bio notes:
born: 7/4/1804
died: 5/16/1864
born as: Nathaniel Hathorne
nationality: USA

American novelist and short-story writer who was a master of the allegorical and symbolic tale. One of the greatest fiction writers in American literature, he is best known for The Scarlet Letter (1850) and The House of the Seven Gables (1851). - Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature