A History of American Literature Since 1870

PREFACE

American literature in the larger sense of the term began with Irving, and, if we count _The Sketch Book_ as the beginning, the centennial year of its birth is yet four years hence. It has been a custom, especially among the writers of text-books, to divide this century into periods, and all have agreed at one point: in the mid-thirties undoubtedly there began a new and dist...