Nathaniel Hawthorne 1804-1864

Childhood Born July 4,1804, in Salem, Massachusetts. Parents were devout Puritans. Mother gave birth alone while father was out at sea. Father died when Hawthorne was four years old. Puritanism is the religious reform movement of the 16th and 17th centuries seeking to purify the Church of England Characterized by earnest, intense moral and religious principles such as the necessary covenant relationship with God, the emphasis on preaching and the Holy Spirit’s dominance over reason as the instrument of salvation America: a Holy Commonwealth and a covenanted community

Childhood Sent to private school once his relatives discovered his storytelling abilities. Had aspirations to be a writer at an early age. Sent to Bowdoin College in Maine.

Family History His great-great- grandfather, William Hathorne, ordered the whipping of Anne Coleman and four others in the streets of Salem. His great-grandfather, John Hathorne, was the magistrate (judge) presiding over the trial of the accused witches of Salem (1692). Changed spelling of last name to distance self from grandfathers & their reputations. May – October 1692: Salem, MA Constitute a series of investigations and persecutions that caused 19 “witches” to be hanged and many others imprisoned Period of public hysteria generated by false accusations and coerced confessions

College in Maine Classmates included Franklin Pierce and Henry Longfellow Pierce  future President of the USA Longfellow  poet, educator, linguist Graduated in 1825 Pierce Longfellow

Reclusive Years in Salem He first anonymously published short stories and a novel, Fanshawe. Hawthorne later formally withdrew most of this early work, discounting it as the work of inexperienced youth. He burned most of his works from these years. Burned first published work after it sold only 1000 copies. 1837: College friend, John O’Sullivan, published first short novel Twice Told Tales. Worked on and off at many office jobs.

Back into Society Editor for The American Magazine of Useful and Entertaining Knowledge in 1836 Appointed to the Boston Custom House in 1839 Became engaged to Sophia Peabody, married in 1842 Engaged to his fiancée Sofia Peabody for 7 years before he told his mother, 6 months before they were married.

Concord After his marriage to Sophia, moved to the Old Manse in Concord. Joined the writing circles of Thoreau, Emerson, and Louisa May Alcott. The Transcendentalists believed that human existence transcended the sensory realm, and rejected formalism in favor of individual intuition and imagination.

Governmental Offices Between1846 and 1849, he served as a surveyor of the Salem Custom House. He was ousted from that job in 1849, when the incoming political party, The Whigs, fired him to put in their own political appointees.

Governmental Duties Hawthorne wrote a biography for Presidential candidate Pierce for his campaign. President Pierce then appointed Hawthorne to serve as the US Consul to Liverpool, England.

Influences on Hawthorne’s Works His early childhood in Salem and work in the Salem Custom House. His Puritan family background. He believed in the existence of the devil. He believed in determinism, a theory of predestination.

Works Fanshawe (1828) Mosses from an Old Manse (1846) The Scarlet Letter (1850) The House of Seven Gables (1851) The Snow-Image (1851) The Blithedale Romance (1852) Life of Franklin Pierce (1852) The Marble Faun (1860)

Final Days Returned to the US from Europe in 1860. Became ill and underwent a loss of literary creativity. Journeyed to the White Mountains hoping to restore his health. Died in Plymouth, NH on May 19, 1864. Buried in the Sleepy Hollow cemetery in Concord. Earned a fellowship in Liverpool, England Spent time traveling in Italy