The Scarlet Letter

In addition to the text of the first edition of the novel, the New Riverside Edition of The Scarlet Letter contains a wide variety of contextual materials and scholarly essays. “Contexts” includes additional writings and letters by Hawthorne, as well as essays on the New England sources of the novel and the novel’s publication history. “Criticism” contains early reviews of the novel and critical readings from the 19th century (such as an excerpt from Henry James’ book Hawthorne) to the present.