Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne's (1804-1864) writing uses spare prose without a single wasted word. The tight structure of his stories mimic the entangled protagonists who seem more deeply embedded in a web with every movement. Hawthorne is deeply interested in moral issues and his work discusses original sin, the universality of guilt and the human conscience. His use of allegories, metaphors, and symbolism support a deep understanding of the ambiguities of human choice. The themes Hawthorne develops may be shaped by his interest in history: he is descended from the Puritans who sat in judgment at the Salem witch trials. He also maintained friendship with Herman Melville, Henry Thoreau and a number of other Transcendentalists. His best works include the novels The Scarlet Letter (1850), The House of the Seven Gables (1851), and The Marble Faun (1860). His collections of short stories include Twice Told Tales (1837) and Mosses from the Old Manse (1846). He also wrote two popular collections for children: A Wonder-Book (1852) and Tanglewood Tales (1853).

"By means of electricity, the world of matter has become a great nerve, vibrating thousands of miles in a breathless point of time ... The round globe is a vast ... brain, instinct with intelligence!"

The House of Seven Gables, Chapter 17,
Nathaniel Hawthorne

"Mr. Brady wants to change The Scarlet Letter to "I Was an Adulteress." I know it all seems a little odd to you -- but Mr. Brady understands the 25-cent-book field... The cover will be a picture of Hester Prynne with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth. She'll be in a real tight, low-cut dress. Our big problem is -- if the dress is cut low enough to sell any copies, there won't be any space on the front for a big red letter."

Dialogue from the "The Seven Year Itch" (1952), a play by George Axelrod. A marketing man Richard Sherman describes the genius of his boss.

Hawthorne [1804-1864]
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

How beautiful it was, that one bright day In the long week of rain! Though all its splendor could not chase away The omnipresent pain.

The lovely town was white with apple-blooms, And the great elms o'erhead Dark shadows wove on their aerial looms Shot through with golden thread.

Across the meadows, by the gray old manse, The historic river flowed; I was as one who wanders in a trance, Unconscious of his road.

The faces of familiar faces seemed strange; Their voices I could hear, And yet the words they uttered seemed to change Their meaning to my ear.

For the one face I looked for was not there, The one low voice was mute; Only an unseen presence filled the air And baffled my pursuit.

Now I look back, and meadow, manse, and stream Dimly my thought defines; I only see--a dream within a dream-- The hill-top hearsed with pines.

I only hear above his place of rest Their tender undertone, The infinite longings of a troubled breast, The voice so like his own.

There in seclusion and remote from men The wizard hand lies cold, Which at its topmost speed let fall the pen, And left the tale half told.

Ah! who shall lift that wand of magic power, And the lost clew regain? The unfinished windows in Aladdin's tower Unfinished must remain!

Hawthorne attended Bowdoin College in Maine from 1821-1824 where he became friends with Longfellow and future president Franklin Pierce.

In 1842 he married illustrator and transcendentalist Sophia Peabody who, like Hawthorne, was a great homebody. Sophia, in fact, was bedridden with headaches until her sister introduced her to Hawthorne after which her headaches seem to have abated. They had a long and loving marriage, and Sophia was greatly enamored with her Husband's work. Writing in one of her journals "I am always so dazzled and bewildered with the richness, the depth, the...jewels of beauty in his productions that I am always looking forward to a second reading where I can ponder and muse and fully take in the miraculous wealth of thoughts." (Jan 14th 1951, Journal of Sophia Hawthorne. Berg Collection NY Public Library).

The two had three children Una, Julian, and Rose. Una died young and suffered from mental illness. Julian moved out west and wrote a book about his father.

Hawthorne had a short friendship with Herman Melville; the letters of the two provide a fascinating manuscript. The Friendship began on August 5, 1850 when the two authors met at a picnic hosted by a mutual friend. Melville had just read Hawthorne's short story collection "Mosses from an Old Manse" and would in a few weeks write an effusive review of it.

Much of Hawthorne's work regards morality, metaphysics, and his Puritan ancestry. "The Blithedale Romance" for instance involves a serum of eternal youth, while "Ethan Brand" is about a lime-burner who set off to find the Unpardonable Sin, and in doing so commits it, the "Birth Mark" concerns a young doctor who removes a birthmark from his wife's face, an operation from which she dies. He discovers that it is the birthmark, the unscientificly imperfect blemish itself, that kept her alive.

Nathaniel Hawthorne's most famous works include:

• Young Goodman Brown (1835)
• Mosses from an Old Manse (1846)
• The Scarlet Letter (1850)
• The House of Seven Gables (1851)
• The Blithedale Romance (1852)
• The Marble Faun (1860)

External links

• Eric Eldred's excellent Hawthorne site at Eldritch Press contains all of Hawthorne's works, notes on the writings, annotated editions,and lots of other information.
• The Hawthorne in Salem Website was funded in May of 2000 by a three-year grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and is a collaborative effort of North Shore Community College in Danvers, Massachusetts, and three Salem, Massachusetts museums with important Hawthorne collections.

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