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The Ambitious Guest

Nathaniel Hawthorne

First published 1842
Type Short Fiction
Length Short Story

A young man is stopping at a mountain inn. He tells of his plans with enthusiasm, saying that he has no intention of dying before he's accomplished something that will make his name remembered forever. An avalanche buries the entire inn. His name is unknown; but his hosts are remembered with affection by their neighbors.

First published in the New England Magazine, June 1835.

Date Publication Publisher Type Page
1842 Twice-Told Tales James Munroe Collection |26
1897 Little Masterpieces Doubleday & McClure Collection 125
1898 Little Masterpieces Doubleday & McClure Collection 125
1907 Cover Twice-Told Tales Houghton Mifflin Collection 364
1935 Cover The Great Stone Face and Other Tales of the White Mountains Riverside Press / Houghton Mifflin Collection 32
1937 Cover The Complete Novels and Selected Tales of Nathaniel Hawthorne Modern Library Omnibus 990
1950 Selected Tales and Sketches Rinehart Collection |10
1962 Cover Hawthorne's Short Stories Dodd, Mead & Co. Collection |12
1963 Cover The Celestial Railroad and Other Stories Signet / New American Library Collection
1964 Classic American Short Stories Barron's Educational Series Anthology 26
1965 Cover Twice-Told Tales Airmont Books Collection 193
1968 Cover The Birthmark and Other Stories Scholastic Book Services Collection
1968 Cover The Birthmark and Other Stories Scholastic Book Services Collection
1970 Cover Selected Tales and Sketches Holt, Rinehart and Winston Collection 174
1979 Cover Twice-Told Tales: An Anthology of Short Fiction Houghton Mifflin Anthology 31
1982 Cover Tales and Sketches The Library of America Omnibus 299
1987 Cover Selected Tales and Sketches Penguin Books (US) Collection 162
October 1989 Cover Twice-Told Tales Reader's Digest Collection 227
2001 Cover Twice-Told Tales Modern Library Collection 252
October 2004 Twice-Told Tales Project Gutenberg Collection 313
2007 Tales and Sketches The Library of America Omnibus |299
August 2010 Cover Twice-Told Tales Gray Rabbit Publications Collection 207
December 2011 Cover The Collected Supernatural and Weird Fiction of Nathaniel Hawthorne: Volume 2 Leonaur Ltd Collection
December 2011 Cover The Collected Supernatural and Weird Fiction of Nathaniel Hawthorne: Volume 2 Leonaur Ltd Collection