SUGGESTIONS FOR READING AND STUDY The following books are listed for the convenience of students who wish to pursue further this fascinating subject of American literature. So much material is now available concerning our best writers that any book list must necessarily be selective. A long list would be more impressive than helpful. The titles of short poems and prose extracts usually read in class are not mentioned in detail, because the various excellent anthologies prepared in recent years give the teacher all the material that is needed. Neither teacher nor pupil should have any difficulty in planning a reading or study course of any scope after a careful survey of the following pages. BIBLIOGRAPHY The best and most recent bibliographies are those appended to the various volumes of the Cambridge History of American Literature. In some instances they are indispensable to the student. For the most trustworthy details concerning early American imprints, see Evans, American Bibliography (1639-1820), of which eight volumes have appeared. This work supersedes all earlier catalogues. See also Adams, Dictionary of American Authors; Wegelin, Early American Fiction, Early American Plays, Early American Poetry; Whitcomb, Chronological Outlines of American Literature. A valuable reference work for recent authors is Manly and Rickert, Contemporary American Literature. AMERICAN HISTORY Every student should have a good general knowledge of American history to make his study of the literature more intelligible. Among the best of the shorter manuals are Beard and Bagley, History of the American People; Channing, A Student's History of the United States; Comans, The Industrial History of the United States; Gordy, History of the United States; Johnston, History of American Politics; Walker, The Making of the Nation. Much interesting material is gathered in Hart, American History Told by Contemporaries. TOPOGRAPHY OF AMERICA The most comprehensive general reference work is Baedeker, The United States, but more readable books are: Bennett, Your United States; Dilnot, New America; James, The American Scene; Johnson, What to See in America. The last-mentioned book includes every State in the Union. SOCIAL HISTORY Several admirable books picture conditions of early American life or discuss more recent social developments. Among these are Earle, Child Life in Colonial Days, Curious Punishments of Bygone Days, Colonial Days in Old New York, Customs and Fashions in Old New England, Home Life in Colonial Days; Fisher, Men, Women, and Manners of Colonial Days; Frank, Our America; Low, The American People; Marshall, This Country of Ours; Wharton, Through Colonial Doorways, Social Life in the Early Republic. LITERARY AMERICA More closely allied to the study of literature are the books that tell of literary rambles or of visits to the homes and haunts of famous writers. The list is rather long, because there are many excellent works to be named. Bacon, Literary Pilgrimages in New England; Clarke, Hawthorne's Country, Longfellow's Country, The Poets' New England; Fields, Authors and Friends; French, Old Concord; Halsey, American Authors and Their Homes; Higginson, Cheerful Yesterdays, Old Cambridge; Howells, Literary Friends and Acquaintances; Hubbard, Little Journeys to the Homes of American Authors; Rideing, Boyhood of Famous Authors; Tuckerman, Personal Recollections of Notable People; Whipple, Recollections of Eminent Men; Whiting, Boston Days; Winslow, Literary Boston of To-Day; Winter, Old Friends. GENERAL BIOGRAPHY America still lacks a comprehensive modern biographical work of the scope of the English Dictionary of National Biography. The most important works of that character are: Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography, in six volumes, and the National Cyclopædia of American Biography, in sixteen volumes. Most of the important writers have been treated in separate volumes of the American Men of Letters series. The New International Encyclopædia and the biennial issues of Who's Who in America are the best general references for biographical information about more recent writers. HISTORY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE The most comprehensive work is the recently published Cambridge History of American Literature in four volumes. Many of our best scholars collaborated in that work and supplied extensive bibliographical material for its chapters. An admirable condensation of the book into a single volume has just appeared (1922). The most trustworthy works of ordinary scope are: Brownell, American Prose Masters; Burton, Literary Leaders in America; Cairns, History of American Literature; Clark, A Study of English and American Poets; Erskine, Leading American Novelists; Howe, American Bookmen; Macy, The Spirit of American Literature; Mitchell, American Lands and Letters; Onderdonk, History of American Verse; Payne, Leading American Essayists; Perry, The American Spirit in Literature; Richardson, American Literature; Sherman, Americans; Stedman, Poets of America; Trent, History of American Literature; Woodberry, America in Literature. FORMS OF LITERATURE For detailed studies of literary forms numerous excellent books are available. For POETRY AND VERSIFICATION, see Alden, Introduction to Poetry; Gummere, Handbook of Poetics; Amy Lowell, Tendencies in Modern American Poetry; Matthews, A Study of Versification; Perry, A Study of Poetry. For DRAMA AND DRAMATIC TECHNIQUE, see Archer, Play-making; Baker, Dramatic Technique; Hamilton, The Theory of the Theatre; Matthews, The Principles of Play-making. For TECHNIQUE OF FICTION, see Cross, The Development of the English Novel; Follett, The Modern Novel; Horne, Technique of the Novel; Phelps, The Advance of the English Novel. For the SHORT STORY, see Albright, The Short Story; Canby, The Short Story in English; O'Brien, Great Modern American Short Stories. For the LITERARY ESSAY, see Greenslet, The Essay; Johnson, Elements of Literary Criticism; Winchester, Principles of Literary Criticism. SELECTIONS AND ANTHOLOGIES The most extensive collections of extracts from American writers are Stedman and Hutchinson's Library of American Literature in eleven volumes and Alderman, Harris, and Kent's Library of Southern Literature in sixteen volumes. The best anthologies for school purposes are Bronson, American Poetry; Bronson, American Prose; Cairns, Selections from Early American Writers; Newcomer, Andrews, and Hall, Three Centuries of American Poetry and Verse; Page, Chief American Poets; Pattee, Century Readings for a Course in American Literature; and Payne, Selections from American Literature. Other excellent collections for specific study are Baldwin, American Short Stories; Boynton, American Poetry; Calhoun and McAlarney, Readings from American Literature; Carpenter, Selections from American Prose; Foerster, The Chief American Prose Writers; Fulton, Southern Life in Southern Literature; Holliday, Wit and Humor of Colonial Days; Long, American Patriotic Prose; Lounsbury, Yale Book of American Verse; Matthews, The Oxford Book of American Essays; Mims and Payne, Southern Prose and Poetry; Monroe and Corbin, The New Poetry; Payne, American Literary Criticism; Rees, Modern American Prose Selections; Rittenhouse, The Little Book of Modern Verse, The Second Book of Modern Verse; St. John and Noonan, Landmarks of Liberty; Schnittkind, The Poets of the Future; Stedman, An American Anthology; Trent, Southern Writers; Trent and Wells, Colonial Prose and Poetry; Untermeyer, Modern American Poetry. This by no means exhausts the list of useful collections of every sort. LITERATURE SERIES Many American classics and a great variety of extracts from American writers are now available in the familiar series of annotated texts. Some of these series are: Academy Classics (Allyn and Bacon); Eclectic English Classics (American Book Company); English Readings (Holt); Lake English Classics (Scott, Foresman); Macmillan's Pocket Classics (Macmillan); Merrill's English Texts (Merrill); Modern Student's Library (Scribners); Riverside Literature Series (Houghton, Mifflin). Useful anthologies of various kinds have recently been published in several of these series. A great many American titles are now included in Everyman's Library (Dutton), a large and inexpensive series of texts. PERIODS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE THE COLONIAL PERIOD GENERAL. The anthology extracts will suffice for most of the writers of this period. See especially the extracts in Cairns, and in Trent and Wells. The best authority for the period is Tyler, History of American Literature during the Colonial Time. See also Otis, American Verse (1625-1807); Tyler, Narratives of Early Virginia; Winship, Sailor Narratives; Lodge, Studies in History. There are editions of Bradford's History by Ford, and Davis; also a recent rendering into modern English by Paget. Winthrop's Journal has been edited by Hosmer. There are biographies of Captain John Smith by Warner, Bradley, Jenks, and Johnson; of Bradford by Walker; of Winthrop by Twitchell, R. C. Winthrop, and Walker; of Ward by Dean, and Phillips; of Williams by Carpenter, and Strauss; of Eliot by Byington; of Sewall by Chamberlain, and Lodge; of Increase Mather by Walker, and Sibley; of Cotton Mather by Wendell, and Marvin; of Anne Bradstreet by Campbell; of Wigglesworth by Dean. EDWARDS. The best selections are edited by Van Doren in the Modern Student's Series. Life: Allen, Gardiner. Criticism: A. L. Jones, Stephen, Macphail, More. WOOLMAN. The Journal may be had in Everyman's Library. Life: Shore. FRANKLIN. The Autobiography should be read in any well-edited text. The best collection of minor writings is in the joint volume on Franklin and Edwards edited by Van Doren for the Modern Student's Library. Life: Ford, McMaster, Bruce, More, Morse, Fisher. Criticism: Harrison, Choate, Smyth, Dudley. THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD GENERAL. The anthology extracts, especially those in Cairns, or in Newcomer, Andrews, and Hall, are adequate for the political writers of this period. For the poets, see also Bronson, Long, and similar anthologies. See Tyler, The Literary History of the American Revolution; Ellis, Joseph Dennie and His Circle; Loshe, Early American Novel; Marble, Heralds of American Literature. There are biographies of Otis by Tudor; of Samuel Adams by Wells, and Hosmer; of John Adams by C. F. Adams, and Morse; of Henry by Tyler, and Morgan; of Paine |