HAWTHORNE'S STORIES FOR CHILDREN BY MICHAEL W. AND ELIZABETH E. JUDD

HAWTHORNE'S STORIES FOR CHILDREN BY MICHAEL W. AND ELIZABETH E. JUDD When American readers think of the literary legacy of Nathaniel Hawthorne, what comes to mind are works like The House of the Seven Gables and The Scarlet Letter. These serious novels are grounded in New England?s Puritan past and characterized by a dark, pessimistic view of human nature. This is the side of Nathaniel Hawthorne most of us know best. However, there is another side to his genius, a much more lighthearted and positive Hawthorne, revealed in the creation of his remarkable works for children. The most famous of these is his re-telling of classical Greek and Roman myths in A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys and Tanglewood Tales. In these books, he pioneered a new type of children?s literature that embodied fresh ideas about the nature of childhood and children, the education and pastimes appropriate to them, and how they should be raised. Since these books were published, they have become classics, still in print today, in multiple forms, and providing inspiration for some of the world?s finest illustrators, like Walter Crane and Virginia Sterrett. Michael and Elizabeth Judd will discuss the books and the familial, cultural, and historical contexts that influenced their creation in an illustrated lecture.