Synopses & Reviews
Enduring Literature Illuminated By Practical Scholarship The story of the Pyncheon family, residents of an evil house cursed by the victim of their ancestor's witch hunt and haunted by the ghosts of many generations.
This Enriched Classic Edition Includes:
- A concise introduction that gives the reader important background information
- A chronology of the author's life and work
- A timeline of significant events that provides the book's historical context
- An outline of key themes and plot points to guide the reader's own interpretations
- Detailed explanatory notes
- Critical analysis, including contemporary and modern perspectives on the work
- Discussion questions to promote lively classroom and book group interaction
- A list of recommended related books and films to broaden the reader's experience
Enriched Classics offer readers affordable editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and insightful commentary. The scholarship provided in Enriched Classics enables readers to appreciate, understand, and enjoy the world's finest books to their full potential.
Synopsis
The story of the Pyncheon family, residents of an evil house cursed by the victim of their ancestor's witch hunt and haunted by the ghosts of many generations. The House of the Seven Gables has been home to many generations of the Pyncheon family, each with their own dramas and tragedies. But all have felt the cold touch of a curse placed upon the house by a man who was hanged for witchcraft, the victim of a Pyncheon ancestor's greed. This evil house is haunted by the ghosts of its sinful dead, and tortured by the fear of its frightened living.
Written as a follow-up to The Scarlet Letter, The House of the Seven Gables draws on Hawthorne's own family history--an ancestor of his was a judge in the Salem witch trials--and demonstrates a masterful blending of the actual and the imaginary.
This edition includes:
-A concise introduction that gives the reader important background information
-A chronology of the author's life and work
-A timeline of significant events that provides the book's historical context
-An outline of key themes and plot points to guide the reader's own interpretations
-Detailed explanatory notes
-Critical analysis, including contemporary and modern perspectives on the work
-Discussion questions to promote lively classroom and book group interaction
-A list of recommended related books and films to broaden the reader's experience
Enriched Classics offer readers affordable editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and insightful commentary. The scholarship provided in Enriched Classics enables readers to appreciate, understand, and enjoy the world's finest books to their full potential.
About the Author
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts. He was educated at the Bowdoin College in Maine (1821-24). Between the years 1825 and 1836 Hawthorne worked as a writer and contributor to periodicals. His first novel, Fanshawe, appeared anonymously at his own expense in 1828. In 1842 he married Sophia Peabody, an active participant in the Transcendentalist movement. His marriage to Sophia provided the inspiration for the noble character of Hester Prynne. He died in 1864.
Table of Contents
Contents
Introduction
Chronology of Nathaniel Hawthorne's Life and Work
Historical Context of The House of the Seven Gables
The House Of The Seven Gables
Preface by the Author
I. The Old Pyncheon Family
II. The Little Shopwindow
III. The First Customer
IV. A Day Behind the Counter
V. May and November
VI. Maule's Well
VII. The Guest
VIII. The Pyncheon of Today
IX. Clifford and Phoebe
X. The Pyncheon Garden
XI. The Arched Window
XII. The Daguerreotypist
XIII. Alice Pyncheon
XIV. Phoebe's Good-by
XV. The Scowl and Smile
XVI. Clifford's Chamber
XVII. The Flight of Two Owls
XVIII. Governor Pyncheon
XIX. Alice's Posies
XX. The Flower of Eden
XXI. The Departure
Notes
Interpretive Notes
Critical Excerpts
Questions for Discussion
Suggestions for the Interested Reader