Hawthorne

First lines

IT will be necessary, for several reasons, to give this short sketch the form rather of a critical essay than of a biography.

About this book

Originally published in 1879, Henry James's Hawthorne has been out of print for many years. Cornell University Press is proud to make this American classic available again in a new paperback edition. In this critique of one literary genius by another, James not only considers Hawthorne as a man and a writer, for whom he has a tender, if critical, regard, but he uses his subject as a vantage point from which to present his views on American culture. With his customary urbanity, James assesses the place of the writer in nineteenth-century America, and touches upon the antithetical values of the Old World and the New. Hawthorne's preoccupation with evil and guilt, his portentous imagination and his otherworldliness are brought out in the critique of his works, together with James's keen appreciation of Hawthorne's remarkable gifts.

Themes & subjects

About the author

Henry James

15 April 1843 – 28 February 1916

Henry James, was an American writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James. ([Source][1].) [1]:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_James