #it’s a pleasant idea that both their first meeting and final meeting (in heaven) include them secluded with one another for company #random but I love that in MULTIPLE letters to Hawthorne Melville is like “btw no need to reply. I’m rambling”#man I wish we had Hawthorne’s side of letters available. even with Melville’s I’ve only come across a couple :(#Nathaniel Hawthorne #Herman Melville #me and who #ok I’ll stop

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