The role of folklore in Hawthorne's literary nationalism

Although Hawthorne's use of folklore material has been previously studied, no attempt has been made prior to this study to relate that usage to Hawthorne's attempt to establish himself as an American writer. The central contention of this study is that Hawthorne used folklore to establish himself as a literary nationalist, one who used indigenous resources to write literature peculiarly appropriate to the American culture. Hawthorne used seven types of folklore in his short fiction: legends, m?rchen, oral tradition, folkloric characters, folklore motifs, folkloric themes, and witchcraft and the supernatural. An examination of the changes which occur in the way these materials are used from 1825 to 1850 indicates that Hawthorne wrote primarily as a literary nationalist until the publication of Twice-Told Tales