Hawthorne's Habitations draws on letters, manuscripts, and the author's little studied French and Italian notebooks, to present a portrait of four fascinating locations in the middle of the nineteenth century and offer a convincing portrait of the way place informed Hawthorne's melancholy psychology and dark style.

This volume provides a comprehensive overview of Nathaniel Hawthorne and demonstrates why he continues to be a critically significant figure in American literature. The first section focuses on Hawthorne's interest in and knowledge of past (Puritan and colonial) and contemporary nineteenth-century history (women's, African American, Native American) as the inspiration for his writings and the source of his literary success. The second section explores his fascination with social history and popular culture by examining topics as mesmerism, utopian life styles, theatrical performances, and artistic innovations. The third section looks at how Hawthorne succeeded and excelled in the literary marketplace, as an author of children's literature, literary sketches, and historical romances. In the fourth section, Hawthorne's literary precursors, peers, colleagues, and successors are analyzed. In the final section, Hawthorne's attachment to family, nature, and home is examined as the source of creative inspiration and philosophical questing.

Gale Researcher Guide for: Nathaniel Hawthorne and the American Romance is selected from Gale's academic platform Gale Researcher. These study guides provide peer-reviewed articles that allow students early success in finding scholarly materials and to gain the confidence and vocabulary needed to pursue deeper research.

This perennially popular Norton Critical Edition has been revised to reflect the most current scholarly approaches to The Scarlet Letter—Hawthorne’s most widely read novel—as well as to the five short prose works—“Mrs. Hutchinson,” “Endicott and the Red Cross,” “Young Goodman Brown,” “The Minister’s Black Veil,” and “The Birth-mark”—that closely relate to the 1850 novel. This Second Norton Critical Edition also includes: · Revised and expanded explanatory footnotes, a new preface, and a note on the text by Leland S. Person. · Key passages from Hawthorne’s notebooks and letters that suggest the close relationship between his private and public writings · Seven new critical essays by Brook Thomas, Michael Ryan, Thomas R. Mitchell, Jay Grossman, Jamie Barlowe, John Ronan, and John F. Birk. · A Chronology and revised and expanded Selected Bibliography.

This book offers new perspectives on race and transnationalism in nineteenth-century American literary studies, and ranges widely in developing new approaches to canonical and non canonical authors. It will appeal to graduates and scholars working on nineteenth-century American literature, transnationalism, and African American literary studies.