HAWTHORNE, NATHANIEL

born July 4, 1804, Salem, Mass., U.S. died May 19, 1864, Plymouth, N.H. American novelist and short-story writer who was a master of the allegorical and symbolic tale. One of the greatest fiction writers in American literature, he is best-known for The Scarlet Letter (1850) and The House of the Seven Gables (1851). Additional reading Nina E. Browne, A Bibliography of Nathaniel Hawthorne (1905, reprinted 1967); C.E. Frazer Clark, Jr., Nathaniel Hawthorne: A Descriptive Bibliography (1978); Buford Jones, A Checklist of Hawthorne Criticism, 19511966 (1967); Hawthorne's Works, Riverside Edition, 12 vol. (1904); The Centenary Edition of the Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne, 14 vol. (196380); N.H. Pearson (ed.), The Complete Novels and Selected Tales of Nathaniel Hawthorne (1937); Henry James, Hawthorne (1879), the earliest critical study, still valuable; Randall Stewart, Nathaniel Hawthorne: A Biography (1948), still definitive, though it lacks insight into Hawthorne's inner life; Arlin Turner, Nathaniel Hawthorne: A Biography (1980), a thorough account of Hawthorne's reactions to the world in which he lived but also lacking on Hawthorne's inner life; Hyatt H. Waggoner, Hawthorne: A Critical Study, rev. ed. (1963); R.H. Pearce (ed.), Hawthorne Centenary Essays (1964); Frederick C. Crews, The Sins of the Fathers: Hawthorne's Psychological Themes (1966); B. Bernard Cohen (ed.), The Recognition of Nathaniel Hawthorne (1969), a collection of representative critical responses from the earliest to the present century. Major Works: Novels. Fanshawe, a Tale (1828); The Scarlet Letter (1850); The House of the Seven Gables (1851); The Blithedale Romance (1852); The Marble Faun: Or, the Romance of Monte Beni (British title, Transformation, 1860). (Unfinished novels): Septimius Felton (1872); The Dolliver Romance, and Other Pieces (1876); Doctor Grimshawe's Secret (1883); The Ancestral Footstep (1883).Stories. Twice-Told Tales, including The Gray Champion, The Gentle Boy, A Rill from the Town Pump, The Great Carbuncle, Sights from a Steeple, and Dr. Heidegger's Experiment (1837); 2nd enl. ed., including also The Celestial Railroad (1842); Mosses from an Old Manse (1846); The Snow-Image, and Other Tales (1851; also published as The Snow-Image, and Other Twice-Told Tales, 1852). (Stories for Children): Grandfather's Chair (1841); Famous Old People (1841); Liberty Tree (1841); Biographical Stories for Children (1842); A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys (1851); Tanglewood Tales for Girls and Boys (1853).Biography. Life of Franklin Pierce (1852).Autobiographical. Our Old Home: A Series of English Sketches (1863); Passages from the American Note-Books of Nathaniel Hawthorne (1868); Passages from the English Note-Books of Nathaniel Hawthorne (1870); Passages from the French and Italian Note-Books of Nathaniel Hawthorne (1871).