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Birth
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July 4, 1804
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Death
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May 19, 1864
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Place of Birth
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Salem, Massachusetts
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Known For
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Using symbolism and allegory to explore themes of sin, guilt, and punishment in colonial America
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Milestones
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1825 Graduated from Bowdoin College and returned home to Salem, where he embarked upon a solitary existence devoted solely to writing
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1828 Anonymously published his first novel, Fanshawe, at his own expense
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1830s Published numerous short stories and sketches anonymously in periodicals, including 'Young Goodman Brown' (1835), a story about witchcraft that appeared in New England Magazine |
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1837 Published a collection of his short stories, Twice-Told Tales, using his name for the first time
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1841 Stayed for less than a year at Brook Farm, a communal society near Boston
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1842-1845 Married Sophia Peabody and moved into a home called the Old Manse in Concord, Massachusetts
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1846 Published a collection of 25 short stories, titled Mosses from an Old Manse, that includes some of his best-known stories
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1846-1849 After moving to Salem, Hawthorne secured a position as surveyor of the Salem customhouse. Upon losing this job, he began working on The Scarlet Letter. |
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1850 Hawthorne published the novel The Scarlet Letter. The book, which is set in the Puritan society of colonial America, explores the consequences of sin. It is one of the masterpieces of American literature.
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1851-1852 Published the novel The House of the Seven Gables, and the following year published The Blithedale Romance, a novel inspired by his experience at Brook Farm
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1860 Published the novel The Marble Faun, using material he gathered while living in Italy in the late 1850s
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Did You Know?
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President Franklin Pierce, Hawthorne's college friend, appointed him in 1853 to serve as the United States consul in Liverpool, England. Hawthorne held this position until 1857.
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Hawthorne's relatives participated in the Salem witchcraft trials of the 17th century; he felt pangs of guilt for their actions and explored these feelings in his work.
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Hawthorne was so disappointed with his first novel, Fanshawe, that he attempted to retrieve and burn all copies of the book.
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Since the publication of The Scarlet Letter in 1850, the classic has never been out of print.
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Hawthorne, born with the surname 'Hathorne,' added the 'w' to his last name as a young man.
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