Ask The Puma Research Guides: The Birthmark

The Birthmark

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s famous short story, “The Birthmark,” was first published in 1843.  It concerns a scientist, Aylmer, who tries to remove a birthmark from his wife Georgiana’s cheek by way of a potion that he has developed.  The potion removes the mark, but kills Georgiana, as Aylmer cannot accept any blemishes marring his wife’s beauty.

LINCCWeb online catalog – Search Terms

• Birthmark  (Title)
• Hawthorne, Nathaniel  (Subject)

Call Numbers for Browsing the Shelves

• PS1852-PS1892

Circulating Books – A Selected List

• Bunge, Nancy. Nathaniel Hawthorne: A Study of the Short Fiction. 1993.  
  • Call Number: PS1888 .B8 1993
• Crews, Frederick. The Sins of the Fathers: Hawthorne’s Psychological Themes. 1989.
  • Call Number: PS1892 .P74 C74 1989   
• Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Young Goodman Brown and Other Tales. 1998.
  • Call Number: PS1852 .H37 1998
• Martin, Terence. Nathaniel Hawthorne (Revised Edition). 1983.
  • Call Number: PS1888 .M34 1983
• Newman, Lea. A Reader’s Guide to the Short Stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne. 1979. 
  • Call Number: PS1888 .N4
• Person, Leland. The Cambridge Introduction to Nathaniel Hawthorne. 2007.
  • Call Number: PS1888 .P47 2007

Reference Materials

• Critical Survey of Short Fiction. – Call Number: REF PN3321 .C7 2001
  • Vol. 3, pg. 1148
• Masterplots II: Short Story Series. – Call Number: REF PN3326 .M27 2004
  • Vol. 1, pgs. 358-360
• Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. – Call Number: REF PN761 .N5
  • Vol. 2, pgs. 311, 319, 322, 324
  • Vol. 23, pg. 218
  • Vol. 79, pg. 308
  • Vol. 95, pgs. 105, 110, 207
• Short Story Criticism. –  Call Number: REF PN3321 .S5
  • Vol. 3, pgs. 159, 168-170, 178, 183-184, 189-194
  • Vol. 39, pg. 91
  • Vol. 89, pgs. 135-254
  • Vol. 130, pgs. 229, 254

Electronic Research Databases  

To access Valencia’s research databases, open your Atlas account, select ‘Search the Library’, then select ‘Databases A-Z’.

• Academic Search Complete
• JSTOR
• Literature Resources from Gale

This Research Guide is designed to help users find information on a particular topic within the Valencia College East Campus Library.  This is by no means a comprehensive list of resources and other resources may be available on this topic.  Please check LINCCWeb, Valencia East’s online catalog, to verify the availability of circulating books within the library.  Feel free to ask a librarian for help if you need further assistance.

Revised November 21, 2021