Summary
Nineteenth-century novelist and short-story writer Nathaniel Hawthorne is a key figure in the development of American literature. The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables are cited among his major achievements, along with a number of short stories, such as "My Kinsman, Major Molineux," "Young Goodman Brown," and "The Minister’s Black Veil." Born in Salem, Massachusetts, Hawthorne was influenced by his Puritan heritage; his great-grandfather was a judge at the 1692 witch trials. Here, Harold Bloom draws on full-length essays from leading literary publications to present an in-depth understanding of the Romantic and Gothic master.
This completely updated study in the acclaimed Bloom's Modern Critical Views series also includes an editor's note and introduction by Professor Bloom, offering his own insights on the author and on the critical analyses included. A listing of major works covered in the book, a helpful chronology tracing the events in Hawthorne’s life, and information on the critics whose essays have been selected add further depth. Students will find that this comprehensive volume makes the most of study time and serves as an excellent resource for compare-and-contrast essays.
Specifications
Chronology. Bibliography. Index.
About the Author(s)
Harold Bloom is Sterling Professor of the Humanities at Yale University. Educated at Cornell and Yale universities, he is the author of 30 books, including Shelley's Mythmaking (1959), The Visionary Company (1961), Blake's Apocalypse (1963), Yeats (1970), A Map of Misreading (1975), Kabbalah and Criticism (1975), Agon: Toward a Theory of Revisionism (1982), The American Religion (1992), The Western Canon (1994), Omens of Millennium: The Gnosis of Angels, Dreams, and Resurrection (1996), and Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human (1998), a 1998 National Book Award finalist. The Anxiety of Influence (1973) sets forth Professor Bloom's provocative theory of the literary relationships between the great writers and their predecessors. His most recent books include How to Read and Why (2000), Genius: A Mosaic of One Hundred Exemplary Creative Minds (2002), Hamlet: Poem Unlimited (2003), Where Shall Wisdom Be Found? (2004), and Jesus and Yahweh: The Names Divine (2005). In addition, he is the author of hundreds of articles, reviews, and editorial introductions. In 1999, Professor Bloom received the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Criticism. He has also received the International Prize of Catalonia, the Alfonso Reyes Prize of Mexico, and the Hans Christian Andersen Bicentennial Prize of Denmark.