I'm rereading Hawthorne on the plane, so I'll leave you with a quote from the House of the Seven Gables. In this quote, Holgrave, the daguerreotypist, is trying to woo the beautiful young Phoebe into his studio.
"There is a wonderful insight in heaven's broad and simple sunshine. While we give it credit for depicting the merest surface, it actually brings out the secret character with a truth that no painter would ever venture upon, even could he detect it. There is at least no flattery in my humble line of art."I love that Hawthorne suggests that truths and secret characters lurk just beneath the surface of everyday life, and that sunshine can expose, and photography can capture, our secret characters. Portraiture seems, in this light, almost a religious vocation. Or in this case, a great pick-up line.
Of course, for Hawthorne, writers do it better.
Have a great weekend!
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