美国文学红字英文赏析 TheScarletLetter.pptVIP

The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne Hawthorne Biography Childhood Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts on July 4, 1804. His father, Nathaniel Hathorne, was a sea captain and descendent of John Hathorne, one of the judges in the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692. He died when the young Nathaniel was four year old. Nathaniel added the w to the name Hawthorne Biography Childhood Elizabeth Clarke Manning Hathorne, his mother, withdrew to a life of seclusion, which she maintained till her death. From Salem the family moved to Maine, where Hawthorne was educated at the Bowdoin College (1821-24). In the school among his friends were poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) and Franklin Pierce (1804–1869), who became the 14th president of the U.S. Hawthorne Biography Early Writing Career Returning from Bowdoin, Hawthorne spent the years 1825 to 1837 in his mothers Salem household. During these solitary years he learned to write tales and sketches that are still unique. Most of Hawthornes early stories were published anonymously (without an authors name) in magazines and giftbooks. In 1837, the publication of Twice-Told Tales somewhat lifted this spell of darkness. Hawthorne Biography Early Writing Career Hawthornes short stories came slowly but steadily into critical favor, and the best of them have become American classics. By his own account it was Hawthornes love of his Salem neighbor Sophia Peabody that brought him from his haunted chamber out into the world. Hawthorne and Sophia, whom he finally married in 1842, resorted not to Brook Farm but to the Old Manse in Concord, Massachusetts, where they spent several years of happiness in as much quiet living as they could achieve. Hawthorne Biography Childhood Two aspects of his background especially affected his imagination and writing career. The Hathornes had been involved in religious persecution (intense harassment) with their first American ancestor, William. Another ancestor, John Ha