Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne, born on July 4, 1804, in Salem, Massachusettes, was a great American author. He is very well known for his great contributions to American literature and his fansastic writing.



Biographical Information
Born on July 4, 1804 in Salem, Massachusettes, Nathaniel Hawthorne spent some of his childhood in Maine and Boston,Massachusettes. Even though Nathaniel Hawthorne spent some of his childhood in Maine and Boston, he spent most of his time in Salem until 1850. Nathaniel Hawthorne's parents were Nathaniel Hathorne and Elizabeth Clarke Manning Hathorne. At the age of six years old, Nathaniel strated to attend school at a schoolhouse on Herbert Street in 1810. Later Nathaniel attended Worcester's school until 1813. A few years later, Nathaniel attended several other schools as he moved back and forth between Maine and Salem. As he graduated from highschool, Nathaniel Hawthorne attended Bowdion College in Brunswick, Maine. In 1825, he graduated from Brunswick and returned to Salem determined to become a writer as his career. In 1842, Hawthorne married Sophia Peabody and was very happy. Nathaniel and Sophia had three children together. Their names are Una, Julian, and Rose. As a child Una suffered from a mental illness and died very young. Julian served a jail term for embezzlement and wrote a book about Nathaniel Hawthorne. And Rose married George Parsons Lathrop, converted to Roman Catholicism, and became a nun. She also founded a religious order to care for cancer victims. After traveling to Italy, Nathaniel returned to Massachusettes in 1860. He was depressed, tired of writing, and with his health failing. Nathaniel Hawthorne finally died on May 19, 1864, in Plymouth, New Hampshire.

Career
Nathaniel Hawthorne is very famous for his career of writing short stories and novels. After he returned to Salem Massachusetts, determined to become an author, he became doubtful of his career and became unhappy with his struggles for the nest twelve years. With the publication of Twice-Told Tales in 1837, Hawthorne finally became successful. The Scarlet Letter, published in 1850, and The House of the Seven Gables, published in 1851, also brought him great recognition and immediate success. In 1839 Nathaniel Hawthorne was hired as a weigher and gauger for the Boston Custom House. As Hawthorne was seeking a home for Sophia and himself, he joined the transcendentalist utopian community at the rook Farm in 1841. But when he he became unhappy with the experiment there, he decided to leave. At the Salem Custom House, Hawthorne was promoted to surveyor in 1846. His employment was vulnerable to the political system. When he later wrote The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne wrote a long introduction about the time that he spent at the Salem Custom House, even though he lost his job because of the change in Washington after the presidential election in 1848. Nathaniel Hawthorne was also rewarded in 1853 for the campaign biography on Franklin Pierce's election for President with the position of the consul of the United States. But because of traveling to France and Italy, Nathaniel quit from his job. Nathaniel Hawthorne is best known for his amazing short stories and his four major romances between 1850-1860. These romances include The Scarlet Letter, The House of the Seven Gables, The Blithedale Romance, and The Marble Faun. Even though Nathaniel Hawthorne is known for his many tales and novels, he also wrote many short stories. Though he is very famous today, Nathaniel Hawthorne published these short stories anonymous or pseudonymous. Nathaniel Hawthorne only began using his name after collecting many of his short stories into the volumes of the Twice-Told Tales in 1837. Nathaniel Hawthorne is known to this day for his career in short stories and novels.

Selected Works
Anthologies:
 * A Collection of Short Stories,(1913)
 * The Mystery Book,(1934)
 * The book of Fantasy,(1940)
 * Black Water(1983)
 * Christmas Ghosts(1987)
 * Garden of Deadly Delights,(1996)
 * Rebels and Reationers,(1992)
 * Fifty Great Short Stories,(1952)
 * Spells of Enchantment,(1991)
 * Beyond the Curtain of Dark,(1966)

Novals:
 * Fanshawe,(1828)
 * The House of the Seven Gables,(1851)
 * The Marble Faun,(1860)
 * The Scarlet Letter,(1850)
 * Dr. Grimshawe's Secret,(1883)
 * The Blithdale Romance,(1852)
 * The Dolliver Romance,(1876)

Short Stories:
 * The Hollow of the Three Hills,(1830)
 * The Wives of the Dead,(1832)
 * Roger Malvin's Burial,(1832)
 * Young Goodman Brown,(1835)
 * The Gray Champion,(1835)
 * The Gentle Boy,(1832)
 * The Birthmark,(1843)
 * The Christmas Banquet,(1844)
 * The Artist of the Beautiful,(1844)
 * Feathertop,(1846)
 * The Golden Touch,(1851)
 * The Pygmies,(1853)
 * The Pomegranate Seeds,(1853)
 * The Three Golden Apples,(1853)
 * Ethan Brand,(1850)

Series:
 * Harpercollins Anthology Series
 * Oxford Books of Prose

Literary Criticism
Critical Reception of "The Minister's Black Veil" From the first publication of "The Minister's Black Veil", it was congradulated for its originality and power. It was called a "masterly composition", but was suggested for more sensative readers so they would be able to see the importance of the story. Even though this short story never reached popular ackowledgement during Hawthorne's lifetime, it has been highly praised by viewers and noted writers. This short story also received much attention from scholars becasue of its unknow meaning. Critics also reveal that this short story is a great example of Hawthorne's art, and it shows that he is amazed with New England's history and daily life, his gratefulness of religion in the lives of a small community, his sesitivity to human beings and their relationships, and his skills with the use of language and symboism to write a story that people want to read. Scholars also love this short story becasue of his use of the same theme in the noval, The Scarlet Letter.

Critical Reception of "Young Goodman Brown" Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" is very popular and is known for its critical respect. Readers love Haawthorne's techniques as he wrote this short story. During the nineteenth century, Edgar Allen Poe said that the allegory use takes away the natural form of the story. Henry James also said that Hawthorne took the easy way out while writing this short story. The historical context of his story attracts litary criticism with scholars studying the Puritan religion during the seventeenth century and seeing the relationship with the history and this short story. Critics from the twentieth century have been interested in the way Hawthorne narrarates his short story and discussing the story's aspect. The story's symbolism and allegory techniques used in "Young Goodman Brown" as also interested much critical reception.