Hawthorne wrote this collection of short stories anonymously in the 1830's, first published in local papers. At the urging of a friend he signed his name and raised the money to publish it as a book in two collected volumes, a copy of which was sent to former classmate and famous writer Henry Longfellow at Harvard. Longfellow gave it a favorable review and thus launched Hawthorne out of obscurity and on the path to well known works such as The House of Seven Gables and his masterpiece The Scarlet Letter.

Overall the collection is a mixed bag, some are clearly dated while others have timeless appeal. There are a lot of stories and only a handful will I remember and/or want to re-read in the future so it was a bit of a chore to read through them all. Hawthorne was honing his style so some of the pieces are dead ends, while others echo some of his later better works.

My favorite stories include "The Minister's Black Veil" about a 17th century New England puritan minister who vows never to look at the world except with a black veil over his eyes - the reason why is the mystery of the story and revealed to us at the end. "Wakefield" has a similar theme of mysterious behavior, a man decides to walk away from home without saying he was leaving and then return 10 years later - it is based on a true story and in fact there are modern accounts of similar things happening. "The Gentle Boy" beautifully captures 17th century religious fanaticism, intolerance and historical forces concerning the conflict between Puritans and Quakers in New England. This story is probably his most mature and serious of the book. "Mr. Higginbothem's Catastrophe", about a rumor of a man's murder, is a riddle wrapped in a story, I was perplexed and enthralled to the end. "David Swann", about a young man who falls asleep by the side of the road, is a philosophical story about the nature of fortune and fate. "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment", about a liquid that makes the old young again, presages Robert Louis Stevenson and more recent movies like "Cocoon".

--Review by Stephen Balbach, via CoolReading (c) 2008 cc-by-nd ( )

Collection of stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne

I liked this very much. I'm ging to quote a reviewer, William Wadsworth Longfellow, because he captured my ideas and feelings about this book perfectly.
"Prose Written by a Poet, In the stream of thought, which flows so deep and clear through the pages of this book, we see the bright reflection of a spiritual star...It comes from the hand of a man of genius...The book, though in prose, is written never-the-less by a poet...A calm, thoughtful face seems to be looking at you from every page, with now a pleasant smile, and now a shade of sadness..."
My personal favorite of all the stories is "The Minister's Black Veil." ( )

Some stories seem stilted and contrived by today's standards, others endure timelessly. ( )