How the Scarlet Letter Tells Us Who We Are: A Poetry Peddler Conversation, Ep. 1

You may not think that The Scarlet Letter, a novel set in Puritan America, has much to say about our contemporary crisis around what it means to human, and therefore what it means to be a woman, the plummeting literacy rates, and the ongoing debates about feminism. But, I think, it does. And I will prove it to you in these series. 

As part of the project, I am recording every chapter of the book with my commentary. As English teacher of many years, this is one the primary ways that I taught my students how to read deeply and think philosophically.  So, this series is also very much about the act of reading itself, the act of interpretation, which is a major theme of Nathaniel Hathorne’s The Scarlet Letter. The full audio book, released chapter by chapter, will be available for my paid Substack subscribers. 

The project is not only about great literature, it is about literacy: What is reading? Why does it matter? And how is the act of reading—or we might say, the act of making a meaningful judgement based on what we see, hear, or read—essential to the human experience. Women have been texts long misunderstood, and Hawthorne knew it and is trying to atone for it. 

I am also thrilled to announce that my second collection of poetry, the Necessities of Mending, released today, and at the end of this episode I read two of my poems from the collection. One is about what Eve said to Adam and very much related to the themes of this novel. 

Thank you so much for joining me and Samuel Loncar, the creator and host of Becoming Human in our conversation about The Scarlet Letter, Puritan America, the surprising connections between  fashion and philosophy, and how flaming A’s may become the hottest trend.