Showing results by author "Nathaniel Hawthorne" in All Categories

A man promises to bury his dying friend, but fails to keep his promise. A strange revenge.

A good story about an actor who commits murder and then tries to convince the police that he's insane

The Christmas Banquet mentioned in the title is an annual feast, funded by an old misanthrope, in which the 10 most miserable people who can be found are gathered together for the holiday. Each year the guests chosen are different, but Gervaise Hastings, a man unafflicted by any obvious misfortune, is included year after year.

Award-winning narrator Mike Vendetti reads Nathaniel Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown, a tale of unspeakable devilry - of blatant, bacchanalian Satanism - that probes and prods the soul of America, whispering, "What is truth?" through the demonic cacophony of a Witch's Sabbath.

The Blithedale Romance (1852) by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a dark romantic novel set in the farming commune of Blithedale where some utopian city slickers have gathered in order to improve the world. The narrator, Miles Coverdale, gets acquainted with the reformer Hollingsworth, the feminist Zenobia, her sister Priscilla, her father Old Moodie, and Professor Westervelt. They pursue their individual egotistical paths and get entangled in their conflicting ambitions.

The narrative of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown unfolds like a horror film, as the pious protagonist goes to an appointment in the woods near the town of Salem. The author’s use of tongue-in-cheek humor serves to intensify the ultimate horror of the story. One by one, a series of revelations shakes Brown to the core.

In a sleepy, little New England village stands a dark, weather-beaten, many-gabled house. This brooding mansion is haunted by a centuries-old curse that casts the shadow of ancestral sin upon the last four members of the distinctive Pyncheon family. Mysterious deaths threaten the living. Musty documents nestle behind hidden panels carrying the secret of the family’s salvation - or its downfall.

The Scarlet Letter is generally considered to be Nathaniel Hawthorne’s masterpiece. Set in 17th-century Boston, it follows the plight of Hester Prynne, a young woman who bears a child out of wedlock, refuses to name the father, and is condemned to wear a scarlet "A" for the rest of her life. With The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne reaches back to America’s Puritan roots to probe themes of lust, sin, guilt, and redemption. This Essential Classics edition includes a new introduction by Professor Vivian Heller, PhD, in literature and modern studies from Yale University.

The Scarlet Letter: A Romance is a masterpiece of historical fiction set in the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1642 to 1649. Exploring themes of legalism, sin, and guilt, it tells the story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a child out of wedlock and then struggles to create a new life of dignity. The Scarlet Letter was one of the earliest mass-produced books in America and a best seller. It is still highly regarded in literary circles.

"To inherit a great fortune. To inherit a great misfortune." These words, from Nathaniel Hawthorne's notebook, neatly encapsulate the theme of The House of the Seven Gables - that of a family whose fortunes are poisoned by its past misdeeds. The sins of the Pyncheon father are visited upon his children over a period of several generations, until such time as one of his descendants unites with a member of the family he has wronged. Love conquers hate, and new blood washes away the original crime.

Scorned by her 17th century New England Puritan village, Hester Prynne struggles to raise her precocious daughter, Pearl, who is the result of an affair and whose father is unknown. Despite being forced to wear a scarlet letter A as a brand for her adultery, Hester tries to live a life of repentance and dignity. Pearl's father comes forward as he is struggling under the weight of his own shame and sin.

Pegasus, The Winged Horse is Nathaniel Hawthorne's retelling of the Greek myth of Pegasus and Bellerophon, who wanted to fly with Pegasus to Olympus, the home of the gods. Bellerophon fell back to earth, but the winged horse reached Olympus. Pegasus was then appointed as a transporter of thunderbolts for Zeus.

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) was a dark romantic novelist and short story writer. First published in 1837, Mrs. Bullfrog is a humorous morality tale on the subject of marriage, cautioning that a happy marriage should be based on realistic assessments of virtues. Mr. Bullfrog, a shopkeeper, finds his perfect match late in life, and soon the two are wed. Then there’s an accident and the carriage in which they’re riding overturns...a turn of events which brings out an entirely different Mrs Bullfrog.

According to legend, the Pyncheon family has been cursed by their 17th century ancestor, Colonel Pyncheon, who stole the land from Matthew Maule. Maule was later put to death after being accused of witchcraft and the deed for the land could not be found. Now living in the New England mansion fraught with haunted miseries of the past, Hepzibah Pyncheon opens a small shop to pull herself from the poverty-striken curse she has lived under while her brother, Clifford, was serving a decades-long prison sentence for murder.

Pubblicato nel 1850, "La lettera scarlatta" è uno dei più importanti romanzi nordamericani dell'Ottocento. Nelle intenzioni dell'autore esso doveva rappresentare al meglio lo spirito puritano dell'epoca coloniale americana. Nella società puritana la libertà dell'individuo coincideva con il bene della comunità, che doveva essere purificata da ogni elemento estraneo, considerato al soldo di Satana. Per questa ragione le autorità imponevano stili di vita improntati a un inflessibile rigore morale.

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) diede vita a una narrativa "americana" radicata nei valori originari dei coloni, stilisticamente impeccabile. Dopo la "Lettera scarlatta" tra le opere più interessanti di Hawthorne troviamo la raccolta dei "Racconti narrati due volte" da cui sono tratti questi tre racconti che mostrano una sapiente organizzazione formale; vi troviamo le dicotomie bene-male, intelletto-emotività, ragione-istinto, la tendenza a trovare una ragione morale ai comportamenti umani.

Award-winning narrator Mike Vendetti and Nathaniel Hawthorne explore the world of dreams, particularly nightmares.

American author Nathaniel Hawthorne has astounded critics and the public alike for well over a century with his tales of horror, mystery, darkness, and romance. The short story, "The Haunted Mind", first published in 1835, is a perfect example of Hawthorne delving into the unknown in interesting and unexpected ways. Hawthorn referred to the state between sleep and wakefulness as The Haunted Mind, and discusses the strange, obscure, and mysterious feelings and experiences we have all had in this state or similar somnambulant phases.

American novelist, Dark Romantic, and master of the short story Nathaniel Hawthorne ponders the mystic power and spirituality of fire. In his signature brooding and moving style, Hawthorne writes of the almost religious significance and vast allegorical possibilities of this force of nature.

First published in 1876 in The Dolliver Romance and Other Pieces, writer and dark romantic Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story collection, this ruminative soliloquy is written from the point of view of a ghost. The ghost, or rather Hawthorne, discusses life and death, the living and the dead, considering and dealing with one’s mortality, and the soul and the spiritual afterlife.