The Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne

by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Borders Classics Edition with gilt-embossed lettering on leather-look hard cover & gilt-edged pages.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Short Stories

569 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1932

About the author

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 Tales and became engaged to painter and illustrator Sophia Peabody the next year. He worked at a Custom House and joined a Transcendentalist Utopian community, before marrying Peabody in 1842. The couple moved to The Old Manse in Concord, Massachusetts, later moving to Salem, the Berkshires, then to The Wayside in Concord. The Scarlet Letter was published in 1850, followed by a succession of other novels. A political appointment took Hawthorne and family to Europe before returning to The Wayside in 1860. Hawthorne died on May 19, 1864, leaving behind his wife and their three children.

Much of Hawthorne's writing centers around New England and many feature moral allegories with a Puritan inspiration. His work is considered part of the Romantic movement and includes novels, short stories, and a biography of his friend, the United States President Franklin Pierce.

Reviews

[William Baurle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I avoided Hawthorne for most of my life, why, I don't know. But actually, hey, you know what? I do know. GOD saved the best for last. I've read much of George Eliot, Melville, Hardy, James, Maugham, Willa Cather, Faulkner, Steinbeck, etc. Bye the bye, Hawthorne stands head and shoulders above everybody else. He is remarkable. Even if he had just written "Buds and Bird Voices", his place in American letters would have been stamped and permanent.

[Mark McKenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Blythedale Romance" is set mostly in Blythedale, a fictional Utopian community based on one that Hawthorne worked and lived at for a year -- not sure of the year -- but the book was written around 1850. It's written in the style of the times with long sentences, lots of dependent clauses and arcane vocabulary. That being said, it's worth the efort because Hawthorne has a very fine perception of all his characters' motivations and behaviors -- including his own. He "appears" as Miles Cloverdale, the narrator of the tale. A famous young poet, Cloverdale is portrayed as a somewhat emasculated, somewhat foppish, somewhat idealistic -- and very perceptive of faults and foibles, including his own.

"The Blythedale Romance" carries a few different story lines to their appointed conclusions. One is the romance between the passionate, wealthy and beautiful Zenobia, and Hollingsworth, a powerful man with a 'grand vision' to reform the criminal classes, a vision he has become obsessed with, and a vision that causes him to destroy four lives.

Creating a triangle is a waif named Priscilla, a young girl who has a powerful crush on Hollingsworth. As this tragedy plays out, the reader also becomes fascinated by the narrator himself and his (correct) perception that the grand social experiment Blythdale represents is doomed to failure.

I enjoyed the beautiful language of this book, delicate and ornate. It also is imbued with the grand passion of writers of the age; bosoms heave, tears flow, heavens are rent. etc.