25 Giu Nathaniel Hawthorne
Data di morte: 19 Maggio 1864
In: Plymouth, New Hampshire, Stati Uniti
Storia:
He was an American novelist, dark romantic, and short story writer.
He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, to Nathaniel Hathorne and the former Elizabeth Clarke Manning.
His ancestors include John Hathorne, the only judge involved in the Salem witch trials who never repented of his actions.
He published his first work in 1828, the novel Fanshawe; he later tried to suppress it, feeling that it was not equal to the standard of his later work.
The next year, he became engaged to Sophia Peabody.
He worked at the Boston Custom House and joined Brook Farm, a transcendentalist community, before marrying Peabody in 1842.
The couple moved to The Old Manse in Concord, Massachusetts, later moving to Salem, the Berkshires, then to The Wayside in Concord.
The Scarlet Letter was published in 1850, followed by a succession of other novels.
A political appointment as consul took Hawthorne and family to Europe before their return to Concord in 1860.
Hawthorne died on May 19, 1864, and was survived by his wife and their three children.
His fiction works are considered part of the Romantic movement and, more specifically, dark romanticism.
His themes often center on the inherent evil and sin of humanity, and his works often have moral messages and deep psychological complexity.