{\b Nathaniel Hawthorne}.

{\b Date of Birth}.: 4 July 1804 

{\b Date of Death}.: 19 May 1864

{\b Works}.

American novelist and short story writer. 
Best known for The House of Seven Gables (1851) and The Scarlet Letter (1850), 
as well as The Marble Faun (1860) and The Blithedale Romance (1852). He also 
published numerous short stories and sketches as well as some writing for 
children. His early short stories are told in Twice Told Tales (1837).

 He was a key figure in the establishment of short story writing as a 
particularly American literary form. 

{\b Featured Works}.

The House of the Seven Gables, The Scarlet Letter.

{\b General Comment}.

Hawthorne was a descendant of Major William Hathorne, a Puritan settler in 
America remembered for his persecution of the Quakers, and Jon Hathorne who 
persecuted the Witches of Salem.  His mother was a widowed recluse and he grew 
up as a solitary child, spending most of his time reading. He was educated at 
Brunswick with Longfellow and then returned to Salem where he began writing. 
From 1853-7 he was American consul in Liverpool and then spent two years 
living in Italy, an experience he later used in The Marble Faun.  
Much of Hawthorne's early work was published anonymously which made it 
difficult for him to establish literary friends.  He was a master of the 
allegorical and symbolic tale, and often introduced the supernatural into what 
had appeared to be reality. Sin and guilt provide a central thread to all his 
writing which can be traced back to his sense of inherited ancestral guilt. A 
particular focus is given to the decline and decadence of New England's 
puritanism, particularly in The Scarlet Letter. 
Hawthorne remained a largely isolated figure with little outside contact, 
although in 1850 he met Melville, who became a great admirer of his work and 
one of this first to recognise his genius.