The Scarlet Letter: A critical review

Littlefield, David; Sara, Rachel

Abstract

Nathaniel Hawthorn’s 19th century romance The Scarlet Letter centres on the simple transgression of adultery and its social consequences. Hawthorn’s narrative and story-telling skill, however, is far from simple; the author manages to subtly and cleverly set the tale within a framework of other transgressions. Ideas of space and other social constructions such including language and belief systems are tested and subverted in this description of a 17th century Puritan settlement. In this paper David Littlefield and Rachel Sara set out the transgressive qualities of this classic American text, putting it into the context of the theme Body + Space and demonstrating how the book pre-figures much 20th century thinking on the subject.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2014
• Journal: Architecture & Culture
• Print ISSN: 2050-7828
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 2
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 403-416
• APA6 Citation: Littlefield, D., & Sara, R. (2014). The Scarlet Letter: A critical review. Architecture and Culture, 2(3), 403-416. https://doi.org/10.2752/205078214X14107818390757
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.2752/205078214X14107818390757
• Keywords: body, space, transgression, fiction, text, language
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.2752/205078214X14107818390757
• Additional Information: Additional Information : Architecture & Culture is a journal produced on behalf of the Architectural Humanities Research Association. Originally it was published by Bloomsbury. It is now published by Taylor & Francis. The issue of the journal outlined here was jointly edited by David Littlefield and Rachel Sara, published by Bloomsbury. This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Architecture & Culture on 01 November 2014, available online: http://www.tandfonline....05078214X14107818390757