Literature / Writers Datebook: July 4
Brief biography of Nathaniel Hawthorne, American novelist and short story writer. He is best known for his four major romances: The Marble Faun, The Blithedale Romance, The House of the Seven Gables, and most importantly, The Scarlet Letter. He also wrote some popular books for children.
Early Life
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts on July 4, 1804. Born to Nathaniel Hathorne and the former Elizabeth Clarke Manning, his ancestors include John Hathorne, the only judge involved in the Salem witch trials who never repented of his actions. Hawthorne graduated from Bowdoin College, where he knew Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and the 14th president of the US, Franklin Pierce.
Between the ages of 21 and 35 Hawthorne lived in seclusion, writing short stories. Unfortunately, he was unable to earn a living as a writer. He was forced to work in customhouses. In 1842, when he was 38, he moved to Concord, Massachusetts, where he met the transcendentalists Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.
The Novelist and The Scarlet Letter
At 46 years old, Hawthorne published his famous masterpiece, The Scarlet Letter. This allegorical novel set in 17th-century Puritan Boston, tells the story of Hester Prynne, her husband Roger Chillingworth and her lover, Arthur Dimmesdale, who was the father of her child. This work explores the effect of guilt, anxiety and sorrow on the minds of the three major characters.
Career as a Novelist
The following year after the success of The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne published The House of the Seven Gables, the story of a family cursed by one of the victims of the 17th-century Salem witchcraft trials.
In 1853, then US President Franklin Pierce made Hawthorne consul in Liverpool. The post permitted him to travel in Italy, the setting of his last book The Marble Faun, a novel about the conflict between innocence and guilt.
Nathaniel Hawthorne died on May 19, 1864 aged 59 years old, in Plymouth, New Hampshire, USA.
Hawthorne's Legacy
Hawthorne's influence as writer, thinker, and public figure in the 19th-century America has suffused American literature for generations. His writings grapple with morality, the role of religion in American life, and what it means to reckon with an unquiet past, themes that span literature through the ages.
Books by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Fanshawe 1828
Twice-Told Tales 1837
Mosses from an Old Manse 1846
The Scarlet Letter 1850
The House of Seven Gables 1851
A Wonder Book for Boys and Girls 1851
Tanglewood Tales for Girls and Boys 1853
The Marble Faun 1860
Photo Credit:
Nathaniel Hawthorne. Wikipedia Commons / Public Domain.
Resources:
Biographical Dictionary, edited by Una McGovern, Chambers, 2002
Dictionary of Writers, edited by Rosemary Goring, Larousse, 1994
Nathaniel Hawthorne. en.wikipedia.org
The Cambridge Literature in English, New Edition, edited by Ian Ousby, Cambridge, 1993
(c) July 2009. Tel. July 4, 2023. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
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