"The House of the Seven Gables" is a novel by the late American author Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Hawthorne is one of two authors to comprise America's Anti-Transcendentalist movement. Along with Herman Melville, Hawthorne explored the limits of human nature. He was particularly fascinated by our inability to learn from our mistakes, and by the secret sins that outwardly righteous people carry within them. He also was burdened by a sense of ancestral guilt, as one of his Puritan forebears had been a judge in the Salem witch trials.
"The House of the Seven Gables" focuses especially on that last theme. The house in question was built on land claimed during the witch hysteria; unable to buy the land outright, Colonel Pyncheon accused the owner of witchcraft, and then acquired the land after the owner was sentenced to be hanged. Before he died, the accused man cursed Pyncheon and his entire line.
The book takes place some 200 years later, bringing together the last surviving descendants of Colonel Pyncheon and his victim, to conclude that ancient feud.
They just don't write them like this any more.
Hawthorne is one of two authors to comprise America's Anti-Transcendentalist movement. Along with Herman Melville, Hawthorne explored the limits of human nature. He was particularly fascinated by our inability to learn from our mistakes, and by the secret sins that outwardly righteous people carry within them. He also was burdened by a sense of ancestral guilt, as one of his Puritan forebears had been a judge in the Salem witch trials.
"The House of the Seven Gables" focuses especially on that last theme. The house in question was built on land claimed during the witch hysteria; unable to buy the land outright, Colonel Pyncheon accused the owner of witchcraft, and then acquired the land after the owner was sentenced to be hanged. Before he died, the accused man cursed Pyncheon and his entire line.
The book takes place some 200 years later, bringing together the last surviving descendants of Colonel Pyncheon and his victim, to conclude that ancient feud.
They just don't write them like this any more.
