Nathaniel Hawthorne and the Romance of the Orient [Hardcover]

... Luedtke has made a seminal contribution to Hawthorne studies. American Literature

Luedtkes account of Hawthornes reading is particularly interesting, briskly and ably summarizing the diverse materials which helped shape educated American and English perceptions of the Orient in the early nineteenth century.... Luedtke has written an able guide to the potential range of such references. Times Literary Supplement

This is an important piece of scholarship. It opens the study of a previously ignored area of interest by a major American author. Thomas Woodson

The first genuinely original scholarship on Hawthornes life and work that has appeared in almost a decade. Terence Martin

... extensive cataloging of Hawthornes reading habits, as documented by records from Salem lending libraries. Luedtkes revelation of these works acts as an important corrective to the notion that the brunt of Hawthornes influences were from English authors. Daily Yomiuri, Japan

Luedtkes study is an important reorientation of Hawthorne studies. Rocky Mountain Review

... meticulously documented, convincingly articulated book that unequivocally establishes the significance of the Orient in Hawthornes writing. Exxes Institute Historical Collections

Luedtke... succeeds in building the portrait of Hawthorne... The book is a work of painstaking research, patience, and, above all, love. It is rich and illuminating, has a formidable range of reference, and establishes convincingly that Hawthornes imagination and world was larger, richer, and more chromatic than we have known. The Hindustan Times

Luedtkes study valuably surveys Hawthornes reading in works of travel, history, religion, and literature related to the Orient.... will be of great interest to scholars of the American Renaissance and will open up new avenues for research on this periods fascination with the East. Journal of American History

Preface and Alc`