The House of Seven Gables 2e (NCE): 0 (Norton Critical Editions) - Softcover

Hawthorne, Nathaniel; Levine, Robert S.

3.45

39,874 ratings by Goodreads

9780393924763: The House of Seven Gables 2e (NCE): 0 (Norton Critical Editions)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393924769 ISBN 13: 9780393924763

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2005

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

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 Historical documents include accounts of Salem's history by Thomas Maule, Robert Calef, Joseph B. Felt, and Charles W. Upham, which Hawthorne drew on for The House of the Seven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.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:

" A large and generous production, pervaded with that vague hum, that indefinable echo, of the whole multitudinous life of man, which is the real sign of a great work of fiction."
-- Henry James

"A large and generous production, pervaded with that vague hum, that indefinable echo, of the whole multitudinous life of man, which is the real sign of a great work of fiction."
--Henry James

From the Back Cover:

Nathaniel Hawthorne's The House of the Seven Gables is a classic of American literature, written by one of the country's greatest writers. First published in 1851, the book is set in a mansion not unlike his cousin's many-gabled home in Salem, Massachusetts, which Hawthorne visited regularly. Caroline O. Emmerton's introductory note to this 1913 edition details the history of the house, from its construction circa 1668 to its purchase and restoration by Emmerton in the early 1900's. Emmerton founded the House of the Seven Gables Settlement Association in 1910, to serve the growing population of immigrant factory workers flocking to Salem. To help fund the Settlement House, the mansion opened its doors to the public as a museum, also in 1910. This edition is illustrated with 16 photographs of interior and exterior views of the house.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.