Michel Despland

When Religion Becomes Literature and Literature Becomes Religion : Nathaniel Hawthorne

In 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne publishes his first novel, The Scarlet Letter. This novel recounts the adventures of a young woman living in Boston during the 1640’s. A single mother, she is sentenced to the pillory and becomes known for the scarlet letter A embroided on her breast. This work marvellously illustrates the redefinition of the frontiers between religion and literature operating in the 19^th century. Hawthorne, through his novel, constructs an original rapport with the traditional religion (puritanism). Through the use of literature, he can make a sort of post-traditional religion available to his contemporaries.