Nathaniel Hawthorne

Thomas E. Connolly

Set in 17th-century Puritan Boston, Massachusetts, during the years 1642 to 1649, it tells the story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a daughter through an affair and will not reveal her lover’s identity. The scarlet letter A (for adultery) she has to wear on her clothes, along with her public shaming, is her punishment for her sin and her secrecy. She struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity. Throughout the book, Hawthorne explores themes of legalism, sin, and guilt.

The Scarlet Letter

authoritative text, contexts, criticism

The house of the seven gables

Young Goodman Brown

1652... Found guilty of adultery, Hester Prynne is punished by being forced to publicly wear the scarlet letter 'A' as a mark of her shame. Despite being imprisoned, Hester refuses to name her lover and father of her daughter. Her position becomes more desperate when a man calling himself Roger Chillingworth arrives in her cell... A story of guilt and revenge, Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel is rightly acclaimed as a literary classic, and its themes remain as challenging today as they were when the book was written.

A Romance

A minister shows up to church one morning wearing a black veil, and everyone's perception of him is changed.

The Minister's Black Veil

A classic tale first published in December 1844. It is the story of a young student of medicine who suffers the consequences of ignoring the warning of his adviser and falls in love with the beautiful Beatrice, confined to a locked garden by her father. "Rappaccini's Daughter" has all the attributes of Hawthorne's fiction: allegory, symbolism, ambiguity and fantasy. Spell-binding!

Easyread Comfort Edition

Rappaccini's Daughter

Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on July 4, 1804, in Salem, Massachusetts, where his birthplace is now a museum. William Hathorne, who emigrated from England in 1630, was the first of Hawthorne's ancestors to arrive in the colonies. After arriving, William persecuted Quakers.

The Birth-Mark

Choice collection of short fiction by one of the masters of the genre. In addition to the title story, this volume includes "The Birthmark," "Rappaccini’s Daughter," "Roger Malvin’s Burial," "The Artist of the Beautiful," "Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment" and "My Kinsman, Major Molineux." Tales deal with scientific experiment, witchcraft, revenge, more.

Young Goodman Brown, and Other Short Stories

Edited by Rebecca Shannonhouse. Forward by Pete Hamill. A Modern Library Paperback Original.

Twice-Told Tales

The Blithedale romance

Murder and romance, innocence and experience dominate this sinister novel set in mid-19th-century Rome. Three young American artists and their friend, an Italian count, find their lives irrevocably linked when one of them commits a violent crime of passion. Hawthorne's final novel is "must reading" for its symbolic narrative of the Fall of Man.

The Marble Faun

Hawthorne's novel of adultery in Puritan Boston. Five short works related to The Scarlet Letter, sharing its themes of sin, morality, guilt, and shame. Expanded explanatory annotations and a new preface by Leland S. Person. Key passages from Hawthorne's letters and notebooks. New critical essays by Brook Thomas, Michael Ryan, Thomas R. Mitchell, Jay Grossman, Jamie Barlowe, John ronan, and John F. Birk A chronology and an updated Select Bibliography. -- from back cover.

Authoritative Texts, Contexts, Criticism

The Scarlet Letter and Other Writings

"The Birth-Mark" is a romantic short story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne that examines obsession with human perfection. It was first published in the March 1843 edition of The Pioneer. It later appeared in Mosses from an Old Manse, a collection of short stories by Hawthorne published in 1846

The Birthmark

Wakefield

Here are the best of Hawthorne's short stories. There are twenty-four of them -- not only the most familiar, but also many that are virtually unknown to the average reader. The selection was made by Professor Newton Arvin of Smith College, a recognized authority on Hawthorne and a distinguished literary critic as well. His fine introduction admirably interprets Hawthorne's mind and art.

Hawthorne's Short Stories

Retells the following Greek myths: "The Gorgon's Head," "The Golden Touch," "The Paradise of Children," "The Three Golden Apples," "The Miraculous Pitcher," and "The Chimaera." Includes essays on Nathaniel Hawthorne and Walter Crane.

A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys

Greek Myths

Presents twenty-six moral tales written during Hawthorne's residence in the historic Concord house.

Mosses from an Old Manse

My Kinsman Major Molineux

Charles Dickens

Edgar Allan Poe

Honore de Balzac

Wilhelm Hauff

Samuel Warren

Ernst Hoffmann

This book was a finalist in the USA Book Awards anthology category. Thanks to Edgar Allan Poe, Honore de Balzac, Nathaniel Hawthorne and others, the half century from 1800-1849 is the cradle of all modern horror short stories. Andrew Barger, the editor of this book as well as "Edgar Allan Poe Annotated and Illustrated Entire Stories and Poems," read over 300 horror short stories to compile the 12 best. At the back of the book he includes a list of all horror short stories he considered along with their dates of publication and author, when available. He even includes background for each of the stories, author photos and annotations for difficult terminology. A number of the stories were published in leading periodicals of the day such as Blackwood's and Atkinson's Casket. Read The Best Horror Short Stories 1800-1849 today!

Nathaniel Hawthorne

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