The Portable Hawthorne

by Nathaniel Hawthorne, William Spengemann (Introduction)

Includes writings from major stages in the career of Nathaniel Hawthorne: a number of his most intriguing early tales, all of "The Scarlet Letter", excerpts from his three subsequently published romances - "The House of Seven Gables", "The Blithedale Romance", and "The Marble Faun" - as well as passages from his European journals.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Short Stories, Literature, American, Collections

439 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1948

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

[Richard Seltzer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read to get in the mood for writing my novel Parallel Lives.

[David Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went into this collection admiring Hawthorne, and by the end, after selected journal entries and letters, ranging from observational to heartfelt to self-deprecating, became a real fan. Usually that stuff seems like padding, but here they really expand our image of him. The germs for potential stories from his notebooks, each a sentence or two, include the one that led to The Scarlet Letter. On such a slender thread was literary history made.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got so fascinated with Nathaniel Hawthorne in college that after graduation I took time off to read his complete works. So, recently when I picked up The Portable Hawthorne, I could only hope that the decades had been powerless to cool my ardor. Now, after reading it through, I'm as inspired as ever to echo Henry James' extravagant words, "Hawthorne -- that best of Americans!" What a shame the prevailing mindset in today's academic, entertainment and media worlds is such that Hawthorne must be thrown into the shadows because he writes from an imagination steeped in the ethics and folklore of a traditional Christianity. For I hold firmly that the Great American Novel has indeed been written, and it is The Scarlet Letter -- printed in full as the centerpiece of this skillfully edited volume. Without question everything else in the book is pleasingly representative of this wonderful author, but it wasn't until this reading that I realized hardly anything else Hawthorne wrote comes anywhere close to his masterpiece. Which is necessarily so because the very greatest artistic creations of mankind are by definition extremely rare. One must therefore look at everything else in this book as an interesting setting around an illustrious gem. Among the lesser works I still find "Young Goodman Brown" to be Hawthorne's most deeply affecting short story for its peculiarly dark, haunting mood not to be found anywhere else in literature. Conversely I can't explain how I could originally have found another piece, "Feathertop," to be practically the only production of Hawthorne's that I didn't care for -- whereas today I find it quite memorably, hilariously, preciously funny! Then there's a rare piece from Hawthorne's journals, "The Countess Margaret," about the career and character of his friend Margaret Fuller, which simply must be read for its glimpse of the author's mordant powers of real-life observation combined with an almost magical felicity with words.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great sampling of Hawthorne's works. Includes "The Man of Adamant," "The Birth-Mark," "Young Goodman Brown," "Roger Malvin's Burial," and The Scarlet Letter, among others. Hawthorne is a good writer, to say the least.

[Dan]

Acquired Nov 28, 2015
Book giveaway

[Rebekah Byson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a serious literary crush on Hawthorne! His stories have an element of gothic horror about them that I love. I can read and re-read his short stories over and over. The poisonous beauty of Rappaccini's Daughter, Ethan Brand throwing himself into the lime kiln, Roger Malvin being left behind to die, the mechanical butterfly crushed in a child's hands. This book also had excerpts from House of Seven Gables (one of my favorites), the complete Scarlet Letter ( which I will re-read later), and the Traiter's Leap scene from A Marble Faun. The collection of journal entries and letters at the end were not as interesting as I had hoped.

[Paul Clarkson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I dragged myself in the main through these stories on a road trip through the East Coast northern U.S.A. It was the uncomfortable and rather boring aspect of the holiday; the holiday was excellent. I had forgotten though that the collection includes The Scarlet Letter, which was a enjoyable.

[Tom Schulte · Rating 3 out of 5]

This ia a very good compendium of Hawthorne's writing, the largest selection is a complete "Scarlet Letter". Commentary from the editor Malcolm Crowley is light and unobtrusive yet insightful. Hawthorne could be so heavy-handed in his largely nationalist/Christian/righteous metaphor and this can get tiring (as in "The Grey Champion" or "The Scarlet Letter"), but in small doses this book is a wonderfully entertaining collection of top-notch writing. I find Hawthorne at his best unmoored from his principles and exploring witchcraft, evil and the other darker imaginings as in "Feathertop", "The Marble Faun" (only in excerpt here) and even "My Kinsman, Major Molineux" (1832) which over time has lost its overt nationalism.

Other treats here include his European travel observations and notebooks of stories written and never written.

[Adam Brewer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great collection of Hawthorne's short stories, also including "The Scarlet Letter," and excerpts from "The Marble Faun." Among my favorites of Hawthorne's short stories, are 'Roger Malvin's Burial,' 'My Kinsman, Major Molineux,' and 'The Birth-Mark.'

The great thing about this collection, is that by progressing from his early short stories to his later novels, you really get to see how he developed his own unique language and imagery, and how every story builds upon the last. Until finally you get "The Scarlet Letter." All of his stories seem to work at finding the perfect metaphor for the contradictory nature of humanity, or, maybe for his own contradictions, being a Romancer in an increasingly modern world.

[Jon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok, one of my favorite books for a while. I have to admit I've never gotten through any of Hawthorne's novels. But I love his short stories. I admit, they're probably overwritten and overdramatic. Still, I love them all the same. Great collection.

[KH Wilt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great collection.

[Taylor W. Rushing · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am sorry to offened all you "Letter-Lovers" but The Scarlet Letter is way overated.