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Last summer, while working as an assistant in the English department offices, Dan Walker '05 (Marcellus, NY) was able to begin reading and researching with Hamilton College Professor Onno Oerlemans about an idea called "conspicuous concealment" and its role in Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Blithedale Romance. This summer, Walker will pick up where he left off on his research last summer with his Emerson summer collaborative grant.

As an Emerson scholar, Walker will be working again with Professor Oerlemans to finish writing an academic essay about conspicuous concealment in Blithedale. Walker and Oerlemans argue that the novel itself is "a critique of the hazards that mass media and celebrity pose for a society." The critique Hawthorne outlines remains "as relevant today, in the face of voyeuristic TV shows and a sensationalistic press, as it was 150 years ago," Walker and Oerlemans say.

Summer Research 2004

According to Hawthorne, "audiences consume media complacently, without considering the accuracy of alleged facts or the ethics of prying into others' private lives." As Hawthorne conveys this message through a novel, Walker argues, the message regarding issues of ethics, careless reading, and mass media is complicated. Following their extensive research of conspicuous concealment in the book, Oerlemans and Walker will write a 30-35 page academic essay. The article, when completed, is expected to be submitted to American Literature or American Literary History.

Walker is a rising senior majoring in English literature and music.

Created in 1997, the Emerson Foundation Grant program was designed to provide students with significant opportunities to work collaboratively with faculty members, researching an area of interest. The recipients, covering a range of topics, will explore fieldwork, laboratory and library research, and the development of teaching materials. The projects will be initiated this summer, and the students will make public presentations of their research throughout the 2004-2005 academic year.

-- by Emily Lemanczyk

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