Synopses & Reviews
Hawthorne's famous collection of tales published originally in magazines and newspapers and then in two separate editions during Hawthorne's lifetime includes many of his best stories, from "The Minister's Black Veil" and "Wakefield" to "Mr. Higginbotham's Catastrophe" and "The Lily's Quest." Animated, as Rosemary Mahoney writes in the Introduction, by "the struggle between chaos and order, animal impulse and the specter of eternal damnation, purity of action against the power of temptation and the fear of isolation," these stories like all of Hawthorne's work remain powerfully contemporary.
Table of Contents
Biographical Note
Introduction
Preface
The Gray Champion 3
Sunday at Home 11
The Wedding-Knell 17
The Minister's Black Veil 25
The May-Pole of Merry Mount 38
The Gentle Boy 49
Mr. Higginbotham's Catastrophe 78
Little Annie's Ramble 90
Wakefield 97
A Rill from the Town-Pump 106
The Great Carbuncle 112
The Prophetic Pictures 126
David Swan 139
Sights from a Steeple 145
The Hollow of the Three Hills 151
The Toll-Gatherer's Day 156
The Vision of the Fountain 162
Fancy's Show Box 168
Dr. Heidegger's Experiment 174
Legends of the Province-House: I. Howe's Masquerade 184
Legends of the Province-House: II. Edward Randolph's Portrait 198
Legends of the Province-House: III. Lady Eleanore's Mantle 210
Legends of the Province-House: IV. Old Esther Dudley 225
The Haunted Mind 236
The Village Uncle 241
The Ambitious Guest 252
The Sister Years 260
Snow-Flakes 267
The Seven Vagabonds 272
The White Old Maid 288
Peter Goldthwaite's Treasure 298
Chippings with a Chisel 317
The Shaker Bridal 327
Night Sketches 333
Endicott and the Red Cross 339
The Lily's Quest 346
Foot-prints on the Sea-shore 353
Edward Fane's Rosebud 363
The Threefold Destiny 370
Notes 379
Reading Group Guide 405
Note on the Text 406
Reading Group Guide
FOR DISCUSSION
1. In a famous review of Twice-Told Tales published in 1842, another American writer who excelled at the short storyEdgar Allan Poewrote the following: We have always regarded the Tale (using this word in its popular acceptation) as affording the best prose opportunity for display of the highest talent. It has peculiar advantages which the novel does not admit. It is, of course, a far finer field than the essay. It has even points of superiority over the poem. Using Poes insight as a point of departure, discuss the short story form, and how Hawthorne makes use of it.
2. Which stories in this collection do you find most compelling, and why?
3. Discuss the figure of the Minister in The Ministers Black Veil, one of Hawthornes most famous and enigmatic stories. What might account for his strange decision regarding the veil?
4. In the story of the same name, discuss Wakefields decision to leave home. Why do you think this premise appealed to Hawthorne? How might we account for Wakefields decision?
5. What is Mr. Heideggers Experiment? Is it successful? Is there a moral to this story?
6. What themes would you say run through Hawthornes stories? What preoccupations or issues unify his work?