Book Description

Excerpt from An Introduction to the Study of American Literature This book is intended as an introduction to the study of American literature. Although the chapters on the separate authors are wholly distinct, they have been so planned that each of them prepares the way for its suc cessor, and that all of them together outline the changing circumstances under which American literature has devel oped. An attempt has been made to show how each of the chief American authors influenced his time, and how he in turn was influenced by it; and also to indicate how each of them was related to the others, both personally and artistically. Bearing in mind the fact that the student needs to have his attention centered on vital points, all dates and all proper names, and all titles of books not absolutely essen tial, have been rigorously omitted. Interest has thus been concentrated on the literary career of each of the greater writers and on their practice of the literary art, in the hope and expectation that the student will be encouraged and stimulated to read their works for his own pleasure. After the consideration of these more important authors, one by one, the writers of less consequence have been discussed briefly in a single Chapter; and in like manner a single chapter has been devoted to a summary considera tion of the condition of our literature at the beginning Of the twentieth century. NO living author is named in the text. To arouse the student's interest in the authors as actual men, the illustrations chosen have been confined to por traits and views, and to facsimiles of manuscripts. To enable him to see for himself the successive stages of the growth of American literature, and to let him dis cover how the authors sometimes came one after an other and sometimes worked side by side, there has been appended also a chronological table of the chief dates in our literary history. As mere text-book instruction can never be an adequate substitute for the student's own acquaintance with the actual works of the authors discussed, there have been annexed to every chapter bibliographical notes calling attention to the editions most suitable for the student's reading, and also to the best biographies and to a few of the most suggestive criticisms. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.