The Cambridge History of American Literature



PREFACE

 

Book II, Early National Literature

 * Chapter I: Travellers and Observers, 1763-1846


 * By Lane Cooper, Ph.D., Professor of English in Cornell University.


 * The Background of the Travellers. Nature and the Natural Man. The Routes of the Travellers. The Varieties of their Aims. Their Common Interests. Jonathan Carver. William Bartram. St. Jean de Crèveœur. Notes on the State of Virginia. The Lewis and Clark Expedition. The Literary Wars between England and America. The Answers of Cooper and Irving. The Influence of the Travellers. The Travellers and Wordsworth.


 * Chapter II: The Early Drama, 1756-1860


 * By Arthur Hobson Quinn, Ph.D., Dean of the College, University of Pennsylvania.


 * The Origins of the Drama in College Exercises. Influence of the Early Companies. Godfrey's Prince of Parthia, the first American Play. The Closing of the Theatres. The Revolutionary Satirists. Tyler's Contrast. William Dunlap. J. N. Barker. J. H. Payne. Beginning of the Creative Period. Stone's Metamora. The Philadelphia Group: R. M. Bird, R. P. Smith, Conrad, Boker. Types of Drama. Romantic Tragedy. Historical and National Plays. Comedy and Melodrama. The "Yankee" Plays. The Realistic New York Drama. Social Satire. Romantic Comedy. Gothic Melodrama. Domestic Drama. Farce. The Periods in the Development of the American Drama.


 * Chapter III: Early Essayists


 * By George Frisbie Whicher, Ph.D., Associate Professor of English in Amherst College.


 * The Periodical Essay in America. Joseph Dennie. William Wirt. James Kirke Paulding. Richard Henry Dana the elder. Nathaniel Parker Willis. Henry Theodore Tuckerman.


 * Chapter IV: Irving


 * By Major George Haven Putnam, Litt.D.


 * Early Years. First Voyage to Europe. Salmagundi. Diedrich Knickerbocker. England. Spain. The Spanish Books. A Tour on the Prairies. A New Publisher. Later Years. Irving's Cosmopolitanism. A History of New York. The Sketch Book. Bracebridge Hall. Tales of a Traveller. Life of Columbus. The Conquest of Granada. Legends of the Alhambra. Life of Mahomet. Life of Washington.


 * Chapter V: Bryant and the Minor Poets


 * By William Ellery Leonard, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of English in the University of Wisconsin.


 * I. Bryant
 * Early Years. Bryant's Independence as a Poet. The Unity of his Life and Work. His Ideas. Nature in Bryant. Bryant's Images. His "Surveys." Bryant as Naturalist. His Fairy Poems. His Translations. His Artistry. His Style. Limitations as a Poet. Bryant as Critic and Editor. His Prose Style. Bryant the Citizen.


 * II. Minor Poets
 * Richard Henry Dana the elder. James Kirke Paulding. James Gates Percival. Samuel Woodworth. George P. Morris. Charles Fenno Hoffman. Nathaniel Parker Willis. Joseph Rodman Drake. The Culprit Fay. Fitz-Green Halleck.


 * Chapter VI: Fiction I: Brown, Cooper


 * By Carl Van Doren, Ph.D., Head Master of The Brearley School, Associate in English in Columbia University.


 * The Novel in the Colonies. Influence of Richardson. Mrs. Morton. Mrs. Foster. Mrs. Rowson. Charlotte Temple. Hugh Henry Brackenridge. Modern Chivalry. Charles Brockden Brown. Alcuin. Arthur Mervyn. Wieland. Ormond. Brown's Indebtedness to Godwin. Edgar Huntly. Isaac Mitchell. Tabitha Tenney. Samuel Woodworth. James Fenimore Cooper. Youth. Naval Career. Precaution. The Spy. The Pioneers. The Pilot. The Last of the Mohicans. The Prairie. Residence in Europe. Red Rover. The Wept of Wishton-Wish. Notions of the Americans. Novels written in Europe. Return to America and Ensuing Controversies. Writings on Naval Affairs. Later Nautical Tales. Later Border Tales. The Pathfinder. The Deerslayer. The Littlepage Manuscripts. Cooper's Rank as a Romancer.


 * Chapter VII: Fiction II: Contemporaries of Cooper


 * By Carl Van Doren


 * The Services of the Historical Romance in the Development of the American Novel. The Influence of the Frontier. The Sections Celebrated by the Romancers. John Neal. Mrs. Child. Miss Sedgwick. D. P. Thompson. Paulding. Bird. Kennedy. Judge Beverley Tucker. Caruthers. William Gilmore Simms. His Devotion to South Carolina. The Variety of his Miscellaneous Work. Guy Rivers. The Yemassee. The Partisan Series. Simms's Border Tales. His Tragic Later Career. Mrs. Kirkland. James Hall. Kentucky in Fiction. Bird's Mexican Romances. Mayo. Melville. Typee. Omoo. Mardi. Moby Dick. Ware. Judd. The Victory of Fiction in the United States.


 * Chapter VIII: Transcendentalism


 * By Harold Clarke Goddard, Ph.D., Professor of English in Swarthmore College.


 * New England Transcendentalism a Phase of a World-Wide Movement. Religious rather than Political. Transcendentalism the Natural Sequel of Puritanism. Channing. The German Influence. The Transcendental Club. The General Principles of Transcendentalism. Its Vagaries. Alcott. Ripley. Brook Farm. The Dial. Margaret Fuller. Parker. Abolitionism. The Relations of European and American Transcendentalism. The Essentially Native Character of New England Transcendentalism.


 * Chapter IX: Emerson


 * By Paul Elmer More


 * The High Place of Emerson in American Letters. His Youth and Training. His Journals. Nature. Essays. The American Scholar. The Divinity School Address. Representative Men. English Traits. Emerson's Optimism. Emerson's Resignation from the Ministry. Its Significance. His Place in the Romantic Movement. Form and Style. Ideas. His Failure to Perceive the Meaning of Evil. The Rarity and Beauty of his Accomplishment.


 * Chapter X: Thoreau


 * By Archibald McKellar MacMechan


 * The Village Rebel. Thoreau’s Youth and Education. His Reading. Emerson. Rebellions: Church; State; Society. The Experiment at Walden Pond. A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. Canada. Walden. Style. Thoreau’s Significance.


 * Chapter XI: Hawthorne


 * By John Erskine




 * Chapter XII: Longfellow


 * By William Peterfield Trent




 * Chapter XIII: Whittier


 * By William Morton Payne




 * Chapter XIV: Poe


 * By Killis Campbell




 * Chapter XV: Publicists and Orators


 * By A. C. McLaughlin




 * Chapter XVI: Webster


 * By Henry Cabot Lodge




 * Chapter XVII: Writers on American History, 1783-1850


 * By John Spencer Bassett




 * Chapter XVIII: Prescott and Motley


 * By Ruth Putnam




 * Chapter XIX: Early Humorists


 * By Will D. Howe




 * Chapter XX: Magazines, Annuals, and Gift-Books, 1783-1850


 * By William B. Cairns




 * Chapter XXI: Newspapers, 1775-1860


 * By Frank W. Scott




 * Chapter XXII: Divines and Moralists, 1783-1860


 * By Samuel Lee Wolff




 * Chapter XXIII: Writers of Familiar Verse


 * By Brander Matthews




 * Chapter XXIV: Lowell


 * By Ashley H. Thorndike



Book III, Later National Literature

 * Chapter I: Whitman, Author:Emory Holloway
 * Chapter II: Poets of the Civil War I: The North, Author:Will D. Howe
 * Chapter III: Poets of the Civil War II: The South, Author:Edwin Mims
 * Chapter IV: The New South: Lanier, Author:Dudley Miles
 * Chapter V: Dialect Writers, Author:C. Alphonso Smith
 * Chapter VI: The Short Story, Author:Fred Lewis Pattee
 * Chapter VII: Books for Children, Author:Algernon Tassin
 * Chapter VIII: Mark Twain, Author:Stuart P. Sherman
 * Chapter IX: Minor Humorists, Author:George Frisbie Whicher
 * Chapter X: Later Poets, Author:Norman Foerster
 * Chapter XI: The Later Novel: Howells, Author:Carl Van Doren
 * Chapter XII: Henry James, Author:Joseph Warren Beach
 * Chapter XIII: Later Essayists, Author:George S. Hellman
 * Chapter XIV: Travellers and Explorers, 1846-1900, Author:Frederick S. Dellenbaugh
 * Chapter XV: Later Historians, Author:John Spencer Bassett
 * Chapter XVI: Later Theology, Author:Ambrose White Vernon
 * Chapter XVII: Later Philosophy, Author:Morris R. Cohen
 * Chapter XVIII: The Drama, 1860-1918, Author:Montrose J. Moses
 * Chapter XIX: Later Magazines, Author:William R. Cairns
 * Chapter XX: Newspapers Since 1860, Author:Frank W. Scott
 * Chapter XXI: Political Writing Since 1850, Author:William Kenneth Boyd
 * Chapter XXII: Lincoln, Author:Nathaniel Wright Stephenson
 * Chapter XXIII: Education, Author:Paul Monroe
 * Chapter XXIV: Economists, Author:Edwin R. A. Seligman
 * Chapter XXV: Scholars, Author:Samuel Lee Wolff
 * Chapter XXVI: Patriotic Songs and Hymns, Author:Percy H. Boynton
 * Chapter XXVII: Oral Literature, Author:Louise Pound
 * Chapter XXVIII: Popular Bibles, Author:Woodbridge Riley
 * Chapter XXIX: Book Publishers and Publishing, Author:Earl L. Bradsher
 * Chapter XXX: The English Language in America, Author:Harry Morgan Ayres
 * Chapter XXXI: Non-English Writings
 * German, Author:Albert Bernhardt Faust
 * French, Author:Edward J. Fortier
 * Yiddish, Author:Nathaniel Buchwald
 * Aboriginal, Author:Mary Austin