Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Father Of American Literature

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2). NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE- (July 4, 1804- May 19, 1864) Nathaniel Hawthorne was a short story writer and a novelist. Like Poe and Melville, his works also belonged to the Dark Romantic age but earlier he had a close connection with the American transcendental wing. He belonged to the Puritan background. When young, Hawthorne was a part of the transcendental group but as he matured hedeviated away as he did not agree upon what the transcendentalists firmly believed i.e. the innate worthiness of people as well as the nature. It is quite important to note his migration- from a transcendental idealist to one of the Dark Romantic writer, this is specifically important because we see how as an older man he seized what he liked in his youth. Hawthorne acutely had an idea about his past ancestors’ sins and so being ashamed of them, he changed his original name “Hathorne” and added“w” to his surname- “Hawthorne”, just to conceal his original ancestry. And…show more content…
He was one of the first American authors to gain success not only in America but also in Europe. His writing helped America in shaping its identity and hence he was given the title of being the father of American Literature. There always existed some superstitious facts in his stories. He used romanticism quite often in his works and never showed his characters to be fake. He portrayed his characters naturally and displayed their flaws as well. The love for nature is expressed well in all his writings. He also had a great sense of humor which outshined his writing. Despite being profoundly influenced by the works of European writers or the German legends, his writing style was of his own and he used imagery in such a way that remained in the minds of the readers and that made him more popular. He was also the first to introduce the notion of the modern short stories to his country, United
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