The Ancestral Footstep (fragment) (ePub)

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864), was an American novelist, dark romantic, and short story writer. Born in Salem, Massachusetts, Hawthorne's literary works are deeply tied to the Puritan legacy, especially with respect to issues of guilt, sin, and the complexity of moral choices. His most notable works include 'The Scarlet Letter' (1850), 'The House of the Seven Gables' (1851), and the collections 'Twice-Told Tales' (1837) and 'Mosses from an Old Manse' (1846). While 'The Ancestral Footstep' remains an unfinished fragment, it exemplifies Hawthorne's exploration of themes such as ancestral sin and the struggle for personal identity against the backdrop of history. Hawthorne's stylistic approach often blended the real with the allegorical, rendering his prose both approachable and profound, interwoven with symbolic and psychological dimensions. His influence extends through American literature, shaping the genre of Gothic romance and establishing a uniquely American voice within the broader Romantic movement. He was a contemporary of Transcendentalist thinkers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau but maintained a critical distance from their more optimistic perspectives on human nature. Hawthorne's nuanced portrayal of the human conscience and the Puritan ethos has remained an enduring aspect of his literary legacy.