<DIV><p><B>The Portable Hawthorne</B> includes writings from each major stage in the career of Nathaniel Hawthorne: a number of his most intriguing early tales, all of The Scarlet Letter, excerpts from his three subsequently published romances—<B>The House of Seven Gables</B>, <B>The Blithedale Romance</B>, and <B>The Marble Faun</B>—as well as passages from his European journals and a sampling of his last, unfinished works. The editor's introduction and head notes trace the evolution of Hawthorne's writing over the course of his long career: from the tales, to their apotheosis in <B>The Scarlet Letter</B>, through his popular romances, to his private journals and frustrated attempts at another romance. Readers looking for a critical vantage point from which to see Hawthorne whole—his artistic rise, triumph, and sad decline—can find it in this collection.</p> <p> </p> </div>