Nathaniel Hawthorne's Short Fiction

Next week, we are going to turn from Poe to Hawthorne -- beginning first with some of his short fiction, which Hawthorne referred to as "tales." Both were two of the leading lights of American Romanticism, and Poe wrote several reviews of Hawthorne's various compilation of tales, which he characterized as high art. Here's an except of Poe's review of Hawthorne's Twice-Told Tales:

Of Mr. Hawthorne's Tales we would say, emphatically, that they belong to the highest region of Art--an Art subservient to genius of a very lofty order. We had supposed, with good reason for so supposing, that he had been thrust into his present position by one of the impudent cliques which beset our literature, and whose pretensions it is our full purpose to expose at the earliest opportunity; but we have been most agreeably mistaken. We know of few compositions which the critic can more honestly commend then these Twice-Told Tales. As Americans, we feel proud of the book.

You will be required to read three of Hawthorne's tales as listed below. I here include links to these in case you want to get a head start on reading over the weekend. If you have not already read "Young Goodman Brown" and "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment," please do so in addition to the three tales below. You will need to be familiar with these before we read The Scarlet Letter, which I will distribute next week along with hardcopy of these three short stories:

The Minister's Black Veil
There's a new reverend in town, and he's wearing a black semi-transparent veil that obscures all of his face but his mouth and chin from view. This creates a stir among the townspeople, who begin to speculate about his veil and its meanings.

The Birth-Mark
Georgiana has a single hand-shaped birthmark on her cheek. Men are invariably attracted to her, and many find the birthmark attractive. However, her husband Aylmer, a scientist, begins to detest the birthmark more intensely with each passing day.
Ethan Brand
Ethan Brand has returned to town after a long absence. He's been off in search of the Unpardonable Sin, and he claims to have found it -- but not everyone believes him.