Nathaniel Hawthorne, born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, to Elizabeth Clarke Manning and Nathaniel Hathorne, is a highly regarded American Renaissance writer. Educated in Maine at Bowdoin College, Hawthorne wrote to make sense and beauty out of the human experience (Poetry Foundation). This is especially true in his interest in colonial American pre-history and his history as a descendant of John Hathorne – a leading Judge in the Salem Witch Trials. His notable works include The Scarlet Letter, “Young Goodman Brown”, and The House of Seven Gables. His writing is a testament to the American Renaissance literary era, incorporating the natural landscape of America, Indigenous references, and origin stories such as the Puritans(Tuttle). In a period where literature became an avenue to explore what it meant to be an American – to face moral and political identities – Hawthorne’s work exemplifies literature’s power in redefining a nation’s mood.

Author Bio Sources:

“Nathaniel Hawthorne.” National Portrait Gallery, npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.65.55. Accessed 29 Nov. 2023.

“Nathaniel Hawthorne.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/nathaniel-hawthorne. Accessed 29 Nov. 2023.

Tuttle, Jennifer. “Nathaniel Hawthorne.”Writing, Revolution, and Resistance in US Literature. UNE Portfolio, https://eng200-a-s20.uneportfolio.org/nathaniel-hawthorne/, Accessed 7 Dec. 2023. 

Tuttle, Jennifer. “The American Rensaissance.”Writing, Revolution, and Resistance in US Literature. UNE Portfolio,