The Salem World of Nathaniel Hawthorne - Tapa blanda

"Rarely does anyone map out this native territory so surely and interestingly as does Moore in this worthy study of Hawthorne's Salem context, in particular providing a much better account than we previously have had of those fellow Salemites - their concerns and activities - that Hawthorne found so troublesome in his own search for identity and imaginative authenticity." - Nineteenth-Century Literature "Moore's extensive research into the history of Salem, including the coming of the Quakers in the 1660s and the witchcraft hysteria of 1962, illustrates the extent of the town's social, political, and religious influence on Hawthorne's life (especially his precollege years) and writing." - American Literature "I found The Salem World of Nathaniel Hawthorne to be an outstanding work of scholarship that is also readable and even - time after time - entertaining.... It is certain to become the definitive biography of Hawthorne's Salem years." - Buford Jones"

Although most writers on Nathaniel Hawthorne touch on the importance of Salem, Massachusetts, to his life and career, no detailed study has been published on the powerful heritage bequeathed to him by his ancestors and present to him during his years in that town. In The Salem World of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Margaret B. Moore thoroughly investigates Hawthorne's family, his education before college (about which almost nothing has been known), and Salem's religious and political influences on him. She details what Salem had to offer Hawthorne in the way of entertainment and stimulation, discusses his friends and acquaintances, and examines the significant role of women in his life - particularly Mary Crowninshield Silsbee and Sophia Peabody. By tracing the effect of Salem on Hawthorne's writing, The Salem World of Nathaniel Hawthorne makes clear that Hawthorne not only was aware of his ""own dear native place"" but also drew upon it consciously and subconsciously in his work. This book contributes to a better understanding of Hawthorne as man and writer and of Salem's vital part in his life and work.