Reading Like a Serpent: What the Scarlet A Is About by Marilyn Chandler McEntyre (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 141 of Larsen'sthesis. Christian or not, Victorians in England knew and read the Bible. Larsen's careful study attempts to rectify errors that have crept into works on Victorian thought and is a welcome addition to the field of historical and religious cultural studies. Mimosa Stephenson University of Texasat Brownsville Reading Like a Serpent: What the Scarlet A Is About. By Marilyn Chandler McEntyre. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2012. ISBN 978-1-61097-554-4. Pp. ix + 134.$18.00. With the possible exception of Huckleberry Finn or To Kill a Mockingbird, The ScarletLetter is the text America most often offers its young as both literature and history. Yetof these three frequently assigned novels, Hawthorne's is probably the least enjoyed and least understood. As Marilyn Chandler McEntyre observes in surveying her college students, many "recall The ScarletLetter as stiff, boring, wordy, moralistic, lacking in plot, and generally incomprehensible" (1). When she reveals it as one of her favorite novels, "their curiosity is piqued-either about the hidden merits of the book or about my taste and credibility. Some of them, no doubt, think I really ought to get a life" (1). Thus emerges the central premise of McEntyre's argument-namely, that TheScarletLetter, largely misunderstood, is a more playful, ambiguous, and challenging novel than is typically acknowledged, and requires a shrewd and careful reader. A teacher by trade as well as instinct, McEntyre promises to lead us through "the thickets of Hawthorne's antique syntax" and show us "how to navigate the interpretive mazes he maps" (2). The Scarlet Letter, she argues, is not about adultery or a host of other issues, "but rather about the sin of bad reading" (2). I couldn't agree more, yet my resistance rises when she adds that the novel is "deeply occupied with ...the wayswe read Scripture;' and that Hawthorne's purpose in TheScarlet Letter is "to invite his readers to critical biblical reflection" (2, 4). This does not ring true, at least for me, of the New England author described by his son Julian as having "never discussed religion in set terms either in his writings or in his talk" (quoted in John Updike, "Hawthorne's Creed;' Huggingthe Shore, 74). Is it likely that Hawthorne, whose religious orientation was ambiguous, was occupied with Scripture, or that he was inviting us to engage in critical biblical reflection? I remain doubtful, yet McEntyre is such an intelligent, clear-eyed, and perceptive guide that I'm willing to follow and see where she leads. Hardly the first critic to devote attention to the act of reading in The Scarlet Letter, McEntyre joins, among others, critics Stephen Railton and David Leverenz. Although McEntyre's study at times pales in comparison, it nevertheless has appeal 142 CHRISTIANITY AND LITERATURE as well as originality. As indicated in its preface, ReadingLike a Serpentis not meant to be a work of literary criticism or scholarship but rather "a series of personal reflections on how Hawthorne's literary techniques serve purposes whose urgency we still have reason to recognize" (ix). Although the second part of that passage feels vague, the book is written in an accessible, conversational style, free of academic jargon. In some respects, it reads like a series of lessons or sermons on TheScarlet Letter. Bysermons I don't necessarily mean the author becomes preachy or tedious, but rather that she uses the novel to investigate, with her reader, aspects of human behavior and morality. Each of the book's nine chapters-"Judge Not;' "Not by Bread Alone;' "Become as Little Children;' "Render Unto Caesar;' "Confess One to Another;' "Into the Wilderness;' "Those Not Against Us;' "Sickand in Prison;' "AGreat Price"-is built around a scriptural principle that McEntyre employs to shed light on important moments and scenes in the novel. In "Judge Not;' she considers Jesus' words from Matt. 7:1-2: "Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again" (23). McEntyre applies this passage to the opening scene of TheScarletLetter, in which Hester, emerging from prison, is accosted by a hostile...