The house of the seven gables : authoritative text, contexts, criticism

Bibliographic Information

The house of the seven gables : authoritative text, contexts, criticism

Nathaniel Hawthorne ; edited by Robert S. Levine

(Norton critical editions)

W.W. Norton, c2006

  • : pbk

Available at  / 26 libraries

Search this Book/Journal

Note

Bibliography: p. 499-502

Description and Table of Contents

Description

It is accompanied by thorough explanatory annotations and an insightful introduction to the novel and antebellum culture by Robert S. Levine. "Contexts" brings together a generous selection of primary materials intended to provide readers with background on the novel's central themes. Historical documents include accounts of Salem's history by Thomas Maule, Robert Calef, Joseph B. Felt, and Charles W. Upham, which Hawthorne drew on for The House of the Seven Gables. The importance of the house in antebellum America-as a manifestation of the body, a site of genealogical history, and a symbol of the republic's middle class-is explored through the diverse writings of William Andrus Alcott, Edgar Allan Poe, and J. H. Agnew, among others. The impact of technological developments on the novel, especially of daguerreotypy, is considered through the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Gustave de Beaumont, and Alexis de Tocqueville, among others. Also included are two of Hawthorne's literary sketches-"Alice Doane's Appeal" and "The Old Apple Dealer"-that demonstrate the continuity of Hawthorne's style, from his earlier periodical writing to his later career as a novelist. "Criticism" provides a comprehensive overview of the critical commentary on the novel from its publication to the present. Among the twenty-seven critics represented are Herman Melville, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Henry James, Nina Baym, Eric Sundquist, Richard H. Millington, Alan Trachtenberg, Amy Schrager Lang, and Christopher Castiglia. A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are also included.

by "Nielsen BookData"

Related Books: 1-1 of 1

Details

Page Top