The Rose of Death and Other Mysterious Delusions

by Julian Hawthorne, Jessica Amanda Salmonson (Introduction)

Julian Hawthorne, born in 1846, was the only son of Nathaniel Hawthorne, one of America’s greatest writers. As a child, he had been fascinated by the supernatural, and his fiction dealt with the mysterious, the occult, and the gothic. Yet, while Julian was a prolific writer, his works fell into almost complete neglect following his death, overshadowed by the literary success of his father and scandal in his own later life. Now Jessica Amanda Salmonson has selected eight of Julian Hawthorne’s best supernatural tales, ranging from the early vampire classic, ‘Ken’s Mystery’ to the gothic horror of the novella ‘Kildhurm’s Oak’. There is also an extensive introductory monograph by Salmonson.

Jacket art by Deborah McMillion-Nering.

Contents: ‘Gothic Magician: The Life and Supernatural Tales of Julian Hawthorne by Jessica Amanda Salmonson; ‘Ken’s Mystery’, ‘The Delusion of Ralph Penwyn’; ‘Dr Pechal’s Theory’; ‘Kildhurm’s Oak’; ‘The Mysterious Case of My Friend Browne’; ‘The Rose of Death: A Fantasy’; ‘The Spirit of the Dance’; ‘The New Endymion’.

185 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 1997

About the author

Julian Hawthorne was the son of Nathaniel Hawthorne. He wrote poetry, novels, non-fiction, a series of crime novels based on the memoirs of New York's Inspector Byrnes, and edited several collections of short stories. He attended Harvard, without graduating, and later studied civil engineering.

In 1898, Julian submitted an eyewitness account of the destruction of the United States battleship, Maine off of the island of Cuba for William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal (although it has been proven that Julian was in the United States at the time of the explosion). Hawthorne's eyewitness testimony of foul play and aggression by Spain was taken as fact and helped steer the United States towards war.

In 1908 Hawthorne was invited by a college friend to join him in Canada selling shares in silver mines that did not exist. They were tried, convicted of mail fraud, and served one year in prison.

There is also at least one other author named Julian Hawthorne, who writes about unexplained mysteries.

Reviews

[Sol]

For "Kildhurm's Oak"