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Tales and Sketches
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This Library of America volume offers what no reader has ever been able to find—an authoritative edition of all the tales and sketches of Nathaniel Hawthorne in a single comprehensive volume. Everything is included from his three books of stories, Twice-told Tales (1837, revised 1851), Mosses from an Old Manse (1846, 1854), The Snow-Image, and Other Twice-told Tales (1851)
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Hardcover, 1493 pages
Published
May 6th 1982
by Library of America
(first published 1982)
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Lots of amazing stuff. The layout of this edition, while comprehensive, is more scholarly than readable- go ahead and skip the chronological framework and read his best 9 or 12 or 20 stories along with the random gels. Even the editions published during his lifetime are broken scattered and arranged by date, so a preface might be 300 pages removed from the first story. They're so good though, in that weird allegorical way...must must read read
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This seemed like it took forever to finish, but I enjoyed the whole book. Even the stories I thought were boring, were well written. The nice thing about these massive anthology collections is that you don't have to feel rushed to get to the end.
I feel like Hawthorne is misread at times. He didn't just write about Salem and the witch trials. This collection showed that he wrote about all of the New England states. I don't think he gets enough credit sometimes when writing landscape or setting th ...more
I feel like Hawthorne is misread at times. He didn't just write about Salem and the witch trials. This collection showed that he wrote about all of the New England states. I don't think he gets enough credit sometimes when writing landscape or setting th ...more
Very interesting and unexpected; this was like a Grimm's Fairy Tales set in Colonial New England. Demons, witches, hypocritical Puritans, and a variety of fantastical plot twists. Many of the stories are rather dark, but not all. Hawthorne also has some interesting observations on life and the human condition that will cause the reader to stop and say, "Ahh, interesting," in the midst of a story. Some of the stories, while likely original for the time, feel a bit worn to the modern reader. But o
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Marvelous! I love Hawthorne's short reads. When I read his stories,I always feel thrust into the 1800s with such juicy detail. Nobody brings you into that era as dramatically as Hawthorne does. His stories are deep with his thinking and explorations into the supernatural. Most times, his characters really breathe on me. Sounds a little crazy, but what is fiction if not to transport you to the other worlds? These stories have romance, intelligence, sin, guilt, ghosts, and witches, and all quite a
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If your only experience of Hawthorne is "The Scarlet Letter" in high school (why do schools ruin the classics by teaching them before most of the students are ready?) then you might not have a clear understanding of Hawthorne. In these pieces I saw a modernist peaking out (even a Rothian post-modernist at times!). Ghost stories, re-tellings of Greek myths, morality tales, tall tales and sketches where Hawthorne struggles with his Puritan ancestors and their bleak acts and outlooks are all here.
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True talent is born, not made. Although his earliest works show an immaturity (which disappears as the writer hones his work) Hawthorne’s gift is apparent from the beginning. His tales may be uneven – some maddening for questionable conclusions, others tending toward the mundane – but all create wonderful pictures in the mind. The majority of these stories are well worth reading and you will retain the experience of some for years. His word usage alone is brilliant. And his essays (sketches) are
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Just read "The Artist of the Beautiful. "A beautiful story of one man's life-long pursuit of creating his dream of the beautiful and the sacrifices he makes and obstacles he overcomes in achieving that dream. Must read again to fully appreciate the beauty this artist created with words.
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Okay, so I skimmed most of this book. You read the 1400+ pages of archaic material that has not survived well over time. I had better hopes for 'ol Nate , but found only a few of the stories readable.
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HAWTHORNE IS PERFECT. NO MORE WORDS TO DEFINE HIM.
I recommend these to everyone. Those who are hesitant because of the heavy style of Hawthorne's novels need not worry, unless perhaps they feel that the vocabulary interferes with their comprehension.
In these tales, Hawthorne shows that his imagination is as fruitful as any author of the fantastic. Despite being something of a Christian writer, there is almost a quality of cosmic pessimism to Hawthorne's tales which foreshadows the atmosphere conjured up by Lovecraft.
I don't really want to spoil ...more
In these tales, Hawthorne shows that his imagination is as fruitful as any author of the fantastic. Despite being something of a Christian writer, there is almost a quality of cosmic pessimism to Hawthorne's tales which foreshadows the atmosphere conjured up by Lovecraft.
I don't really want to spoil ...more
This man could string 'em together with the best of them. Like no other, I love The Haunted Mind. If you want some beautiful short stories, this author's stories are amazing
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With engaging writing, going through the supernatural and gothic world, Hawthorne is one of the exponents of this style in the early half of the 18th century, influencing many other writers who came after him.
Young Master Brown, for example, how many movie scenes we see were possibly inspired by this tale written in 1835, in which the protagonist seeing the most ordinary people in society: from pastors and priests to politicians to merchants, from acquaintances to unknown pedestrians of a city - ...more
Young Master Brown, for example, how many movie scenes we see were possibly inspired by this tale written in 1835, in which the protagonist seeing the most ordinary people in society: from pastors and priests to politicians to merchants, from acquaintances to unknown pedestrians of a city - ...more
Sep 25, 2019
Whiskey
added it
The effect of reading a Hawthorne story is akin to the feeling we sometimes get when standing on the ocean shore: How tenuous our sense of time and self becomes in the face of the immense, imperturbable power of the sea. Let the simple and unsettling domestic horror story called “Wakefield” serve as an emblem for the rest. The plot couldn’t be simpler: A man walks out of his house one day and never returns, only to take up residence around the corner, where he resides for twenty years on the per
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I have not read every story in this book. I have not read half of the stories. But this is my Hawthorne short story treasure house, and it contains "The Artist of the Beautiful" one of my all-time favorite stories. I have the rest of my life to finish this book but even now I have to acknowledge its importance in my reading life.
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No, I'm nowhere near finished with this. But, we read several stories in class which I loved so I have the intention of updating this review when I read more of these stories on my own time.
Roger Malvin's Burial - 5 stars
Young Goodman Brown - 4.5 stars
The Birth-Mark - 4 stars
The Celestial Railroad - 5 stars
Rappaccini's Daughter - 5 stars
The Old Manse preface - 3.5 stars ...more
Roger Malvin's Burial - 5 stars
Young Goodman Brown - 4.5 stars
The Birth-Mark - 4 stars
The Celestial Railroad - 5 stars
Rappaccini's Daughter - 5 stars
The Old Manse preface - 3.5 stars ...more
This Library of America edition is as excellent as all of them. This one really gave me a new appreciation of Hawthorne, whom I have not read since high school. Highly recommended.
Hawthorne ends short stories like Thelma & Louise without the certainty. Better editing than Poe, but that's not exactly difficult. I liked Hawthorne's short stories, but SS are my thing.
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My guardian had a name of considerable eminence, and fitter for the place it occupies in ecclesiastical history, than for so frivolous a page as mine. In his own vicinity, among the lighter part of his hearers, he was called Parson Thumpcushion, from the very forcible gestures with which he illustrated his doctrines. Certainly, if his powers as a preacher were to be estimated by the damage done to his pulpit furniture, none of his living brethren, and but few dead ones, would have been worthy ev
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Aug 04, 2012
Courtney
marked it as to-read
1) Twice-Told Tales
2) Mosses from an Old Manse
3) The Snow-Image
4) A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys
5) Tanglewood Tales for Girls and Boys; Being a Second Wonder Book
6) An Old Woman's Tale
7) The Haunted Quack
8) Alice Doane's Appeal
9) My Visit to Niagara
10) A Visit to the Clerk of the Weather
11) Fragments from the Journal of a Solitary Man
12)Time's Portraiture
13) The Antique Ring
14) A Good Man's Miracle
15) A Book of Autographs
16) Sir William Phips
17) Mrs. Hutchinson
18) Dr. Bullivant
19) Sir William ...more
2) Mosses from an Old Manse
3) The Snow-Image
4) A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys
5) Tanglewood Tales for Girls and Boys; Being a Second Wonder Book
6) An Old Woman's Tale
7) The Haunted Quack
8) Alice Doane's Appeal
9) My Visit to Niagara
10) A Visit to the Clerk of the Weather
11) Fragments from the Journal of a Solitary Man
12)Time's Portraiture
13) The Antique Ring
14) A Good Man's Miracle
15) A Book of Autographs
16) Sir William Phips
17) Mrs. Hutchinson
18) Dr. Bullivant
19) Sir William ...more
Hawthorne is a master at painting a picture with words. Try "View from A Steeple" to see what I mean. The stories are always full of local color, language that was alive then and in disuse now, and remind one that human nature has not changed so much as we think nor is America so different as we like to think.
The LOA edition in leather is also a physical pleasure to hold and read, which we don't always get now with books made less well from cheaper materials. ...more
The LOA edition in leather is also a physical pleasure to hold and read, which we don't always get now with books made less well from cheaper materials. ...more
Hawthorne's dark flavor of cynicism has always been to my taste. This collection includes all the usual suspects, plus many uncollected magazine pieces that are currently my new favorites. An important book to read these days, given the way it picks at the dark underbelly of our Puritan heritage.
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I'll tell it and I'll tell it twice!
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My favorites were "The Birth-Mark" and "Young Goodman Brown."
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Nathaniel Hawthorne was a 19th century American novelist and short story writer. He is seen as a key figure in the development of American literature for his tales of the nation's colonial history.
Shortly after graduating from Bowdoin College, Hathorne changed his name to Hawthorne. Hawthorne anonymously published his first work, a novel titled Fanshawe, in 1828. In 1837, he published Twice-Told T ...more
Shortly after graduating from Bowdoin College, Hathorne changed his name to Hawthorne. Hawthorne anonymously published his first work, a novel titled Fanshawe, in 1828. In 1837, he published Twice-Told T ...more
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“But what could be the purpose of the unseasonable toil, which was again resumed, as the watchman knew by the lines of lamp-light through the crevices of Owen Warland's shutters? The townspeople had one comprehensive explanation of all these singularities. Owen Warland had gone mad! How universally efficacious--how satisfactory, too, and soothing to the injured sensibility of narrowness and dullness--is this easy method of accounting for whatever lies beyond the world's most ordinary scope!
- "The Artist of the Beautiful”
—
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- "The Artist of the Beautiful”
