Adapting Nathaniel Hawthorne to the Screen

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"In Adapting Nathaniel Hawthorne to the Screen: Forging New Worlds, Laurence Raw discusses adaptations of the novels The House of Seven Gables and The Scarlet Letter and the short stories "Feathertop," "The Snow Image," "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment," and "Rappaccini's Daughter."" "Raw explains how some filmmakers have tackled the difficulty of Hawthorne's material by treating it as being firmly situated in American life of the mid-nineteenth century, while others have used Hawthorne's work to comment on various aspects of twentieth century American life. This latter device is particularly evident in the many versions of The Scarlet Letter, including a 1950 television broadcast that aired two months after senator Joseph McCarthy's speech about "card-carrying members of the Communist Party," and 1960s and early '70s versions supporting countercultural values. By surveying the canon of adaptations produced over the last eight decades, Adapting Nathaniel Hawthorne to the Screen provides a unique insight into American social, political, and cultural history from a variety of perspectives, underlining how Hawthorne's work has been of enduring concern to directors and audiences alike."--Jacket.