Pictured: Nathaniel Hawthorne Today we’re starting #AMSathome to keep in touch during the lockdown. This week, we’re kicking off with a run-down of five nineteenth century American writers who can teach us a thing or two about isolation! He might not be the most famous reclusive New Englander, but Nathaniel Hawthorne, in his own words, had a “cursed habit of solitude.” In particular, he spent the years between 1825 (when he left Bowdoin College) and 1837 (when he got married) exploring his “natural tendency [...] toward seclusion.” For twelve years he sequestered himself away in a house in Salem with his widowed mother and two sisters while honing his writing skills. Above, a portrait from 1841, after his reemergence into the world. #americanstudies #amsathome #americanliterature #americanhistory

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