This revised Norton Critical Edition brings together twenty-three of Hawthorne's tales in all their psychological and moral complexity. The Second Edition adds the early biographical sketch "Mrs. Hutchinson" as well as two tales, "The Wives of the Dead" and "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment." Each tale is[...]

A collection of short fiction from a writer who helped to shape the course of American literature, Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Selected Tales and Sketches" is introduced by Michael J. Colacurcio in "Penguin Classics". With a determined commitment to the history of his native land, Nathaniel Hawthorne rev[...]

First published in 1851, The House of the Seven Gables is one of Hawthorne's defining works, a vivid depiction of American life and values replete with brilliantly etched characters. The tale of a cursed house with a "mysterious and terrible past" and the generations linked to it, Hawthorne's chroni[...]

Hester Prynne is a beautiful young woman. She is also an outcast. In the eyes of her neighbours she has committed an unforgivable sin. Everyone knows that her little daughter, Pearl, is the product of an illicit affair but no one knows the identity of Pearl's father. Hester's refusal to name him bri[...]

Set in the harsh Puritan community of seventeenth-century Boston, this tale of an adulterous entanglement that results in an illegitimate birth reveals Nathaniel Hawthorne's concerns with the tension between the public and the private selves. Publicly disgraced and ostracized, Hester Prynne draws on[...]

A powerful study of bigotry, persecution, obsession and hypocrisy in early American society, the "Penguin Classics" edition of Nathaniel Hawthorne's. "The Scarlet Letter" contains an introduction by Nina Baym and notes by Thomas E. Connolly. Set in the harsh Puritan community of seventeenth-century [...]

Scarlet is the colour of sin, and the letter 'A' stands for 'Adultery'. In the 1600s, in Boston, Massachusetts, love was allowed only between a husband and a wife. A child born outside marriage was a child of sin. Hester Prynne must wear the scarlet letter on her dress for the rest of her life. How [...]

This selection of twenty of Hawthorne's tales is the first in paperback to present his most important short works with full annotation in one volume.[...]

Choice collection of masterly short fiction. In addition to title story: "The Birthmark," "Rappaccini's Daughter," "Roger Malvin's Burial," "The Artist of the Beautiful," "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" and "My Kinsman, Major Molineux."
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An old mansion in Salem, moss-covered and gabled, broods over the destiny of a distinguished but troubled New England family -- the Pynchons. A haunting centuries-old curse, a forceful probing of national and personal guilt, a romance between the young heroine and an attractive stranger -- all inter[...]

Evil creatures, magical feats, and adventure abound in this classic archive of 6 ancient tales. A captivating recounting for youngsters by one of America's greatest writers. "The Gorgon's Head," "The Golden Touch," "The Paradise of Children," "The Three Golden Apples," "The Miraculous Pitchers," and[...]