Follow Up

Nathaniel Hawthorne
Born: July 4, 1804 Salem, Massachusetts

Died: May 19, 1864 Plymouth, New Hampshire

My Manic Monday was a cautionary tale for all those Little Red Riding Hoods out walking paths that might put them in contact with Big Bad Wolves. Unfortunately, most of us simply never ever listen and wolves can be so very charming.

The end result is being praised by Professor Harold Hill ... well worse things could happen.




The key line is "I hope and I pray for a Hester to win one more A" which is a reference to Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter".

Hawthorne often dealt with the subjects of good, evil, retribution and justice and as a result is often viewed as a puritanical moralist, yet he was respected in his own time by equally brilliant authors

Hawthorne enjoyed a brief but intense friendship with Herman Melville. When the two authors met at a picnic hosted by a mutual friend, Melville had just read Hawthorne's short story collection "Mosses from an Old Manse", which Melville later praised in a famous review, "Hawthorne and His Mosses." Melville's letters to Hawthorne provide insight into the composition of Moby-Dick, which Melville dedicated to Hawthorne "in appreciation for his genius". Hawthorne's letters to Melville do not survive.

Edgar Allan Poe wrote important, though largely unflattering reviews of both Twice-Told Tales and Mosses from an Old Manse, mostly due to Poe's own contempt of allegory, moral tales, and his chronic accusations of plagiarism. However, even Poe admitted, "The style of Hawthorne is purity itself. His tone is singularly effective--wild, plaintive, thoughtful, and in full accordance with his themes." He concluded that, "we look upon him as one of the few men of indisputable genius to whom our country has as yet given birth.