The Scarlet Letter: Complete, Authoritative Text with Biographical Background and Critical History Plus Essays from Five Contemporary Critical Perspectives with Introductions and Bibliographies

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press, 1991 - Fiction - 371 pages

This volume presents the authoritative Centenary Edition text of Hawthorne's classic 1851 novel, along with critical essays that read "The Scarlet Letter" from contemporary reader-response, psychoanalytic, feminist, and new historicist perspectives. Three brief additional essays demonstrate how several critical perspectives can be combined. As in the first edition, the text and essays are complemented by biographical and critical introductions, bibliographies, and a glossary of critical and theoretical terms. Five of the seven essays are new to the second edition, as is a selection of cultural documents and illustrations.

About the author

Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on July 4, 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts. When he was four years old, his father died. Years later, with financial help from his maternal relatives who recognized his literary talent, Hawthorne was able to enroll in Bowdoin College. Among his classmates were the important literary and political figures Horatio Bridge, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Franklin Pierce. These friends supplied Hawthorne with employment during the early years after graduation while Hawthorne was still establishing himself as a legitimate author. Hawthorne's first novel, Fanshawe, which he self-published in 1828, wasn't quite the success that he had hoped it would be. Not willing to give up, he began writing stories for Twice-Told Tales. These stories established Hawthorne as a leading writer. In 1842, Hawthorne moved to Concord, Massachusetts, where he wrote a number of tales, including "Rappaccini's Daughter" and "Young Goodman Brown," that were later published as Mosses from an Old Manse. The overall theme of Hawthorne's novels was a deep concern with ethical problems of sin, punishment, and atonement. No one novel demonstrated that more vividly than The Scarlet Letter. This tale about the adulterous Puritan Hester Prynne is regarded as Hawthorne's best work and is a classic of American literature. Other famous novels written by Hawthorne include The House of Seven Gables and The Blithedale Romance. In 1852, Hawthorne wrote a campaign biography of his college friend Franklin Pierce. After Pierce was elected as President of the United States, he rewarded Hawthorne with the Consulship at Liverpool, England. Hawthorne died in his sleep on May 19, 1864, while on a trip with Franklin Pierce.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Scarlet Letter: Complete, Authoritative Text with Biographical Background and Critical History Plus Essays from Five Contemporary Critical Perspectives with Introductions and Bibliographies; Volume 1 of Case studies in contemporary criticism
• Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne
• Editor: Ross C. Murfin
• Publisher: Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press, 1991
• ISBN: 0312060246, 9780312060244
• Length: 371 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / Classics; Fiction / Literary