Nathaniel Hawthorne 18041864 was a 19th century American novelist and shortstory writer. He is seen as a key figure in the development of Americanliterature for... » 

Nathaniel Hawthorne 18041864 was a 19th century American novelist and shortstory writer. He is seen as a key figure in the development of Americanliterature for his tales of the nations colonial history. Nathaniel Hawthornewas born on July 4 1804 in Salem Massachusetts where his birthplace is nowa museum. William Hathorne who emigrated from England in 1630 was the firstof Hawthornes ancestors to arrive in the colonies. Hawthorne attended BowdoinCollege at the expense of an uncle from 1821 to 1824 befriending classmatesHenry Wadsworth Longfellow and future president Franklin Pierce. Hawthorne isbestknown today for his many short stories he called them tales and hisfour major romances written between 1850 and 1860 The Scarlet Letter 1850The House of the Seven Gables 1851 The Blithedale Romance 1852 and TheMarble Faun 1860. Another novellength romance Fanshawe was publishedanonymously in 1828. Hawthornes work belongs to Romanticism an artistic andintellectual movement characterized by an emphasis on individual freedom fromsocial conventions or political restraints on human imagination and on naturein a typically idealized form. «