any country. But it is of peculiar interest to the
student of the literature produced in the United States. Is this
literature "American," or is it "English literature in America," as
Professor Wendell and other scholars have preferred to call it? I should
be one of the last to minimize the enormous influence of England upon
the mind and the writing of all the English-speaking countries of
the globe. Yet it will be one of the purposes of the present book to
indicate the existence here, even in colonial times, of a point of
view differing from that of the mother country, and destined to differ
increasingly with the lapse of time. Since the formation of our Federal
Union, in particular, the books produced in the United States have
tended to exhibit certain characteristics which differentiate them from
the books produced in other English speaking countries. We must beware,
of course, of what the late Charles Francis Adams once called the
"filiopietistic" fallacy. The "American" qualities of our literature
must be judged in connection with its conformity to universal standards
of excellence. Tested by any universal standard, "The Scarlet Letter"
is a notable romance. It has won a secure place among the literature
written by men of English blood and speech. Yet to overlook the
peculiarly local or provincial characteristics of this remarkable story
is to miss the secret of its inspiration. It could have been written
only by a New Englander, in the atmosphere of a certain epoch.

Our task, then, in this rapid review of the chief interpreters of
the American spirit in literature, is a twofold one. We are primarily
concerned with a procession of men, each of whom is interesting as an
individual and as a writer. But we cannot watch the individuals long
without perceiving the general direction of their march, the ideas that
animate them, the common hopes and loyalties that make up the life
of their spirit. To become aware of these general tendencies is to
understand the "American" note in our national writing.

Our historians have taught us that the history of the United States
is an evolution towards political unity. The separatist, particularist
movements are gradually thrust to one side. In literary history,
likewise, we best remember those authors who fall into line with what
we now perceive to have been the course of our literary development.
The erratic men and women, the "sports" of the great experiment,
are ultimately neg