Nathaniel Hawthorne

American, 1804–1864

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864) was an American novelist and short story writer whose works explore themes of guilt, sin, and redemption in Puritan New England. The Scarlet Letter, his masterpiece, tells the story of Hester Prynne and the consequences of adultery in a rigidly moralistic society. Hawthorne's dark romantic fiction and his exploration of the American conscience established him as one of the founding figures of American literature.