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1850 title page of The Scarlet Letter Ticknor, Reed and Fields · 1850 title page · public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
FictionLiterature

The Scarlet Letter

by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, singled out by Rand as an example of Romantic fiction.

Recommended by 1 person

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Nathaniel Hawthorne · Book author

Read free · GutenbergFree ebook (public domain in the USA)

Who recommends it

1 person has recommended The Scarlet Letter. Each entry links to the source.

Ayn Rand in her 1943 Talbot portrait Ayn RandNovelist and philosopher

A standout novel in her account of choice and character.

Recommended · Wording not verified Source: Ayn Rand Institute
Evidence details What Is Romanticism? — The Romantic Manifesto (first collected edition, 1969); undated ARI excerpt

Rand paired The Scarlet Letter with Quo Vadis in her assessment of top-rank Romantic novels, emphasizing characters’ choices and the events those choices produce. These two selections share one essay passage. The Romantic Manifesto first collected the essay in 1969; the linked web excerpt is undated. Paraphrase.

This text documents what the source says, but it is not verified as a word-for-word quote.

Ayn Rand Institute · 1969 · accessed 2026-10-01

Article · Republished original essay excerpt

ARI republishes Rand’s own essay from The Romantic Manifesto, page 107; she singles out Quo Vadis and The Scarlet Letter as individual top-rank Romantic novels. 1969 is the first collected edition year; the linked ARI Campus republication is undated; this does not assert the essay’s original periodical date.

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Nathaniel HawthorneBook author

Author identity verified in the Project Gutenberg bibliographic record.

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