The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
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The Scarlet Letter

Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne

Narrator: Melissa Durbin

Abridged: 9 hr 6 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/25/2019


Synopsis

The Scarlet Letter is generally considered to be Nathaniel Hawthorne’s masterpiece. Set in 17th century Boston, it follows the plight of Hester Prynne, a young woman who bears a child out of wedlock, refuses to name the father, and is condemned to wear a scarlet ‘A’ for the rest of her life. With The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne reaches back to America’s Puritan roots to probe themes of lust, sin, guilt and redemption. This Essential Classics edition includes a new introduction by Professor Vivian Heller, Ph.D. in literature and modern studies from Yale University.

Born in 1804, Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote at the forefront of dark romanticism. His renderings of colonial America reflect the strictures of New England Puritanism and give voice to characters who try to extricate themselves from social conventions.

Vivian Heller received her Ph.D. in English Literature and Modern Studies from Yale University. She is author of Joyce, Decadence, and Emancipation(University of Illinois Press) and of The City Beneath Us (W.W. Norton & Company), a history of the building of the New York City subway system. She is an associate at Columbia’s School of Professional Studies and is the writing tutor for the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College. She is also a long-standing member of the non-fiction committee of the PEN Prison-Writing Committee, which awards prizes to inmates from across the country.

Essential Classics publishes the most crucial literary works throughout history, with a unique introduction to each, making them the perfect treasure for any reader’s shelf.

About Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864) was born in Salem, Massachusetts. His father was a sea captain and descendent of John Hathorne, one of the judges in the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692. Nathaniel was educated at Bowdoin College in Maine, where he made friends with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who later became a distinguished poet.

Hawthorne's first novel, Fanshaw: A Tale, appeared anonymously at his own expense in 1828. The novel was badly written and was received poorly. Disillusioned, Hawthorne did not publish another novel for nearly twenty-five years but continued to write short stories for magazines, and in 1837, he was able to publish a collection of these, which he titled Twice-Told Tales. However, he was unable to support himself with his writing, and he tried his hand at community farming-unsuccessfully.

Hawthorne married Sophia Amelia Peabody in 1842, and they moved to Concord, Massachusetts, to settle in the now-famous "Old Manse." It was here that he was surrounded by the leading literary figures of the day, including: Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, and Bronson Alcott. He later befriended Herman Melville who dedicated Moby Dick to him. Needing financial security, after having two children, Hawthorne took the position of surveyor for the port of Salem. Three years later, a shift in political parties ended that career for Hawthorne, which granted him the time to complete The Scarlet Letter. It was marginally successful in his time, and it allowed him to continue writing novels and children's books full-time. Hawthorne aspired to become one of the first American authors to explore the hidden motivations of his characters-to reveal their passions, emotions, and anxieties, exposing "the truth of the human heart."

Hawthorne was appointed consul in Liverpool, England, by his old friend, Franklin Pierce, who had become president in 1853. The Hawthornes lived in Europe for the next seven years, where he wrote his final complete work of fiction, The Marble Faun. Hawthorne died in his sleep in 1864 in Plymouth, New Hampshire, while on a trip to the mountains.


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