Hawthorne "The Scarlet Letter, a Romance"
- Artist/Author/Producer: Hawthorne, Nathaniel (1804-1864)
- Confronting Bodies: Nicholas I,Rev.A.C.Coxe
- Dates of action: 1852
- Location: Russia, United States
- Description of the Art Work
- "The Scarlet Letter, a Romance," 1850: A novel, dwelling on the tragic
consequences of unconfessed guilt. Set in the mid-seventh century puritan
New England, the story follows the history of 4 people. Hester Pryne who
has born the daughter of an unnamed father and must wear the scarlet "A"
of Adultress on her bossom; Arthur Dimmesdale, a Puritan divine later
revealed to be the father of the child; Roger Chillingworth, an elderly
physician with whom Hester had contracted a loveless marriage several
years before; and Pearl, the child, a beautiful and willful child,
untouched by the moral dilemmas that torment the other characters. The
lover's deed had "a consecration of its own" whereas Chillingworth had
'violated in cold blood the sanctity of a human heart."
This novel was the first U.S. work to rank among "classics of world
literature."
- Description of incident
- 1852, Russia: Banned by Nicholas I in the "censorship terror."
- Results of incident
- Unknown
Source: Banned Books 387 B.C. to 1978 A.D., by Anne Lyon Haight, and Chandler B.
Grannis, R.R. Bowker Co, 1978.
