The Scarlet Letter
So deeply entwined with the DNA of American literature is this book that I, an American reader, had believed that, thirty or so years ago, I had read it. I'm now fairly certain (but not entirely certain) I hadn't. If I had I think I would have remembered what a marvelous novel it is (but then again, if I had read it thirty years ago, perhaps in my puerility, I wouldn't have been able to grasp the scope of its achievement). The novel stands with Huckleberry Finn in its quality and its brilliance as a window onto the American neurosis.
