Introduction


Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne decided to become a writer after graduating from college, but he had to take a number of “regular” jobs during his lifetime to make ends meet. He feared his time in the labor force might compromise his writing ability, but in fact, toil seems to have stimulated his authorship. His work environment during a stint as measurer in the Boston Customhouse is described in the preface to The Scarlet Letter, and his time spent working on an experimental farm resulted in the novel The Blithedale Romance. Despite years laboring at jobs other than those that involved his pen, Hawthorne managed to marry, raise three children, and, most important to the literary world, create a treasury of novels, histories, and story collections before he died at age 60.

Essential Facts

  1. Hawthorne’s great-grandfather was a magistrate during the 1692 Salem witch trials; he was instrumental in decrying the guilt of a number of victims.
  2. Among Hawthorne’s many illustrious classmates at Bowdoin College were the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and future president Franklin Pierce.
  3. The author’s last name was originally spelled “Hathorne.” He changed it after graduating from college so that the spelling would more closely match the pronunciation.
  4. Hawthorne was a friend with a number of Transcendentalists, including Emerson and Thoreau, though he never fully embraced their views. But that didn’t create any bad blood. Emerson was a pallbearer at Hawthorne’s funeral.
  5. Herman Melville dedicated his great novel Moby Dick to Hawthorne, his good friend.
 

Recommended Resources

  1. The Scarlet Letter eText
  2. The Scarlet Letter Study Guide (eNotes)
  3. Young Goodman Brown - Nineteenth-Century Literary Criticism
  4. Young Goodman Brown Lesson Plan
  5. Young Goodman Brown Study Guide (eNotes)

All Resources

Display as: Categories, List
  1. Author Profile
  2. Critical Survey of Long Fiction
  3. Critical Survey of Short Fiction
  4. Cyclopedia of World Authors
  5. Dictionary of World Biography: The 19th Century
  6. Mrs. Bullfrog quickNotes
  7. My Kinsman, Major Molineux - Masterplots II: Short Story Series
  8. My Kinsman, Major Molineux Study Guide
  9. Nathaniel Hawthorne
  10. Nathaniel Hawthorne Criticism
  11. The Blithedale Romance - Literary Characters
  12. The Blithedale Romance - Literary Places
  13. The House of the Seven Gables (1940)
  14. The House of the Seven Gables - Book Review
  15. The House of the Seven Gables - Literary Characters
  16. The House of the Seven Gables Lesson Plans
  17. The House of the Seven Gables Study Guide
  18. The Marble Faun - Identities and Issues in Literature
  19. The Marble Faun - Literary Characters
  20. The Marble Faun - Literary Places
  21. The Minister's Black Veil - Nineteenth-Century Literary Criticism
  22. The Minister's Black Veil - Short Story Criticism
  23. The Minister's Black Veil: A Paradigm
  24. The Oxford Companion to American Literature Article on Nathaniel Hawthorne
  25. The Oxford Companion to English Literature Article on Nathaniel Hawthorne
  26. The Salem World of Nathaniel Hawthorne
  27. The Scarlet Letter (1934)
  28. The Scarlet Letter (1973)
  29. The Scarlet Letter (1979)
  30. The Scarlet Letter (1995)
  31. The Scarlet Letter - American History Through Literature
  32. The Scarlet Letter - Book Review
  33. The Scarlet Letter - Identities and Issues in Literature
  34. The Scarlet Letter - Lesson Plans
  35. The Scarlet Letter - Literary Characters
  36. The Scarlet Letter - Literary Places
  37. The Scarlet Letter eText
  38. The Scarlet Letter Movie Learning Guide
  39. The Scarlet Letter Study Guide (eNotes)
  40. The Wives of the Dead Study Guide
  41. Twice-Told Tales (1963)
  42. Young Goodman Brown - Masterplots II: Short Story Series
  43. Young Goodman Brown - Nineteenth-Century Literary Criticism
  44. Young Goodman Brown - Short Story Criticism
  45. Young Goodman Brown Lesson Plan
  46. Young Goodman Brown Study Guide (eNotes)