For today’s 125th anniversary fact we’re sharing some information about another famous author featured as part of our rotunda! Nathaniel Hawthorne is perhaps one of the most famous authors from New England, and arguably one of the most important American writers of all time.
Born in Salem MA in 1804 and descended from a prominent Puritan family, Hawthorne was the son of a sea captain who died when Nathaniel was 4 years old. In order to earn a livelihood Hawthorne served as surveyor of the port at Salem (1846-49), where he began writing his masterpiece, The Scarlet Letter (1850). Set in 17th-century Puritan New England, the novel delves deeply into the human heart, presenting the problems of moral evil and guilt through allegory and symbolism. It is often considered the first American psychological novel.
For a time the Hawthornes lived at “Tanglewood,” near Lenox, Mass. where Hawthorne befriended his neighbor Herman Melville. Melville was one of the first to appreciate Hawthorne’s genius and the two were reportedly very close friends. Aside from his importance as a novelist, Hawthorne is justly celebrated as a short-story writer. He helped to establish the American short story as a significant art form with his haunting tales of human loneliness, frustration, hypocrisy, eccentricity, and frailty. Among his most brilliant stories are “The Minister’s Black Veil,” “Roger Malvin’s Burial,” “Young Goodman Brown,” “Rappaccini’s Daughter,” “The Great Stone Face,” and “Ethan Brand.”
Be sure to come and visit our portrait of Nathaniel Hawthorne (and all our other amazing portraits and paintings) on your next visit to the Blackstone!
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Edition 6, 2000
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2000 Columbia University Press