The Scarlet Letter - (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) by Nathaniel Hawthorne (Paperback)

About the Book

Hailed by Henry James as the finest piece of imaginative writing yet put forth in the country, Hawthorne's classic story is enhanced by illustrations, extensive notes, and a thorough bibliography.

Book Synopsis

An iconic novel dressed in a fierce design by acclaimed fashion illustrator Ruben Toledo. Other titles in the couture-inspired collection include Jane Eyre, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dracula, Wuthering Heights and Pride and Prejudice.Ruben Toledo's breathtaking drawings have appeared in such high-fashion magazines as Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and Visionaire. Now he's turning his talented hand to illustrating the gorgeous deluxe editions of three of the most beloved novels in literature. Here Elizabeth Bennet's rejection of Mr. Darcy, Hester Prynne's fateful letter "A", and Catherine Earnshaw's wanderings on the Yorkshire moors are transformed into witty and surreal landscapes to appeal to the novels' aficionados and the most discerning designer's eyes.

For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

From the Back Cover

Set in 17th-century Puritan New England, this story of illicit passion, guilt and punishment revolves around the beautiful and mysterious Hester Prynne. She is condemned to wear a scarlet letter as a sign of her adultery, and it has a strange and disturbing effect upon those around her - neighbours, husband, lover and child. The student will find a helpful introduction and a full section of resource notes encouraging active and imaginative study methods.

Review Quotes

"[Nathaniel Hawthorne] recaptured, for his New England, the essence of Greek tragedy."--Malcolm Cowley

About the Author

Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on July 4, 1804, in Salem, Massachusetts, the son and grandson of proud New England seafarers. He lived in genteel poverty with his widowed mother and two young sisters in a house filled with Puritan ideals and family pride in a prosperous past. His boyhood was, in most respects, pleasant and normal. In 1825 he was graduated from Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, and he returned to Salem determined to become a writer of short stories. For the next twelve years he was plagued with unhappiness and self-doubts as he struggled to master his craft. He finally secured some small measure of success with the publication of his Twice-Told Tales (1837). His marriage to Sophia Peabody in 1842 was a happy one. The Scarlet Letter (1850), which brought him immediate recognition, was followed by The House of the Seven Gables (1851). After serving four years as the American Consul in Liverpool, England, he traveled in Italy; he returned home to Massachusetts in 1860. Depressed, weary of writing, and failing in health, he died on May 19, 1864, at Plymouth, New Hampshire.