This guide lists selected sources for library criticism of "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Reference Books

• American Writers: A Collection of Literary Biographies (Ref PS 129 .A55 ) Volume(s):
  • 2: 223-246 (Also available online in Literature Resource Center)
• Boswell, Jeannette. Nathaniel Hawthorne and the Critics: a Checklist of Criticism, 1900-1978 . Metuchen , N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1982 (Ref PS1888.B65)
• Magill's 1300 Critical Evaluations of Selected Novels and Plays (Ref PN44 M335)(Ref ) Volume(s):
  • 4: 2008-10
• Magill's Bibliography of Selected Novels and Plays (Ref PN 523 .M35) Volume(s):
  • 2: 891-2
• Magill's Survey of American Literature(Ref PS 21 .M34 2007) Volume(s):
  • 3: 1010-11
• Moulton's Library of Literary Criticism(Ref PR 83 .M7333) Volume(s):
  • 3: 401-03
• Nineteenth Century Literature Criticism(Ref PN 761 .N56) Volume(s):
  • 2: 295-96, 305, 307, 309-12, 314-18, 320-22
  • 10: 269-317
  • 17: 110-12, 114, 116, 120-122, 124, 128-29, 132, 146-47, 151-53, 156-57
  • 23: 168-69, 177-78, 183-84, 194-97, 205, 213-14, 220
  • 39: 167-68, 176-77, 180, 185, 187, 189-90, 195-97, 200, 220-22, 225, 227, 236-37, 239-40, 247, 249
  • 79: 290-92, 299, 308-11, 313, 327, 332
  • 95: 91, 109, 120, 123, 151, 170, 176, 178, 213
• Novels for Students(Ref PN 3385 .N68) Volume(s):
  • 1: 306-28
• The Oxford Companion to American Literature (Ref PR 83 .M7333)

General Collection Books (may be checked out)

• Baym, Nina. The Scarlet Letter: a Reading. Boston: Twayne, 1986. (PS1868.B39 1986)
• Bloom, Harold, ed. Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'The Scarlet Letter.' Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2004. (PS1868 .N38 2004)
• Bloom, Harold, ed. Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'The Scarlet Letter." Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2004. (PS1868 .N38 2007)
• Bloom, Harold, ed. Nathaniel Hawthorne. New York: Chelsea House, 1986. (PS1888. N29 1986)
• Bloom, Harold, ed. Nathaniel Hawthorne. Broomall, PA: Chelsea House, 2000. (PS 1888 .N295 2000)
• Carnes, Mark C. ed. Novel History: Historians and Novelists Confront America's Past (and Each Other). New York: Simon, 2001 (PS 374 .H5 N68 2001)
• Colacurcio, Michael J. New Essays on 'The Scarlet Letter'. Cambridge : Cambridge UP, 1985. (PS1868.N48 1985)
• Colacurcio, Michael J. The Province of Piety: Moral History in Hawthorne's Early Tales. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1984. (PS1892.H5 C6 1984)
• Crews, Frederick C. The Sins of the Fathers: Hawthorne's Psychological Themes. Berkeley: U of California P, 1989. (PS1881.C7)
• Davenport, Basil. The Scarlet Letter: with Illustrations of the Author, His Environment, and the Setting of the Book Together with a Foreward and Descriptive Captions. New York: Dodd, 1948. (PS 1688 .A1)
• Elements of the Novel, V. 7. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 199?. (PS371.E53)
• Gerber, John C, ed. Twentieth Century Interpretations of 'The Scarlet Letter;' A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1968. (PS1868.G38)
• Johnson, Claudia Durst. Understanding 'The Scarlet Letter': A student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents. Westport: Greenwood, 1995. (PS1868 .U53 1995)
• Kennedy-Andrews, Elmer, ed. Nathaniel Hawthorne, 'The Scarlet Letter.' New York: Columbia UP, 2000. (PS1868.N38 2000)
• Kesterson, David B., ed. Critical Essays on Hawthorne 's 'The Scarlet Letter.' Boston: G K Hall, 1988. (PS1868.C75 1988)
• Millington , Richard, ed.The Cambridge Companion to Nathaniel Hawthorne. New York: Cambridge UP, 2004. (PS1888 .C355 2004)
• Morey, Eileen, ed. Readings on 'The Scarlet Letter.' San Diego: Greenhaven, 1998. (PS1868 .R39 1998)
• Rountree, Thomas J., ed. Critics on Hawthorne. Coral Gables: U of Miami P, 1972. (PS 1888 .R65)
• Sova, Dawn B. Literature Suppressed on Social Grounds. New York: Facts on File, 2006. (Z 658 .U5 S69 2006)
• Swann, Charles E. Nathaniel Hawthorne, Tradition and Revolution. Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge UP, 1991. (PS1892.H5 S9 1991)
• Swisher, Clarice, ed. Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne. San Diego : Greenhaven, 1996. (PS1888.R43 1996)

E-Books

• Clack, Randall A. The Marriage of Heaven and Earth: Alchemical Regeneration in the Works of Taylor, Poe, Hawthorne, and Fuller. Westport: Greenwood P, 2000. e-brary (PS217.A43 C57 2000eb)
• Donoghue, Denis. The American Classics: A Personal Essay. New Haven: Yale UP, 2005. ebrary (PS 201 .D665 2005eb)
• Jacobson, Karin, ed. Cliffs Complete Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter.' New York: Hungry Minds, 2001. ebrary (PS 1868 .J15 2001eb)
• Van Kirk, Susan. Cliffs notes Hawthorne's 'The Scarlet Letter.' Foster City: IDG Books Worldwide, 2000. ebrary (PS 1868 .V36 2000eb)

Online Resources (Reference Articles and Databases)

• Literature Resource Center
• Literature Online Many references, including Knowledge Notes.

Articles

We recommend searching for full-text articles only from our databases when the option is available. Use periodical databases, such as Academic Search Premier, Masterfile Premier, JSTOR, for recent journal articles. There are many entries for this work throughout several databases; these listed below are examples of what is currently available.

• Doyle, Laura. "'A' for Atlantic: the Colonizing Force of Hawthorne's 'The Scarlet Letter.'" American Literature 79 (2007): 243-73. [Academic Search Premier]
• Milliman, Craig A. " Hawthorne 's 'The Scarlet Letter.'" The Explicator 53 (1995): 83-5. [General OneFile]
• Korobkin, Laura Hanft. "The Scarlet Letter of the Law: Hawthorne and Criminal Justice." Novel30 (1997): 193-217. [Literature Online, Academic Search Premier]
• Lease, Benjamin. "'The Whole is a Prose Poem:'An Early Review of 'The Scarlet Letter.'" American Literature 44 (1972): 128-30. [JSTOR]
• Reid, Bethany . "Narrative of the Captivity and Redemption of Roger Prynne: Rereading 'The Scarlet Letter.'" Studies in the Novel 33 (2001): 247-268. [General OneFile]
• Young, R. V. "Individual and Community in 'The Scarlet Letter.'" Intercollegiate Review 42 (2007): 32-40. [Academic Search Premier]