Nathaniel Hawthorne

Hawthorne, Nathaniel (1804–64), major U.S. novelist and short story writer whose novels The Scarlet Letter (1850) and The House of the Seven Gables (1851) are considered masterpieces of psychological portraiture, capturing the dark atmosphere of Puritan New England. His short stories—collected in Twice-Told Tales (1837, 1842) and Mosses from an Old Manse (1846)—did much to establish the genre in the United States. He also authored works for young people, A Wonder Book (1852) and Tanglewood Tales (1853).