1. Nathaniel Hawthorne 1804-1864

2. His times: Romantic Period Resisted the previous period of logical Englightenment (Thomas Jefferson; Benjamin Franklin) Moved from belief in pure logic, to a confidence in personal emotion, personal experience and individual imagination. Saw themselves as free spirits. Artists (including authors) moved away from strictly defined forms to freer expression. Some romantics included the exotic or bizarre. Hawthorne added just a touch of unreality. “... he may so manage his atmospherical medium as to bring out or mellow the lights and deepen and enrich the shadows of the picture. He will be wise, no doubt, to make a very moderate use of the privileges here state, and, especially, to mingle the Marvellous rather as a slight, delicate, and evanescent flavor, than as any portion of the actual substance of the dish offered to the Public” Many of his friends and fellow writers were Transcendentalists, which was a special group of Romantics. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau. Their particular focus: the individual should turn inward to himself, and outward to Nature, to learn how to live a better life.

3. Photos

4. Famous Works: Better-known tales: “The Gentle Boy” “Rappacini’s Daughter” “Roger Malvin’s Burial” “The Birthmark” “Mosses from an Old Manse” “My Kinsman, Major Molineux Novels: The Scarlet Letter House of the Seven Gables The Blithedale Romance The Marble Faun

5. People He Knew

6. Class Activity—It’s Goal: Determine what was Hawthorne’s overall purpose? What message was he trying to convey? And why should we care in 2006? Your book discusses seven different components of literature: Setting: Where are we? What kind of world does the story create? Why did the author place the story in this particular setting? Character: Who are these people? What are their real motives? Why do they act the way they do? Plot: What happens in the story and why? Patterns? Is there a central conflict? Point of View: Who is telling the story? Why did the author choose this way of telling the story? What is his/her world view? Symbol: What in the story has a meaning beyond itself? What do the symbols represent? Is there a point to using these particular symbols? Theme: Does the story make you think? What issues does it raise? What ideas does it explore? Style: How does the author use language? Why did the author choose this particular genre (the short story)? How does the language aid the story? (or not?)