Vidal Gore — Eighteen Seventy [859]

But when it comes to writing about the men and women in the factories and what they really do to one another, particularly at work or within marriage, these realists are every bit as romantic and unrealistic as the popular, busy women writers or even, to turn to the highest peak, that dark veiled lady of New England letters Nathaniel Hawthorne, who, faced with any truth about the way we are, swiftly evokes ghosts and haunted houses on those nights when silvery clouds cross a beauteous skull-like but, oh, so fictive moon. — Vidal Gore, Eighteen Seventy, 859

Note

This passage captures a deep understanding of the interplay between romanticism and realism in literature, utilizing a complex sentence structure that reflects the narrator’s sophisticated worldview. The metaphor of ‘silvery clouds’ crossing a ‘beauateous skull-like’ moon cleverly critiques literary romanticism, showing the author’s skill in blending imagery with literary criticism.