The first literary/biographical study of Hawthorne's full career in almost forty years, Hawthorne's Habitations presents a self-divided man and writer strongly attracted to reality for its own sake and remarkably adept at rendering it yet fearful of the nothingness he intuited at its heart. Making extensive use of Hawthorne's notebooks and letters as well as nearly all of his important fiction, Robert Milder's superb intellectual biography distinguishes between "two Hawthornes," then maps them onto the physical and cultural locales that were formative for Hawthorne's character and work: Salem, Massachusetts, Hawthorne's ancestral home and ingrained point of reference; Concord, Massachusetts, where came into contact with Emerson, Thoreau, and Margaret Fuller and absorbed the Adamic spirit of the American Renaissance; England, where he served for five years as consul in Liverpool, incorporating an element of Englishness; and Italy, where he found himself, like Henry James's expatriate Americans, confronted by an older, denser civilization morally and culturally at variance with his own.

This book serves to feed human nature with both a religious and literary mood. It may bring the reader a little closer to an understanding of life's complexities, or it may challenge the reader's own philosophical self, as he or she discovers the unraveling of Hawthorne's. The editor of the book, which has been composed from his memory of an unknown student's work, claims to have unearthed a rare discovery that may unveil a mystery that has puzzled the best of minds in the literary field for many years. In the words of its author, his purpose is clear: "I have thought to publish my interpretations of Hawthorne's novel so that those critics in the field of literature, who will, may have additional cause for which to expound their intelligence, either in trying to better understand this mystery, or to salvage the old cherished ambiguities by which the public brain is presently intoxicated. If I am correct in only a few of my impressions, hopefully the main ones, we shall have to reappraise Hawthorne as a literary prophet who hoped for and predicted a future time when mankind would look more favorable upon the creation, man." Both the author and editor send the reader on a journey into the mind and heart of an American icon which have too long been misunderstood and underappreciated. He asks the reader to drink deep from the depths of his or her own intuitive awakenings, and encourages each to rediscover the man who created The Scarlet Letter. In so doing, one may see the vexations and conflicts in his own life as a "dark necessity" to be endured, as in the character of his beloved Hester, who speaks to the heart of every human, and in behalf of our own human nature.

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.

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.