Nathaniel Hawthorne has impressed many literary critics and influenced many authors over time. He became famous early in his career and his fame has endured. In Hawthorne Illustrated, master pen & ink illustrator Marc Johnson-Pencook interprets three of Nathaniel Hawthorne's best stories: "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment", "Mr. Higginbotham's Catastrophe", and "Feathertop". Here's a few of the many renowned authors and literary critics who have praised Hawthorne and his stories:
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Famous American Poet --- Hawthorne's stories, though in prose, are written nevertheless by a poet. He looks upon all things in the spirit of love, and with lively sympathies. His stories come from the hand of a man of genius.
Flannery O'Connor, Iconic American Author --- My opinion of Hawthorne is that he was a very great author indeed...I feel more kinship with him than any other American.
Henry James, Author, 3-time Nobel Prize Nominee --- Hawthorne was a beautiful, natural, original genius. His work will remain; it is too original and exquisite to pass away; among the men of imagination he will always have his niche. He combined in a singular degree the spontaneity of the imagination with a haunting care for moral problems. In the field of American letters, Hawthorne is the most valuable example of the American genius.
