The Scarlet Letter

by Nathaniel Hawthorne, edited by Ross Murfin

• ISBN13: 9780312035464
• ISBN10: 0312035462
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 1990-12-15
• Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's

Summary

Adopted at more than 1,000 colleges and universities, Bedford/St. Martin's innovativeCase Studies in Contemporary Criticismseries has introduced more than a quarter of a million students to literary theory and earned enthusiastic praise nationwide. Along with an authoritative text of a major literary work, each volume presents critical essays, selected or prepared especially for students, that approach the work from several contemporary critical perspectives, such as gender criticism and cultural studies. Each essay is accompanied by an introduction (with bibliography) to the history, principles, and practice of its critical perspective. Every volume also surveys the biographical, historical, and critical contexts of the literary work and concludes with a glossary of critical terms. New editions reprint cultural documents that contextualize the literary works and feature essays that show how critical perspectives can be combined.

Table of Contents

Preface	v
PART ONE The Complete Text
Introduction: The Biographical and Historical Background	3	(18)
The Scarlet Letter	21	(184)
Preface to the Second Edition	21	(1)
The Custom-House: Introductory to ``The Scarlet Letter''	22	(31)
The Scarlet Letter	53	(152)
The Prison-Door	53	(1)
The Market-Place	54	(8)
The Recognition	62	(7)
The Interview	69	(5)
Hester at Her Needle	74	(7)
Pearl	81	(7)
The Governor's Hall	88	(6)
The Elf-Child and the Minister	94	(7)
The Leech	101	(7)
The Leech and His Patient	108	(8)
The Interior of a Heart	116	(5)
The Minister's Vigil	121	(8)
Another View of Hester	129	(6)
Hester and the Physician	135	(5)
Hester and Pearl	140	(5)
A Forest Walk	145	(5)
The Pastor and His Parishioner	150	(7)
A Flood of Sunshine	157	(5)
The Child at the Brook-Side	162	(5)
The Minister in a Maze	167	(8)
The New England Holiday	175	(7)
The Procession	182	(8)
The Revelation of the Scarlet Letter	190	(7)
Conclusion	197	(8)
PART TWO A Case Study in Contemporary Criticism
Introduction: The Critical Background	205	(18)
Psychoanalytic Criticism and The Scarlet Letter	223	(29)
What Is Psychoanalytic Criticism?	223	(10)
Psychoanalytic Criticism: A Selected Bibliography	233	(2)
A Psychoanalytic Critic at Work:
Re-Reading The Letter: Hawthorne, the Fetish, and the (Family) Romance	235	(17)
Joanne Fett Diehl
Reader-Response Criticism and The Scarlet Letter	252	(23)
What Is Reader-Response Criticism?	252	(9)
Reader-Response Criticism: A Selected Bibliography	261	(2)
A Reader-Response Critic at Work:
Mrs. Hawthorne's Headache: Reading The Scarlet Letter	263	(12)
David Leverenz
Feminist Criticism and The Scarlet Letter	275	(29)
What Is Feminist Criticism?	275	(9)
Feminist Criticism: A Selected Bibliography	284	(4)
A Feminist Critic at Work:
The Scarlet Letter (a)doree, or the Female Body Embroidered	288	(16)
Shari Benstock
Deconstruction and The Scarlet Letter	304	(26)
What Is Deconstruction?	304	(9)
Deconstruction: A Selected Bibliography	313	(3)
A Deconstructive Critic at Work:
Silence, Family Discourse, and Fiction in The Scarlet Letter	316	(14)
Michael Ragussis
The New Historicism and The Scarlet Letter	330	(29)
What Is the New Historicism?	330	(11)
The New Historicism: A Selected Bibliography	341	(3)
A New Historicist Critic at Work:
Hawthorne's A-Morality of Compromise	344	(15)
Sacvan Bercovitch
Glossary of Critical and Theoretical Terms	359	(10)
About the Contributors	369