Hawthorne Interactive

October 22, 2004 7:18 AM

The Spectator, a family newspaper conceived and edited by 16-year-old Nathaniel Hawthorne, is the portal to this Flash exhibit commemorating the bicentennial of the author's birth.
posted by steef (2 comments total)

steef, this is a terrific link - thanks.
posted by madamjujujive at 4:52 PM on October 22, 2004

my kinsman, majorjujujive!

the flash interface is a painintheass, but hawthorne's reporting is hysterical. i should have titled it "nineteenth century 'zine."

my highschool freshman english teacher would be surprised to learn that i kept every handout from his class, including the one he photostated of excerpts from these notebooks, which have ideas for stories hawthorne never wrote:

Two persons, by mutual agreement, to make their wills in each other's favor, then to wait impatiently for one another's death, and both to be informed of the desired event at the same time. Both, in most joyous sorrow, hasten to be present at the funeral, meet, and find themselves both hoaxed.

And many of them are excellent horror/sci-fi themes, hardly what folks expect from hawthorne.
posted by steef at 5:47 PM on October 22, 2004