In 25 (mostly) original contributions, professors, authors, and independent scholars critique how women readers, critics, and writers--including Hawthorne's wife--have responded to the author of The Scarlet Letter, and Hawthorne's ambivalence toward the "damnd [sic] mob of scribbling women." Appended are additional reviews by two female critics, an 1869 letter by Harriet Beecher Stowe citing Hawthorne's American Notebooks as a model of writing for women, and a 1904 letter relating to a 100th anniversary celebration of Hawthorne's birth. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Article abstracts and citations of reviews and dissertations covering the United States and Canada.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1883.