一个半多世纪来,美国小说家纳撒尼尔·霍桑(1804—1864)的作品以深刻的意蕴、含混的艺术性、丰富的象征意味吸引着读者。霍桑小说最为明显的特征就是含混性。《美国文学的传统》对霍桑小说曾作出如下评价:“他的作品最主要的魅力在于体现作者矛盾心理的讽喻,它留下许多谜团,等待读者自己去解开。”言下之意是说霍桑作品的魅力来源 For more than half a century, the works of American novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) have attracted readers with profound meaning, vague artisticness and rich symbolic meanings. The most obvious feature of Hawthorne’s novels is ambiguity. “The Tradition of American Literature” has made the following comments on Hawthorne’s novels: “The chief attraction of his work lies in the allegory of author’s paradoxical ambivalence, which leaves many mysteries aside for readers to solve for themselves.” It means the source of the charm of Hawthorne’s work