1873. Two Volumes in One. Hawthorne, who, like Edgar Allan Poe, took a dark view of human nature, was a central figure in the American Renaissance. His best-known works include The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables. After his death his wife edited and published his notebooks Passages from the American Notebooks, Passages from the English Notebooks, and Passages from the French and Italian Notebooks. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.