What's in a letter?

Yes, the Scarlet Letter is a pain in the ass to read, but only because we have precious little time to devote to it. In 1850, it would have been no problem to sit and appreciate Hawthorne's musings. I worry that the pace of our current life precludes us from enjoying the complexity, beauty and depth of Romantic Era literature. We can barely read text messages or tweets. I love how Hawthorne never says anything directly. Every major revelation in the novel goes unstated--we must infer the most important facts of the case. Without waxing nostalgic, I wish we still had time to appreciate a "slow" text. If you can give in to the pacing and style of Hawthorne, I suspect you won't be disappointed. His writing is elegant and effective, which proves Landon's assertion that those qualities can mean very different things depending on the author. Enjoy the Scarlet Letter; let Hawthorne speak to you.