Nathaniel Hawthorne

An item at American Writers Museum

Nathaniel Hawthorne was at the hub of a vital intellectual network of American writers that included Herman Melville and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Yet he also had a reclusive, thoughtful nature, and frequently questioned the possibility of happiness.

His work is similarly inward looking and dark. Short stories like "Young Goodman Brown" (1835) and novels like The Scarlet Letter (1850) probe deeply into the psychology of his characters and recognize the sometimes frightening, primordial side of human nature. His narratives also revisit, dramatize, and critique American history. Imaginative and often witty, Hawthorne is a master storyteller.

AMERICAN VOICES

An exhibit at American Writers Museum

American writing is distinctive, diverse, and comes in many forms from across the nation. The 100 authors featured here represent the evolution of American writing. Learn more about each writer on the timeline by turning the panels below their portraits. Explore centuries of writing by pulling, turning, and touching the interactive elements on the counter.

This is not meant to be a list of the greatest or most influential writers. Instead, we present authors and works as part of the American story as it grows and changes. Taken together, this rich literary heritage reflects America in all of its complexity: its energy, hope, conflict, disillusionment, and creativity.

American Writers Museum