Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne was one of the most influential American authors of the 19th century. He wrote many different critical works that have greatly influenced literature and culture in the United States. Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts on July 4, 1804. He was the son of a sea captain who had died at sea, so his mother raised him and his two sisters alone. He was educated at a private school in Portland, Maine, and then at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, where he graduated in 1825. After leaving school, Hawthorne worked briefly as a publisher's assistant before devoting himself full-time to writing.

Hawthorne first started making a name for himself with short stories in various magazines and journals. His most famous short story is “Young Goodman Brown,” which is often studied in school and appears in many anthologies. It was published in his 1835 collection, Twice-Told Tales. In this story, a Puritan man named Goodman Brown ventures into the woods and is confronted with evil symbols in a forest full of dark secrets. The story marked Hawthorne’s development of a distinct style of Romanticism, and is widely considered one of his best-known works.

Hawthorne continued to write and publish throughout the 1830s and 40s. He wrote several novels, including Twice-Told Tales, The House of the Seven Gables and the Scarlet Letter, which is considered by some to be the first great American novel. In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses his characteristic style of supernatural elements and dark themes to tell the story of Hester Prynne and her struggle with the Puritan society she lives in. Hawthorne paints this society as oppressive and judgmental in its strict religious doctrines, and juxtaposes it with the open-minded and freethinking attitudes of some of the characters.

Throughout his writing career, Hawthorne explored themes of sin and guilt, human fallibility, and the complexities hidden within human relationships. In addition to writing stories and novels, Hawthorne also wrote essays and poetry, and edited two famous collections of works by other authors, The Token and the Atlantic Souvenir. His first novel, Fanshawe, was published anonymously in 1828, and he continued to write and produce various other works until his death in 1864.

Hawthorne has had a major impact on American literature, especially in terms of the themes he explored and his use of symbolism. His works have been read and studied by many generations of students, and have often been seen as a reflection of the time in which he was writing. His impact has been so profound that he has become an important figure in many areas of the literary canon.