The House of the Seven Gables

The House of the Seven Gables: A Romance is a Gothic novel written beginning in mid-1850 by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne and published in April 1851 by Ticknor and Fields of Boston. The novel follows a New England family and their ancestral home. In the book, Hawthorne explores themes of guilt, retribution, and atonement, and colors the tale with suggestions of the supernatural and witchcraft. The setting for the book was inspired by the Turner-Ingersoll Mansion, a gabled house in Salem, Massachusetts, belonging to Hawthorne’s cousin Susanna Ingersoll, as well as ancestors of Hawthorne who had played a part in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. The book was well received upon publication and later had a strong influence on the work of H. P. Lovecraft. The House of the Seven Gables has been adapted several times to film and television. The novel was an inspiration for horror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft, who called it 'New England’s greatest contribution to weird literature' in his essay 'Supernatural Horror in Literature'. Seven Gables likely influenced Lovecraft’s short stories 'The Picture in the House', 'The Shunned House' and novella The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. The novel had a 1940 screen adaptation with Margaret Lindsay as Hepzibah, George Sanders as Jaffrey, Vincent Price as Clifford, Dick Foran as Holgrave, and Nan Grey as Phoebe. In this adaptation, Hepzibah and Clifford were made lovers rather than brother and sister, and the film ends with a double wedding. Also, Clifford was well aware of Holgrave’s true identity, and the two are working together to settle the score with Jaffrey. It was directed by Joe May with a screenplay by Lester Cole. There was also a silent short in 1910 and a remake in 1967. It was also loosely adapted as one of the three stories in the 1963 film Twice-Told Tales, along with 'Rappaccini’s Daughter' and 'Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment'. All three sections featured Vincent Price. The novel was adapted to a 60-minute television production in 1960 for The Shirley Temple Show with Shirley Temple as Phoebe, Robert Culp as Holgrave, Agnes Moorehead as Hepzibah, and Martin Landau as Clifford. An opera based on the novel, by Scott Eyerly, premiered at the Manhattan School of Music in 2000. (wikipedia.org)