The Portable Hawthorne (Penguin Classics)

A representative selection of writings from the work of a great American artist The Portable Hawthorne includes writings from each major stage in the career of Nathaniel Hawthorne: a number of his most intriguing early tales, all of The Scarlet Letter, excerpts from his three subsequently published romances-The House of Seven Gables, The Blithedale Romance, and The Marble Faun-as well as passages from his European journals and a sampling of his last, unfinished works. The editor's introduction and head notes trace the evolution of Hawthorne's writing over the course of his long career: from the tales, to their apotheosis in The Scarlet Letter, through his popular romances, to his private journals and frustrated attempts at another romance. Readers looking for a critical vantage point from which to see Hawthorne whole-his artistic rise, triumph, and sad decline-can find it in this collection.