American author and son of the novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne; born in Boston, MA, on the 22nd of June 1846. He studied at Harvard College, but left it without graduating, to devote himself to engineering studies in Dresden, Germany. In 1870 he visited the United States, intending to return to Dresden, but the Franco-German War interfered with his plans, and he became connected with General McClellan’s staff of hydrographic engineers, then at work on the New York docks, and remained attached to this service until midsummer, 1872. Meanwhile, he contributed short stories to American magazines, which, being well received, he henceforth devoted himself to literature. Returning to Germany, he published, in England and in this country, two imaginative novels, Bressant (1873), and Idolatry (1874), and, settling in London, issued through the Contemporary Review and afterward in book form, his Saxon Studies (1876), a series of German sketches, the fruit of his residence in Dresden. Hawthorne now essayed longer flights in fiction, beginning with Garth (1877), and continuing in Sebastian Strome (1879); in Fortune’s Fool (1883); and in Noble Blood and Dust (1883). Besides these, he produced a number of short stories and novelettes of varying merit, and one or two dealing with crime and its detection. Of the latter class was A Fool of Nature, which obtained the ten thousand dollar prize offered by the New York Herald, in 1896. Two other kindred stories, founded on facts furnished by a New York detective, are A Tragic Mystery, and The Great Bank Robbery (1887). His other detective stories include Another’s Crime; American Penman; Section 558 (1888); The Trial of Gideon; David Poindexter’s Disappointment (1889); and Confessions of a Convict (1893). In 1887 Mr. Hawthorne issued a collection of critical papers, chiefly on literary subjects, entitled Confessions and Criticisms, and in 1893, in conjunction with Leonard Lemmon, he prepared a textbook on American Literature. He has also served journalism fitfully, on one occasion being on the staff of the London Spectator; at another, acting as literary editor of the New York World. His other writings embrace Archibald Malmaison (1878); Laughing Mill (1879); Ellice Quentin; Prince Saroni’s Wife (1880); Beatrix Randolph; Love; or, a Name (1884); Miss Cadogna; Mrs. Gainsborough’s Diamonds (1885); Constance; John Parmalee’s Curse (1887); and The Professor’s Sister (1888). He also edited and published (1884) Dr. Grimshawe’s Secret, a posthumous romance by his father, and in 1885 a biography of the latter, entitled Nathaniel Hawthorne and His Wife. In 1889 Mr. Hawthorne visited Europe, with a large delegation of workingmen, to examine into the condition of European industries.
