"The Portable Hawthorne" includes writings from each major stage in the career of Nathaniel Hawthorne: a number of his most intriguing early tales, all of "The Scarlet Letter", excerpts from his three subsequently published romances - "The House of Seven Gables", "The Blithedale Romance", and "The Marble Faun" - as well as passages from his European journals and a sampling of his last, unfinished works. The editor's introduction and head notes trace the evolution of Hawthorne's writing over the course of his long career: from the tales, to their apotheosis in "The Scarlet Letter", through his popular romances, to his private journals and frustrated attempts at another romance. Readers looking for a critical vantage point from which to see Hawthorne whole - his artistic rise, triumph, and sad decline - can find it in this collection.
