Introduction

"My Kinsman, Major Molineux" (1832) is an early short story about American independence—that of an individual as much as of a country—from Nathaniel Hawthorne, a pioneer of the distinctly American voice in literature. Originally published anonymously, as were a number of Hawthorne's early stories and sketches, "My Kinsman, Major Molineux" first appeared in an annual gift book, The Token, in 1832 with a few of Hawthorne's other stories. The story was not published again until it was reprinted in Hawthorne's collection of stories The Snow-Image, and Other Twice-Told Tales (1851). It also marked the first time "My Kinsman, Major Molineux" was published under his name. Though not considered a major work by Hawthorne during the nineteenth century, it began attracting a great deal of scholarly attention by the mid-twentieth century.

In "My Kinsman, Major...