Hawthorne's Short Stories

<p>Twenty-four of the best short stories by one of the early masters of the form, in the definitive collection edited by acclaimed scholar Newton Arvin.<br><br>Nathaniel Hawthorne was one of the greatest American writers of the nineteenth century, and some of his most powerful work was in the form of fable-like tales that make rich use of allegory and symbolism. The dark beauty and moral force of his imagination are evident in such enduring masterpieces as &quot;Young Goodman Brown,&quot; in which a young man who believes he has witnessed a satanic initiation can never see his pious neighbors the same way again; &quot;Rappaccini's Daughter,&quot; about a lovely young girl who has been raised in isolation among dangerous poisons; and &quot;The Birthmark,&quot; in which a scientist obsessed with perfection destroys the flaw that makes his otherwise flawless wife both beautiful and human.</p>