Nathaniel Hawthorne: Tales and Sketches

Library of America #2

by Nathaniel Hawthorne

This Library of America volume offers what no reader has ever been able to find—an authoritative edition of all the tales and sketches of Nathaniel Hawthorne in a single comprehensive volume. Everything is included from his three books of stories, Twice-told Tales (1837, revised 1851), Mosses from an Old Manse (1846, 1854), The Snow-Image, and Other Twice-told Tales (1851) and from his two books of stories for children based on classical myths, A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys (1852) and Tanglewood Tales (1853)—along with sixteen stories not found in any of these volumes.

The stories are arranged, as they never have been in any other edition, in the order of their periodical publication. Readers of Hawthorne will thereby get a unique sense of how he became one of the most powerful and experimental writers of American fiction.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Classics, Literature, American, 19th Century, Horror

1493 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Nathaniel Hawthorne was a 19th century American novelist and short story writer. He is seen as a key figure in the development of American literature for his tales of the nation's colonial history.

Shortly after graduating from Bowdoin College, Hathorne changed his name to Hawthorne. Hawthorne anonymously published his first work, a novel titled Fanshawe, in 1828. In 1837, he published Twice-Told Tales and became engaged to painter and illustrator Sophia Peabody the next year. He worked at a Custom House and joined a Transcendentalist Utopian community, before marrying Peabody in 1842. The couple moved to The Old Manse in Concord, Massachusetts, later moving to Salem, the Berkshires, then to The Wayside in Concord. The Scarlet Letter was published in 1850, followed by a succession of other novels. A political appointment took Hawthorne and family to Europe before returning to The Wayside in 1860. Hawthorne died on May 19, 1864, leaving behind his wife and their three children.

Much of Hawthorne's writing centers around New England and many feature moral allegories with a Puritan inspiration. His work is considered part of the Romantic movement and includes novels, short stories, and a biography of his friend, the United States President Franklin Pierce.

Reviews

[Zepp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of amazing stuff. The layout of this edition, while comprehensive, is more scholarly than readable- go ahead and skip the chronological framework and read his best 9 or 12 or 20 stories along with the random gels. Even the editions published during his lifetime are broken scattered and arranged by date, so a preface might be 300 pages removed from the first story. They're so good though, in that weird allegorical way...must must read read

[Jeff Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting and unexpected; this was like a Grimm's Fairy Tales set in Colonial New England. Demons, witches, hypocritical Puritans, and a variety of fantastical plot twists. Many of the stories are rather dark, but not all. Hawthorne also has some interesting observations on life and the human condition that will cause the reader to stop and say, "Ahh, interesting," in the midst of a story. Some of the stories, while likely original for the time, feel a bit worn to the modern reader. But overall, an engaging and insightful collection.

[Paula Cappa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marvelous! I love Hawthorne's short reads. When I read his stories,I always feel thrust into the 1800s with such juicy detail. Nobody brings you into that era as dramatically as Hawthorne does. His stories are deep with his thinking and explorations into the supernatural. Most times, his characters really breathe on me. Sounds a little crazy, but what is fiction if not to transport you to the other worlds? These stories have romance, intelligence, sin, guilt, ghosts, and witches, and all quite atmospheric. He writes in long sentences, highly descriptive, and some of the prose feels archaic; his style takes some getting used to, but so worth it.

[Jim Leckband · Rating 5 out of 5]

If your only experience of Hawthorne is "The Scarlet Letter" in high school (why do schools ruin the classics by teaching them before most of the students are ready?) then you might not have a clear understanding of Hawthorne. In these pieces I saw a modernist peaking out (even a Rothian post-modernist at times!). Ghost stories, re-tellings of Greek myths, morality tales, tall tales and sketches where Hawthorne struggles with his Puritan ancestors and their bleak acts and outlooks are all here. But the real wonder is the accessibility of his witty prose - he is always right there with the reader.

[Brian Willis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most readers will have been introduced to Hawthorne, if at all, through The Scarlet Letter. This comprehensive collection of shorter works are an alternative approach to Hawthorne's work most importantly through his earlier works of stories, sketches, and allegorical observations, the strongest of which are the Tales from an Old Manse, the early collection written at the Old Manse in Concord.

Hawthorne's strength here is the minute observation of daily life and its resonance within a larger framework of New England mores and morality. Loosely and simplistically put, Hawthorne captures the gothic and the allegorical in Massachusetts life and relates it in universal terms. His prose reads rather easily for a reader expecting two century old prose, and flows fairly easily. Obviously, a collection such as this is for the completist, but rewards the patient reader. More than his contemporaries - Emerson, Thoreau, Alcott, and Dickinson, Hawthorne opens a window into early 19th century American life and relates it to the eternal. Few of his observations have dated in the interim, and even when allowing Puritan bedrocks of morality to peep through, the tales and sketches are more relatable than the Scarlet Letter is for most readers. If you loved the novels or Scarlet Letter, you'll love this. If open to curiosity, give him a try. There is a reason that he is in the American canon, emphasis on American.

[v · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the past two years America's greatest short story writer has kept me company whenever I needed him. My flourishing sentimentalism won't do much to convince anyone of Nathaniel Hawthorne's stature but put in another form it might: across its roughly 1100 pages, Tales and Sketches doesn't include a single story I didn't like and bolsters at least two dozen that entertain, educate, and astonish in registers only rarely equaled by Melville, Poe, Irving, or damn near anyone else. I'm saving the children's stories (A Wonder Book and Tanglewood Tales) for another day.

[James Violand · Rating 5 out of 5]

True talent is born, not made. Although his earliest works show an immaturity (which disappears as the writer hones his work) Hawthorne’s gift is apparent from the beginning. His tales may be uneven – some maddening for questionable conclusions, others tending toward the mundane – but all create wonderful pictures in the mind. The majority of these stories are well worth reading and you will retain the experience of some for years. His word usage alone is brilliant. And his essays (sketches) are every bit as entertaining. A long read that never seems tedious.

[JoAnn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just read "The Artist of the Beautiful. "A beautiful story of one man's life-long pursuit of creating his dream of the beautiful and the sacrifices he makes and obstacles he overcomes in achieving that dream. Must read again to fully appreciate the beauty this artist created with words.

[SoulSurvivor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, so I skimmed most of this book. You read the 1400+ pages of archaic material that has not survived well over time. I had better hopes for 'ol Nate , but found only a few of the stories readable.

[Bianca Burlacchini · Rating 5 out of 5]

HAWTHORNE IS PERFECT. NO MORE WORDS TO DEFINE HIM.

[Existential Investigator · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recommend these to everyone. Those who are hesitant because of the heavy style of Hawthorne's novels need not worry, unless perhaps they feel that the vocabulary interferes with their comprehension.

In these tales, Hawthorne shows that his imagination is as fruitful as any author of the fantastic. Despite being something of a Christian writer, there is almost a quality of cosmic pessimism to Hawthorne's tales which foreshadows the atmosphere conjured up by Lovecraft.

I don't really want to spoil the tales since they are mostly short and can be read in one or two sittings. Though there are many classic tales here, the first the really blew my mind was The May-Pole of Merrymount. Imagining those pagan scenes in puritan America really made my imagination run wild to the point where, having come to Hawthorne from his novels, I was really surprised that he had written it.

If you are a fan of classic literature, weird or fantastic literature, give a few of Hawthorne's stories a try and you too might discover something truly unique.

[Chris Hunt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This man could string 'em together with the best of them. Like no other, I love The Haunted Mind. If you want some beautiful short stories, this author's stories are amazing

[D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent!

[David Meditationseed · Rating 5 out of 5]

With engaging writing, going through the supernatural and gothic world, Hawthorne is one of the exponents of this style in the early half of the 18th century, influencing many other writers who came after him.

Young Master Brown, for example, how many movie scenes we see were possibly inspired by this tale written in 1835, in which the protagonist seeing the most ordinary people in society: from pastors and priests to politicians to merchants, from acquaintances to unknown pedestrians of a city - watches them closely and realizes that they are devils or faithful of a satanic cult. I remember for example, The Devil's Advocate, or a TV adaptation of an episode of Grimm.

In this tale, the characters' names are related to the symbolic, a direct metaphor of the story itself, as in American Gods, by Neil Gaiman. Here we find a woman named Faith and the protagonist Goodman.

From the dark and mysterious adventure of a satanic cult, without the certainty of that if it is a dream or reality, and the participation in it of a kind of secret society with the most unlikely members, the author points to two profound reflections: the greater evil would be that which dwells within people? And guilt and obsession could intoxicate an individual's mind in a radical way until death?

[Whiskey Tango]

The effect of reading a Hawthorne story is akin to the feeling we sometimes get when standing on the ocean shore: How tenuous our sense of time and self becomes in the face of the immense, imperturbable power of the sea. Let the simple and unsettling domestic horror story called “Wakefield” serve as an emblem for the rest. The plot couldn’t be simpler: A man walks out of his house one day and never returns, only to take up residence around the corner, where he resides for twenty years on the periphery of his previous existence. He offers no word of explanation—indeed, extends no communication at all—to his wife, whose haunted days the reader observes, as it were, through her parlor window.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

No, I'm nowhere near finished with this. But, we read several stories in class which I loved so I have the intention of updating this review when I read more of these stories on my own time.
Roger Malvin's Burial - 5 stars
Young Goodman Brown - 4.5 stars
The Birth-Mark - 4 stars
The Celestial Railroad - 5 stars
Rappaccini's Daughter - 5 stars
The Old Manse preface - 3.5 stars

[Gregg Hower]

I have not read every story in this book. I have not read half of the stories. But this is my Hawthorne short story treasure house, and it contains "The Artist of the Beautiful" one of my all-time favorite stories. I have the rest of my life to finish this book but even now I have to acknowledge its importance in my reading life.

[Lisa Mathisen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hawthorne ends short stories like Thelma & Louise without the certainty. Better editing than Poe, but that's not exactly difficult. I liked Hawthorne's short stories, but SS are my thing.

[Michael Heggemann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Library of America edition is as excellent as all of them. This one really gave me a new appreciation of Hawthorne, whom I have not read since high school. Highly recommended.

[Keeko · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a joy and treasure. Thanks to Library of America and all who worked to make this collection. I wish I could give all of you and Hawthorne a big hug.

[Eva · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.75. My favorite was Fire Worship and The Haunted Mind. Every time I read Hawthorne I’m surprised by how much I love his work.

[Farraine Heights · Rating 3 out of 5]

The more speculative his tale is, the better. I didn’t necessarily like the historical tales (Mrs Hutchinson, Endicott)…

[Martin Bihl · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Hollow of Tree Hills; Sir William Phips; Mrs. Hutchinson; An Old Woman's Tale; Dr. Bullivant; Sights from a Steeple; The Haunted Quack; The Wives of the Dead; My Kinsman, Major Molineux; Roger Malvin's Burial; The Gentle Boy; The Seven Vagabonds; The Canterbury Pilgrims; Sir William Pepperell; Passages from a Relinquished Work; Mr. Higginbotham's Catastrophe; The Haunted Mind; Alice Doane's Appeal; The Village Uncle; Little Annie's Ramble; The Gray Champion; My Visit to Niagara; Old News: I., II. The Old French War, III. The Old Tory; Young Goodman Brown; Wakefield; The Ambitious Guest; A Rill from the Town Pump; The White Old Maid; The Vision of the Fountain; The Devil in the Manuscript; Sketches from Memory; The Wedding-Knell; The May-Pole of Merry Mount; The Minister's Black Veil - finished 04.16.23

Old Ticonderoga; A Visit to the Clerk of the Weather; Monsieur du Miroir; Mrs. Bullfrog; Sunday at Home; The Man of Adamant; David Swan; The Great Carbuncle; Fancy's Show Box; The Prophetic Pictures; Dr. Heidegger's Experiment; A Bell's Biography; Fragments from the Journal of a Solitary Man; Edward Fane's Rosebud; The Toll-Gatherer's Day; Sylph Etherege; Peter Goldthwaite's Treasure; Endicott and the Red Cross; Night Sketches; The Shaker Bridal; Foot-prints on the Sea-shore; Thomas Green Fessenden; Time's Portraiture; Snow-flakes; The Threefold Destiny; Jonathan Cilley; Chippings with a Chisel; Legends of the Province-House: I. Howe's Masquerade, II. Edward Randolph's Portrait, III. Lady Eleanore's Mantle, IV. Old Esther Dudley; Sister Years; The Lily's Quest; John Inglefield's Thanksgiving; A Virtuoso's Collection; The Old Apple-Dealer; The Antique Ring; The Hall of Fantasy; The New Adam and Eve; The Birth-mark; Egotism, or, the Bosom-Serpent - finished 06.26.24

A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys - finished 02.02.25

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

My guardian had a name of considerable eminence, and fitter for the place it occupies in ecclesiastical history, than for so frivolous a page as mine. In his own vicinity, among the lighter part of his hearers, he was called Parson Thumpcushion, from the very forcible gestures with which he illustrated his doctrines. Certainly, if his powers as a preacher were to be estimated by the damage done to his pulpit furniture, none of his living brethren, and but few dead ones, would have been worthy even to pronounce a benediction after him. Such pounding and expounding, the moment he began to grow warm, such slapping with his open palm, thumping with his closed fist, and banging with the whole weight of the great Bible, convinced me that he held, in imagination, either the Old Nick or some Unitarian infidel at bay, and belabored his unhappy cushion as proxy for those abominable adversaries. Nothing but this exercise of the body, while delivering his sermons, could have supported the good parson's health under the mental toil, which they cost him in composition.

[Tinquerbelle]

1) Twice-Told Tales
2) Mosses from an Old Manse
3) The Snow-Image
4) A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys
5) Tanglewood Tales for Girls and Boys; Being a Second Wonder Book
6) An Old Woman's Tale
7) The Haunted Quack
8) Alice Doane's Appeal
9) My Visit to Niagara
10) A Visit to the Clerk of the Weather
11) Fragments from the Journal of a Solitary Man
12)Time's Portraiture
13) The Antique Ring
14) A Good Man's Miracle
15) A Book of Autographs
16) Sir William Phips
17) Mrs. Hutchinson
18) Dr. Bullivant
19) Sir William Pepperell
20) Thomas Green Fessenden
21) Jonathan Cilley

[Gill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hawthorne is a master at painting a picture with words. Try "View from A Steeple" to see what I mean. The stories are always full of local color, language that was alive then and in disuse now, and remind one that human nature has not changed so much as we think nor is America so different as we like to think.
The LOA edition in leather is also a physical pleasure to hold and read, which we don't always get now with books made less well from cheaper materials.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hawthorne's dark flavor of cynicism has always been to my taste. This collection includes all the usual suspects, plus many uncollected magazine pieces that are currently my new favorites. An important book to read these days, given the way it picks at the dark underbelly of our Puritan heritage.

[Hater Shepard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll tell it and I'll tell it twice!

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorites were "The Birth-Mark" and "Young Goodman Brown."

[KH Wilt · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the most comprehensive collections.