Book excerpt: Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His writing centers on New England, many works featuring moral allegories with a Puritan inspiration. His fiction works are considered to be part of Dark romanticism. His themes often centre on the inherent evil and sin of humanity, and his works often have moral messages and deep psychological complexity. Excerpt: "My dearest Sophie, I had a parting glimpse of you, Monday forenoon, at your window—and that image abides by me, looking pale, and not so quiet as is your wont. I have reproached myself many times since, because I did not show my face, and then we should both have smiled; and so our reminiscences would have been sunny instead of shadowy. But I believe I was so intent on seeing you, that I forgot all about the desirableness of being myself seen" Content: Letters: Browne's Folly (a letter for the Essex Institute) Love Letters (To Miss Sophia Peabody) - Volume I&II Letter to the Editor of the Literary Review Memoirs: American Notebooks (Volume I & II) English Notebooks (Volume I & II) French and Italian Notebooks (Volume I & II) Biographies and Reminiscences of Hawthorne: The Life and Genius of Hawthorne by Frank Preston Stearns Hawthorne and His Circle by Julian Hawthorne Memories of Hawthorne by Rose Hawthorne Lathrop Hawthorne and His Moses by Herman Melville 'Fifty Years of Hawthorne': Four Americans by Henry A. Beers George Eliot, Hawthorne, Goethe, Heine: My Literary Passions by William Dean Howell Life of Great Authors by Hattie Tyng Griswold Yesterday With Authors by James T. Field Hawthorne and Brook Farm by George William Curtis Biographical sketch by George Parsons Lathrop