The Sister Years

The Sister Years is one of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s shorter pieces, originally published in 1839 and later collected in his Twice Told Tales collection. The piece is a New Year’s reflection in the personified form, with the year that is ending and the year that is beginning being treated as two sister figures whose conversation provides the structural framework for the wider reflection.

The sister years format gives Hawthorne room to develop the kind of summary reflection on the past year and forward looking speculation about the year to come that the New Year’s holiday reliably produced in nineteenth century reflective writing. The two sister figures discuss what has happened across the previous year, what changes the new year is likely to bring, and the wider question of how the passage of time shapes the lives that pass through it.

Hawthorne uses the personified format with the kind of light touch that the genre rewarded. The piece is more atmospheric and reflective than narratively driven, with his characteristic prose style giving the sketch the kind of careful weight that his shorter work often delivered.

For students of nineteenth century American literature, of the New Year’s reflection tradition in periodical writing, or of Hawthorne’s wider catalogue, The Sister Years is worth knowing.