Hawthorne is surely one of the masters of the American short story, as evidenced in these stories from his first collection. They range from dark to whimsical, from ambiguous to didactic, from conventional to almost experimental, and from essay-like sketches to probing psychological studies. He has a striking ability to craft memorable stories. Even the ones that fail (very few!) do so in unforgettable fashion. It's also easy to see why Hawthorne remains popular in American high schools. His stories are often allegorical to the extreme, with easily identifiable symbols and just enough mystery to leave room for discussion or debate.

The collection begins with several stories that take a critical look at religious extremism, including strict Puritan dogma and Quaker fanaticism, themes quite familiar for everyone who has read The Scarlett Letter. Many of these tales ask us to ponder if it's possible for the individual either to exist separately from these influences (answer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cx8jpyM5Vsw not bloody likely!) or to somehow adapt to the poisonous environment and eek out an existence that isn't totally insufferable (answer: perhaps?).

This collection contains classics such as "The Minister's Black Veil," "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment," "The Gentle Boy," and "The Great Carbuncle," but also has some "deep cuts" that could just as easily be anthologized as often as those other stories, including the sweet/disturbing "Little Annie's Ramble" (in which an older man briefly takes a five-year-old girl to the circus in order to feel young again) and the amusing existential meditation "David Swan" (in which a young man sleeping by a fountain misses out on fateful encounters that could have lead him to wealth, love, and even death -- a contemplation on all the "missed encounters" that would have defined our lives if we hadn't missed them!) And then there are the failed tales, which are just as memorable as the others -- my favorite being "A Rill from the Town-Pump," a comic tale in which a small town's water pump gives a first-person account of why it is perhaps the mot important "citizen" of the town. It's weird and clunky, standing out from the other stories like a socially awkward kid at the school dance wearing shorts and a t-shirt to the prom, but remains oddly appealing.

I look forward to continue reading through Hawthorne's work next year with [b:Mosses from an Old Manse|294560|Mosses from an Old Manse|Nathaniel Hawthorne|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1320415186s/294560.jpg|352796] and [b:The Marble Faun|47059|The Marble Faun|Nathaniel Hawthorne|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1170344857s/47059.jpg|626017].