lected by the critics, unless, like the leaders of
political insurrections, those writing men and women have raised a
notable standard of revolt. No doubt the apparently unique literary
specimens, if clearly understood in their origins and surroundings,
would be found rooted in the general laws of literary evolution. But
these laws are not easy to codify and we must avoid the temptation to
discover, in any particular period, more of unity than there actually
was. And we must always remember that there will be beautiful prose and
verse unrelated to the main national tendencies save as "the literature
of escape." We owe this lesson to the genius of Edgar Allan Poe.

Let us test these principles by applying them to the earliest colonists.
The first book written on the soil of what is now the United States was
Captain John Smith's "True Relation" of the planting of the Virginia
colony in 1607. It was published in London in 1608. The Captain was a
typical Elizabethan adventurer, with a gift, like so many of his class,
for picturesque narrative. In what sense, if at all, may his writings on
American topics be classified as "American" literary productions? It is
clear that his experiences in the New World were only one phase of the
variegated life of this English soldier of fortune. But the American
imagination has persistently claimed him as representing something
peculiarly ours, namely, a kind of pioneer hardihood, resourcefulness,
leadership, which was essential to the exploration and conquest of the
wilderness. Most of Smith's companions were unfitted for the ordeal
which he survived. They perished miserably in the "starving time." But
he was of the stuff from which triumphant immigrants have ever been
made, and it is our recognition of the presence of these qualities in
the Captain which makes us think of his books dealing with America as
if they were "American books." There are other narratives by colonists
temporarily residing in the Virginia plantations which gratify our
historical curiosity, but which we no more consider a part of American
literature than the books written by Stevenson, Kipling, and Wells
during their casual visits to this country. But Captain Smith's "True
Relation" impresses us, like Mark Twain's "Roughing It," with being
somehow true to type. In each of these books the possible unveracities
in detail are a confirmation of their representative American character.

In other words, we have unconsciou