Nathaniel Hawthorne

When a writer calls his work a Romance, it need hardly be observed that he wishes to claim a certain latitude, both as to its fashion and material, which he would not have felt himself entitled to assume had he professed to be writing a Novel. The latter form of composition is presumed to aim at a very minute fidelity, not merely to the possible, but to the probable and ordinary course of man's experience.

The narrative of Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'Young Goodman Brown' unfolds like a horror film, as the pious protagonist goes to an appointment in the woods near the town of Salem. The author's use of tongue-in-cheek humor serves to intensify the ultimate horror of the story. One by one, a series of revelations shakes Brown to the core. First he meets a figure with the combined features of a demon and of his grandfather, then he sees the shadow side of his...

Miles Coverdale, embarks on a quest for the betterment of the world through the agrarian lifestyle and community of the Blithedale Farm. The story begins with a conversation between Coverdale and Old Moodie, a character who reappears throughout the story. The legend of the mysterious Veiled Lady is introduced; she is a popular clairvoyant who disappears unannounced from the social scene. Coverdale then makes the voyage to Blithedale, where he is introduced...

This is the foundation tale of Americana. The original conflict begun with the first European arrivals on the coast of New England and raging on into the present. Are we to be theocratic and tyrannical or loving, harmonious, and peaceful? The Dream of Merrymount continues. Let it touch your heart.

'The Minister's Black Veil' by Nathaniel Hawthorne, first published in 1832, is a grim tale about Mr. Hooper, a preacher, who starts wearing a veil over the upper part of his face. He first wore the veil while delivering a sermon on secret sin, and never removes it, despite the dismay of the congregation or the pleas of his fiancée, who leaves him. Mr. Hooper develops into Father Hooper, a figure who makes converts of people who imagine themselves...

Four classic short stories-The Great Stone Face; The Ambitious Guest; The Great Carbuncle and Sketches from Memory-by one of America's greatest 19th-century novelists.

Dr. Heidegger invites four elderly friends to his macabre study. He claims to his friends to have found liquid from the fountain of youth! The friends are skeptical, but choose to drink the liquid anyway...

An "A" for "adultery" marks Hester Prynne as an outcast from the society of colonial Boston. Although forced by the puritanical town fathers to wear a badge of shame, Hester steadfastly resists their efforts to discover the identity of her baby's father. Masterful in its symbolism and compelling in its character studies, Nathaniel Hawthorne's tale of punishment and reconciliation examines the concepts of sin, guilt, and pride.

The Portable Hawthorne includes writings from each major stage in the career of Nathaniel Hawthorne: a number of his most intriguing early tales, all of The Scarlet Letter, excerpts from his three subsequently published romances—The House of Seven Gables, The Blithedale Romance, and The Marble Faun—as well as passages from his European journals and a sampling of his last, unfinished works. The editor's introduction

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