Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Greatest Anti-Transcendentalist Writer Nathaniel Hawthorne was one of the greatest Anti-Transcendentalist writers of all time. He utilized his writings to express his dark, gloomy Hawthorne, a descendant of a puritan family, was born in Salem, Massachusetts. Some of his ancestors included a judge known for the harsh persecution of Quakers, and another judge who played an important role in the Salem witchcraft trials. Hawthorne's attitude was molded by a sense of guilt, which he traced to his ancestor's actions. After college, Hawthorne lived, secluded, for 12 years in his mother's house. He then publishe