Initial Studies American Letters

Excerpt from Initial Studies American Letters

This volume, originally published in 1887 as "An Outline Sketch of American Literature," and reissued under the present title in 1891, with an appendix consisting of selections from representative American writers, is intended as a companion to the historical sketch of English literature, entitled "From Chaucer to Tennyson," published in 1886 (revised edition 1890), for the Chautauqua Circle. It has now (1895) been a second time revised and supplied with marginal catch-words for convenient reference. I have also added a few paragraphs to the final chapter, to bring the subject up to date. In writing it I have followed the same plan, aiming to present the subject in a sort of continuous essay rather than in the form of a "primer" or elementary manual. I have not undertaken to describe, or even to mention, every American author or book of importance, but only those which seemed to me of most significance. Nevertheless I believe that the sketch contains enough detail to make it of some use as a guide-book to our literature. Though meant to be mainly a history of American belles-lettres, it makes some mention of historical and political writings, but hardly any of philosophical, scientific, and technical works.

A chronological rather than a topical order has been followed, although the fact that our best literature is of recent growth has made it impossible to adhere as closely to a chronological plan as in the English sketch.

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