false 12296 355 Set in the harsh Puritan community of seventeenth-century Massachusetts, this tale of an adulterous entanglement resulting in an illegitimate birth engendered the first true heroine of American fiction. <br><br> Introduction by Nina Baym<br> Notes by Thomas E. Connolly 4925227 book 1850 The Scarlet Letter (Penguin Classics) total:55293|5:7611|4:16427|3:19207|2:8444|1:3604| 55293 181876 64877 2313 1 29 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1989 Wed Oct 17 16:21:27 -0700 2007 Wed Oct 17 16:31:49 -0700 2007
If there is a hell, Hawthorne is the devil's sidekick, and the first thing you're given (after the stark realization that you're in hell, on fire, and this is going to last foreve...more...]]> 1 11 false false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 30 04:12:22 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 30 04:19:04 -0700 2008
Here is who I would recommend this book to - people who like sentences with 4 or 5 thoughts, and that are paragraph length - so that they are nearly impossible to understand - because by the time the end, of the sentence, has been reached the...more...]]> 4 10 false false Sun Nov 04 17:48:03 -0800 2007 Sun Nov 04 17:48:03 -0800 2007 The Scarlet Letter.

But I've got a special fondness for it. When I was in tenth grade, our English teacher gave us a list of topics to choose from for our Scarlet Letter Essay. Discuss the changing role of women, analyze the symbolism of the forest, etc. T...more...]]> 5 10 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1998 Wed Feb 13 09:44:21 -0800 2008 Wed May 07 10:47:59 -0700 2008
Most modern readers don't realize (and certainly aren't taught in school) that Hawthorne --as his fict...more...]]> 4 3 false false Wed Jul 16 20:51:06 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 16 20:53:23 -0700 2008 5 6 false false Mon Nov 03 12:23:57 -0800 2008 Fri Mar 20 12:01:19 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 2 false false Sun Jul 13 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 10 14:01:05 -0700 2008 Tue Dec 30 13:42:46 -0800 2008 Of Fatality

To be perfectly honest, I would not have stuck with The Scarlet Letter if it is not reckoned generally to be an American classic. The action is reduced to sketches (typical chapter titles are "The Prison-Door," "The Interior of a Heart," and "Hester an...more...]]> 5 3 false false Wed Oct 22 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Jan 24 11:51:58 -0800 2008 Wed Oct 22 18:48:05 -0700 2008 4 The Scarlet Letter. The first time was during my junior year of high school. I actually enjoyed it, though literature of the nineteenth century was such a mystery to me then that I shied away from the creaky long words and felt proud of myself for succeeding in merel...more...]]> 2 2 false false Tue Jun 23 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 20 10:29:49 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 27 18:44:26 -0700 2009 Hester walked across the room. She stepped upon her left foot, her right foot, and then her left foot again. One wonders, why doth she, in this instance of walking across the room, begin her journey upon the left foot and not the right? Could it be her terrible sin, that the devil info...more...]]> 3 1 false true Thu Feb 26 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 20 09:29:07 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 27 16:17:31 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 3 false false Sun Jan 13 23:38:20 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 16 01:20:59 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Fri Apr 11 13:38:29 -0700 2008 Fri Apr 11 13:38:29 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 2 false true Sun Feb 24 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Feb 15 15:59:10 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 24 05:46:20 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 2 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Nov 04 07:02:32 -0800 2007 Sun Nov 04 07:10:02 -0800 2007 more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1996 Wed Jul 18 13:50:16 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 20 20:12:45 -0700 2008
"Ah, but let her cover the mark as she will, the pang of it will be always in her heart." -chapter 2

"It is to the credit of human nature, that... it loves more readily than it hates. Hatred, by a gradual and quiet process, will even be transfo...more...]]> 4 1 true false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Dec 09 17:14:31 -0800 2007 Mon Jan 28 19:16:15 -0800 2008
Hawt...more...]]> 5 1 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Wed Aug 20 13:02:26 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 20 13:03:07 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Oct 13 07:17:39 -0700 2008 Sun Apr 12 07:58:31 -0700 2009 The Scarlet Letter is to skip the whole introductory bit about the Chapter House, unless you want a degree in English. I love this book; I teach this book, but I have my students skip that introduction. It'll make them hate the book.

Once you have sk...more...]]> 5 1 false false Fri Sep 28 08:34:24 -0700 2007 Fri Sep 28 08:40:29 -0700 2007 more...]]> 1 2 false false Tue Jan 29 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 29 19:43:45 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 29 19:47:21 -0800 2008 more...]]>