NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE

Born: July 4, 1804
Died: May 19, 1864

"Who would publish anything from me, the most 
unpopular writer in America?"

~ Nathaniel was born in Salem, Massachusetts.

~ His father, also Nathaniel, was a sea captain. 

~ His great-grandfather, William Hathorne (Nathaniel added the w to the name when he became a writer), was a judge in the Salem witchcraft trials. 

~ At the age of four, Nathaniel lost his father. 

~ His mother became overly protective and pushed him toward more isolated pursuits. For the rest of her life, she relied on him for emotional solace. He once wrote to his friend, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "I have locked myself in a dungeon and I can't find the key to get out." 

~ Nathaniel's childhood left him overly shy and bookish.

~ He was educated at the Bowdoin College in Maine. Among his friends were Longfellow and Franklin Pierce, who became the 14th President of the U.S. 

~ Between 1825 and 1836, Hawthorne worked as a writer and contributor to periodicals. According to a story, he burned his first short-story collection Seven Tales of My Native Land after publishers rejected it.

~ In 1837, Hawthorne met his future wife Sophia Peabody when he went to call on her sister Elizabeth. Five years later, they married in the back room of Elizabeth's bookstore. From this union came two daughters and one son. 

~ Unable to earn money as a writer, Hawthorne took a job as a Boston Custom House measurer. After three years, he was fired. 

~ In September of 1849, Hawthorne began the novel that was to become The Scarlet Letter. 

~ The novel opens with "The Custom-House," which was based on Nathaniel's experience as surveyor. Controversy arose because of its unflattering portrayal of Salem and its residents.

~ The Scarlet Letter is considered the height of Hawthorne's literary genius. The March 1850 first edition sold out within ten days.

~ Nathaniel passed away in Plymouth, New Hampshire after a long period of illness in which he suffered severe bouts of dementia.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson described his life as a "painful solitude." 

~ He is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts near Emerson and Thoreau along what is now known as Author's Ridge.

~ After his death, Sophia edited and published his notebooks. Modern editions of these works include many of the sections she altered or cut out entirely.