Wright Sarah Bird. Critical Companion to Nathaniel Hawthorne: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work

Facts on File, 2006. — 400 p.This comprehensive reference offers critical entries on Hawthorne's novels, short stories, travel writing, criticism, and other works, as well as portraits of characters, including Hester Prynne and Roger Chillingworth.
The Critical Companion series examines the lives and works of the writers most studied by high-school and college students. The expertly written and accessible volume on Hawthorne follows a similar format: introduction; biography; critique of selected works; A-Z dictionary of related people, places, and other topics; appendixes; and index. Wright intends Critical Companion to Nathaniel Hawthorne as "a comprehensive guide to Hawthorne's life and work, with particular attention to the tales and novels that students read most often in high-school and college classes." Entries in the alphabetically arranged "Works A-Z" section range from a short paragraph (The Old-Fashioned School) to some 20 pages (The Scarlet Letter). Longer works are given a detailed synopsis, followed by shorter sections on reception and critical analysis and on characters. Appendixes include chronologies of Hawthorne's life and major works; a selected bibliography of secondary sources; contemporary reviews; "Melville and Hawthorne," containing two Hawthorne-related items written by Melville; and "Henry James on Hawthorne," with excerpts from James' book-length study.