# Nathaniel Hawthorne

## Biography

Nathaniel Hawthorne, born Nathaniel Hathorne on July 4, 1804, in Salem, Massachusetts, was a prominent American novelist and short story writer. He later added the "w" to his surname to distance himself from his notorious ancestors, including a judge from the Salem Witch Trials. His father, a sea captain, died when Hawthorne was young, leaving his family in financial difficulties. He attended Bowdoin College, graduating in 1825, and then spent many years honing his craft in relative obscurity.

Hawthorne married Sophia Peabody in 1842, and their happy marriage provided him stability. He took various jobs, including at the Boston Custom House and the transcendentalist community Brook Farm, which inspired his novel The Blithedale Romance. His most famous works, including The Scarlet Letter (1850) and The House of the Seven Gables (1851), explored themes of history, morality, and religion, often with a focus on Puritan New England. A friendship with his college classmate Franklin Pierce, who later became president, led to Hawthorne's appointment as a U.S. consul in Liverpool. He died in 1864.

## Books

- [The Scarlet Letter](https://samolit.com/books/96631)
- [Twice Told Tales](https://samolit.com/books/96471)
- [The House of the Seven Gables](https://samolit.com/books/96247)
- [Mosses from an Old Manse, and Other Stories](https://samolit.com/books/96071)
- [The Scarlet Letter](https://samolit.com/books/95884)