This book is the first-ever selected edition of Nathaniel Hawthorne's letters--169 personal letters and eight letters written while Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American consul. Myerson carefully selected letters focusing on Hawthorne's relationship with famous people of the day: letters written to his wife, Sophia; letters describing everyday life in Salem, Boston, Concord, Britain, France, and Italy; letters in which Hawthorne comments on contemporary literature and his career as an author; and letters that reveal Hawthorne's thoughts and beliefs. Myerson's single-volume Selected Letters of Nathaniel Hawthorne is a welcome addition to the twenty-three-volume Centenary Edition of the Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne (OSU Press)
Every Sabbath morning in the summer-time I thrust back the curtain to watch the sunrise stealing down a steeple which stands opposite my chamber window. First the weathercock begins to flash; then a fainter lustre gives the spire an airy aspect; next it encroaches on the tower and causes the index of the dial to glisten like gold as it points to the gilded figure of the hour. Now the loftiest window gleams, and now the lower. The carved framework of the portal is marked strongly out. At length the morning glory in its descent from heaven comes down the stone steps one by one, and there stands the steeple glowing with fresh radiance, while the shades of twilight still hide themselves among the nooks of the adjacent buildings. Methinks though the same sun brightens it every fair morning, yet the steeple has a peculiar robe of brightness for the Sabbath.
Five great works about sin, redemption, and human passion by a masterful nineteenth-century American novelist. Including both novels and short story collections, this volume showcases the brilliance of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Mosses from an Old Manse: A collection of Hawthorne’s short stories, praised by Herman Melville as “his masterpiece.” Twice-Told Tales: Short fiction that “comes from the hand of a man of genius” (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow). The Scarlet Letter: This iconic historical novel set in seventeenth-century New England tells the story of Hester Prynne—“among the first and most important female protagonists in American literature”—who is shunned by her Puritan community for committing adultery (NPR). The Marble Faun: The thrilling tale of three American artists whose search for creative inspiration leads to romance and murder. The House of the Seven Gables: A family burdened by the sins of their forebears seeks redemption in this gothic masterpiece.
Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic American novel The Scarlet Letter follows Hester Prynne, a woman living in the rigid Puritan society of 17th century Boston. Condemned as an adulteress and forced to wear a scarlet A on her dress, Hester refuses to name the father of her child, born out of wedlock. Her quiet dignity in the face of persecution only serves to further enrage many of the townspeople. Separated from society, Hester begins to ask questions about the nature of sin and redemption and comes to conclusions unthinkable to her fellow Puritans. A story of perseverance in the face of ignorance and injustice, The Scarlet Letter enjoyed immediate and lasting success.
This volume contains a collection of passages taken from Nathaniel Hawthorne's French and Italian note-books. These interesting and entertaining notes chronicle the authors various journeys through these countries and other parts of Europe, and will be of special interest to lovers of masterful travel writing. The chapters of this book include: "France", "Marseilles", "Hotel de Provence et des Ambassadeurs", "The Mediterranean Sea", "Rome", "To Florence", "Incisa", "Villa Montanto. Monte Beni", "France", "Avignon", "Geneva", etcetera. Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804 - 1864) was an American novelist and writer of short stories. Many vintage texts such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive, and it is with this in mind that we are republishing this book now, in an affordable, high-quality, modern edition. It comes complete with a specially commissioned biography of the author.
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Written in a richly suggestive style, Hawthorne’s five world-famous novels are permeated by his own history as well as America’s In The House of the Seven Gables, Nathaniel Hawthorne alludes to his ancestor’s involvement in the Salem witch trials, as he follows the fortunes of two rival families, the Maules and the Pyncheons. The novel moves across 150 years of American history, from an ancestral crime condoned by Puritan theocracy to reconciliation and a new beginning in the bustling Jacksonian era. Considered Hawthorne’s greatest work, The Scarlet Letter is a dramatic allegory of the social consequences of adultery and the subversive force of personal desire in a community of laws. The transgression of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale, the innate lawlessness of their bastard child Pearl, and the torturous jealousy of the husband Roger Chillingworth eventually erupt through the stern reserve of Puritan Boston. The Scarlet Letter engages the moral and romantic imagination of readers who ponder the question of sexual freedom and its place in the social world. Fanshawe is an engrossing apprentice work that Hawthorne published anonymously and later sought to suppress. Written during his undergraduate years at Bowdoin College, it is a tragic romance of an ascetic scholar’s love for a merchant’s daughter. The Blithedale Romance is a novel about the perils, which Hawthorne knew first-hand, of living in a utopian community. The utilitarian reformer Hollingsworth, the reticent narrator Miles Coverdale, the unearthly Priscilla, and the sensuous Zenobia (purportedly modeled on Margaret Fuller) act out a drama of love and rejection, idealism and chicanery, millennial hope and suicidal despair on an experimental commune in rural Massachusetts. The Marble Faun, Hawthorne’s last finished novel, uses Italian landscapes where sunlight gives way to mythological shadings as a background for mysteries of identity and murder. Its two young Americans, Kenyon and Hilda, become caught up in the disastrous passion of Donatello, an ingenuous nobleman, for the beautiful, mysterious Miriam, a woman trying to escape her past.
Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 - May 19, 1864) was an American novelist, dark romantic, and short story writer. He published Fanshawe, his first novel in 1828. He published several short stories in periodicals, which he collected in 1837 as Twice-Told Tales. The Scarlet Letter was published in 1850, followed by a succession of other novels. Much of Hawthorne's writing centers on New England, many works featuring moral metaphors with an anti-Puritaninspiration. His fiction works are considered part of the Romantic movement and, more specifically, dark romanticism. His themes often center on the inherent evil and sin of humanity, and his works often have moral messages and deep psychological complexity. -- Abridged from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathaniel_Hawthorne (June 11, 2019).
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
The text of this Norton Critical Edition is comprised of twenty-one of Hawthorne's most noteworthy tales and sketches, reprinted from the best collections available. Each tale is fully annotated.
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