Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Quotes

A collection of quotes by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet.

Nathaniel Hawthorne, born on July 4, 1804, in Salem, Massachusetts, was an acclaimed American novelist and short-story writer. He is best known for his novel "The Scarlet Letter," which was published in 1850 and remains one of his most significant works. Hawthorne's writing style often focused on exploring the dark side of human nature and the consequences of sin, making him a key figure in American Romantic literature.

Hawthorne grew up in a Puritan community, which heavily influenced his writing. His great-great-grandfather was one of the judges involved in the infamous Salem witch trials, an event that deeply affected Hawthorne and inspired some of his themes. He attended Bowdoin College in Maine, where he befriended future poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

After college, Hawthorne faced financial difficulties, leading him to work various jobs while developing his writing career. In 1837, he published his first collection of stories, "Twice-Told Tales," which received moderate success. Throughout his career, Hawthorne continued to write novels, short stories, and children's books, achieving widespread recognition for his evocative prose and themes of guilt, redemption, and the human condition.

Nathaniel Hawthorne's works, including "The Scarlet Letter," continue to be studied and revered for their complex characters, psychological depth, and exploration of moral dilemmas. He passed away on May 19, 1864, leaving behind a significant literary legacy that has cemented his place in the canon of American literature.

It was a folly, with the materiality of this daily life pressing so intrusively upon me, to attempt to fling myself back into another age; or to insist on creating a semblance of a world out of airy matter . . . This wiser effort would have been, to diffuse thought and imagination through the opaque substance of to-day, and thus make it a bright transparency . . . to seek resolutely the true and indestructible value that lay hidden in the petty and wearisome incidents and ordinary characters with which I was now conversant. The fault was mine. The page of life that was spread out before me was dull and commonplace, only because I had not fathomed its deeper import. A better book than I shall ever write was there . . . These perceptions came too late . . . I had ceased to be a writer of tolerably poor tales and essays, and had become a tolerably good Surveyor of the Customs. That was all.

Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet

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