AMERICAN LITERATURE

the years 1910 and 1911 were dates of real significance for literature in english. they marked with approximate accuracy the end of a period. it was then, and not later, when the turmoil of the world war had confused men’s minds, that three hterary movements lost their momentum, and a fourth became dominant. the brilliant but short-lived aestheticism of the ’nineties, with its wit and its vivid play upon sensation, died for lack of roots. the cult of force and moral manliness, which in kipling’s staccato style had captured the popular imagination on both sides of the atlantic, lost its validity because it ceased to represent either the facts or the emotions of an era both more democratic and more sceptical. and finally, the premature romanticism which had swept america particularly into a sentimental enthusiasm for its own sup- posed past and made the presses reel with ‘ best sellers,” en- - countered the passion for reality which science had bred, and sank underground into that instinctive world where the interests of the demi-literate are forever fed by raw imaginings that have little place in literature. it was, indeed, about 1910 that the scientists, the satirists, the philosophers in fiction, who since the ’eighties in europe had been attacking the conventions upon which 19th-century litera- ture rested, won their victory and scattered not merely the feeble remnant of victorianism, but overthrew the kiplings, the stevensons, the sentimentalists and the aesthetes. bernard shaw and ii. g. wells were their protagonists in english, with the influence of the great russians behind. about that time, both in great britain and tn america, the prevailing interests of the literary changed. in prose and poctry, in fiction and on the stage, the attempt to escape from the conventional, to make literature square with new facts, to seek a fresher reality, 1s ob- vious. there is a break with the past which the world war only accentuated and the younger writers of the second and third decades accepted as their duty and heritage. the idea became more important than the form in fiction; the stage drifted to- ward satire; poetry, after a long dormancy, revived in realistic moods in which much that had been regarded as unpoctical was better expressed than beauty in its conventional aspects. i. introduction at the beginning of the new epoch american literature was popular, diffuse and feeble, and americans were far more in- fluenced than influential; yet once the movement was under way it developed great energy and wrought wide changes in the literature of the united states. american writers who, except for whitman and mark twain, had been of little world sig- nificance since the days of the great new englanders, became again important, with definite achievements and still more definite promise. the effect of the war upon european literature was shattering. the story is different for america. that craving for a new reality which america had shared with europe was re- inforced and directed by the violent emergence of the united 106 states out of relative isolation into the current of world ideas. a new nationalism was born in amcrican literature, due to a new perspective of america as a nation among nations. this new nationalism was, from cot4 to 1920, in externals a new internationalism, engendered by a flood of european ideas (many of them wrapped round propaganda) which reached far beyond the bounds of literature and scholarship and led not only to a new knowledge of european thought, but, with more importance, to a vivid consciousness of ideas as a determinant of national beliefs and action. the novels of theodore dreiser in the first decade of the cen- tury had expressed in powerful crudity the american attempt to get at the reality of american life; but in the spoon river an- thology of edgar lee masters in rg9rs, and in sinclair lewis’ afain street in 1920; a new spirit of self-criticism appears, which is quite as much due to a quickened national sense as to a search for truth, in a romantic age the entry of america into the war might have led to a violent reaction from european ideas into a narrow and optimistic patriotism. in spite of victory and a vast pros- perity afterwards, what happened was the reverse. the litera- ture of the united states has become more critical, more realistic, more sophisticated. and although the american theme has been exalted as not before for many generations, what has been written is not “ local colour ”’ but studies of america as a part of world civilisation. the result has been a rapid increase of energy and effectiveness 1n american writing, due to the wealth of new subjects and the opportunity for experiment, with a much more uneven advance in the artistic value of the product. the years 1910-26 have been not so much an age of youth as an oppor- tunity for all new talents, whether young or old. in poetry, the peak of energy was apparently reached in the second decade of the. century, and the writers who established themselves then— such as robert frost, amy lowell, edwin arlington robinson, vachel lindsay, edgar lee masters and carl sandburg—have had no such virile successors; nor, with the exception of trost, - has their own later work been of sustained importance. american fiction, however, did not reveal its full power until 1920, and is still expanding in fertile experiment, and this is true also of drama and criticism. the realism of this new american literature is thoroughly national in character. the work of willa cather, booth tark- ington, sherwood anderson, sinclair lewis, eugene o’neill, vachel lindsay, for example, shows in effect the entrance into american literature, both as author and as subject, of the ameri- can democracy—not as whitman conceived it, a band of equali- tarian brothers, but asa bourgeoisie of everyday people, not class conscious, the product of industrialism and uplift. as indus- trialism tends more and more throughout the world to produce men and women of the american habit of life, this gives an importance to the new american fiction that is quite inde- pendent of its absolute artistic merit. in the american moving picture this social importance has often parted from aesthetic and critical values altogether. sinclair lewis’ iwuin street (1920) and babbitt (1922), however, have a symbolic value comparable in kind, if not in degree, to hamlet and anna karenina. still more closely related to the tendencies and influences noted above, is the striking drift toward satire, especially since 1920 and the disillusionment which followed the war. the inevitable comparison with european society arising from america’s in- ternational experience resulted not so much in admiration of the foreigner as in criticism of home-made civilisation. americans saw themselves in perspective as no earlier american writers had done—not even mark twain, whose satire was directed against humanity rather than america. sinclair lewis was the banner- bearer in this; but a surprising number of novels, plays and poems in the period can best be judged as satire, and a new criticism— literary, historical and social —has developed with either satire or analysis of the american mind as its chief motive. american literature has become fully self-conscious. with self-criticism has come the sudden and almost complete sophistication of the advancing edge of american writing, both american literature journalistic and literary, and especially of american dramatic writing. naivete has gone, except for the naive assumption that comfort, wealth and triumphant love win happiness forever after, which is still current in broadcast magazine literature. american literary art has become critical, detached and often cynical to a marked degree. it is significant that this is least true in the american magazines of wide circulation which are a purely native product, and most marked upon the new york stage, which has been strongly influenced by european modes and ideas. there has also been a wide extension of the area in which experience is sought for art. the interest in the lower and middle levels of consciousness, so apparent in all of the stronger american writers, is of course common to all modern literatures, but in the united states it has been especially fruitful because it has led poets, dramatists and novelists to break through the standardisation of american experience to the incongruous emotions astir beneath. the uneven work of sherwood anderson, the sensational plays of eugene o’neill, the quiet penetration of robert frost, the fantasies of christopher morley, all are in- dicative of this new power. inevitably the new area of investiga- tion has spread to those questions of sex which psychology had revealed as of high importance, and the controversy as to the relations between art and decency has been an important part of contemporary criticism. a direct result of these new extensions of interest has been a marked development of technique and a more uneven advance in literary craftsmanship. the novel and the drama have been especially fertile in experiment, and although the foreign influ- ence of proust, dorothy m. richardson, james joyce and the german expressionists has been strong, the symbolism of cabell, the realistic fantasy of christopher morley, the dramatic de- vices of o'neill, the slow broodings of anderson have been highly original in their application to the american theme. craftsman- ship, always the weak point in american literature, has notably advanced in the hands of such skilful workmen as hergesheimer, cabell, frost, elinor wylie and mrs. edith wharton, until crudity can no longer be regarded as a concomitant of strength in american writing. on the stage this sense of artistic fitness has been most notably displaved in the remarkable development of background and direction, where again the inspiration is european but the result often highly original. the only “ schools ” of literary expression which may be said to have come into existence in the united states since ro1o are symptomatic of the tendencies at work. free verse, of which the imagists, led by the late amy lowell, were champions, was es- sentially an attempt to get new vigour and new scope for areri- can poetry. it was used and overused by writers whose interest in the american scene led them to desire, hke whitman, new rhythms to express perceptions not hitherto felt to be poetical. having accomplished its main purpose, free verse as such has become again of minor importance. the curious outburst in american fiction of what the french many decades earlier had called naturalism, was largely a result of the new interest in american life. the novel of the middle west, usually of farm experience, which became a familiar type in this period, was written in the closest possible imitation of the actual appearance of life, and was made vigorous, if not always interesting, by the sudden discontent of its authors with the monotony and narrow- ness of american rural existence. cre, as in free verse and in the handling of sex, honesty frequently outran art. outside of belles lettres, such work in biography and history as could properly be called literature was strongly influenced by the conditions of the era. the scientific, impersonal study of facts which had its great impetus in the roth century became the foundation for more critical, more personal, and more imagina- tive books, which did not so much revert to the older methods of narrative as substitute criticism, philosophy and analysis for an unrelieved structure of uninterpreted fact. the new inter- national interests brought by the war and the sudden discovery of the importance of the american frontier were stimulating factors. such books as the education of henry adams (1918) and such a series as the chronicles of america, ed. allen johnson american literature (1920), reflected in the one case the more human note, and in the other the breadth of the new interest in the american past, which every year since their publication has seen increase. such notable memoirs as the letlers of walter hw. page (1922, 1925) and of william and henry james (1920) have helped to increase the interest of americans in themselves. the history of the period 1910-26 in american literature is a story of new fundamental conceptions entcring the american mind, which have conditioned all writing not strictly utilitarian or entirely superficial in its nature. the new premises upon which a part of american thinking and observation have been conducted, the sense of new values in beauty and the emotions generally, have combined with the influence of the innumerable translations and reprints from abroad to encourage technique, increase sophistication, lift the general level of literary accom plishment and sharpen and clarify the interest in the american scene. there are perhaps few great names in this period, al- though purely aesthetic criticism has had as yet little time or inclination to operate; but the violence of the attack by repre- sentatives of an older culture upon the typical books of the time is evidence of the energy inspiring change. contemporary american literature is clearly both pioneer and transitional, and bears every mark of the beginnings of anewage. (h. s.c.) il. poetry what has been called ‘‘ the new era in american poetry ’’ may be said to date from 1914. in that year various unformed tend- encies suddenly crystallised into a set of movements, and the poets who were to become the leaders of the renaissance issued their first challenging volumes. within 12 months there appeared vachel lindsay’s general booth enters into heaven, amy lowell's sword blades and poppy seed, james oppenheim’s songs for the new age, robert frost’s north of boston, and the first an- thology of the imagists, which, under the aegis of amy lowell, introduced the work of john gould fletcher and “ h. d.” a year later readers became familiar with four new names, through the immediate popularity of edgar lee masters’ spoon river anthology (1915), sara teasdale’s rivers to the sea (1915), edwin arlington robinson’s the mfan against the sky (1916), and carl sandburg’s chicago poems (1916). edna st. vincent millay’s renascence had been acclaimed as early as 1912, and in 1917 these poignant verses, written by the poet at 19, became the title-poem of her most famous collection. her sonnets took rank among the best ever written in america, and her concise lyrics in second april (1921), recalling influences as unlike as catullus and emily dickinson, gave rise to a small army of imitators. sara teasdale won almost as many followers. her rivers to the sea (1915) and flame and shadow (1920) contain love songs worthy of christina rossetti, poems which are as inevitable and art- less as folk-songs. though some of the poets attained eminence in more than one genre, the tendencies of the period were so pronounced that much of the poetry fell naturally into certain divisions. the outstand- ing group—the one to interpret life from the realistic standpoint —included edwin arlington robinson, robert frost, edgar lee masters and carl sandburg. each of these achieved an attitude and an idiom which, while strongly differentiated, were always indigenous. robinson was the first to revolt from the rhetorical exaggeration and the “‘ poetic diction’ of the preceding period. even his first volume, children of the night (1897), anticipated the later innovators by using a speech that was not the language of the poetasters but of the people. his collected poems (1921) and the subsequent dionysus in doubt (1925) revealed a precise and curiously astringent voice, a tone that, in its very clipped syllables, declared its new england origins. the dryness of his utterance was deceptive; beneath the congealed phrases there ran a warm flood of sympathy, particularly with those who, from a worldly point of view, werefailures. his most highly coloured canvases are those of such defeated dreamers as ‘“ miniver cheevy ” and ‘ captain craig,” mediocrities like the son in “the gift of god” and battered derclicts like “ bewick finzer.”” robinson’s spiritual godfather is undoubtedly brown- ing. more surprising than the tremendous extent of his gamut is 107 the certainty of the smallest notes he strikes within it. he is as successful with a long philosophic monologue (vide the pano- ramic “‘ ben jonson entertains a man from stratford ’’) as with a concentrated sonnet; he is equally at home in a ballad, in dia- logue and in the blank verse novel, “ the man who died twice ” (1924), which won him the pulitzer prize for the second time. his brilliant condensations, his objectiveness, his very in- ability to surrender to the emotions, establish his individuality as well as his backgrounds. robert frost, fully as representative, was even more obviously “native.” his north of boston (1914), afountain interval (1916) and new hampshire (1923), constitute a new england trilogy. here are the gaunt hillsides, the thinning homesteads, the physi- cal and spiritual isolation of a people struggling among rocky pastures and dried-up brooks. in delineating his subjects, frost showed himself, first of all, a lover of the fact. but frost was no mere despondent statistician; he wore his rue and realism with a difference. if he was a farmer, he was also a philosopher, he was more concerned with the soul than with the soil. nor was he a grim naturalist. his gravest narratives were pronounced with something akin to fantasy; a sly pucker was never absent from so straightforward a disclosure as “ mending wall ”’; even that sombre masterpiece, ‘‘ the death of the hired man,” was not without intellectual raillery. it was the “ tone of voice ” which characterised not only frost’s major efforts but the later lyrics which, though less known, bid fair to rank as high as his larger designs. here—and this feature has already become an ‘influence ’’—was a natural speech so arranged that the accents of the speaker rose from the printed page. the work of edgar lee masters divided itself into two parts: spoon river anthology (1915) and the volumes which preceded and followed it. spoon river anthology was possibly most important as a document; there can be no doubt concerning its powerful translation of local drama, village gossip and universal passions. as art its value was less certain, but its concise epitaphs were far more arresting than the pedestrian blank verse which prevenied the excellent thought in towards the gulf (1918) and domesday book (1920) from attaining literary distinction. the realism of carl sandburg frequently approached mysti- cism. sandburg had been termed “‘ the laureate of industrial amer- ica’; and the appellation seems apt enough, for all his volumes, particularly chicago poems (1916), cornhuskers (1918) and smoke and steel (1923), vibrated with the throbbing of immense machines. what frost and robinson did for new england, sandburg did for the mid-west. his poetry, like his setting, was full of ferment; his irregular lines, exploring the borderland be- tween poetry and prose, captured a dynamic energy which em- ployed slang with gusto and, occasionally, with beauty. in spite of a frequent excess of violence in his utterance, the mystical clement continually loomed above the brutal. if sandburg gave voice to some of the most raucous declamations of his day, he also breathed some of its quietest phrases. the aesthetic attitude, though limited in appeal, was responsi- ble for three years of bitter controversy. the literary conflict started quietly enough with the publication of the first volume of some imagist poets (1915), grew violent with amy lowell's belligerent championship, and finally developed into a prolonged battle over free verse. the imagists themselves—amy lowell, john gould fletcher and “‘ h. d.” were the american contribu- tors, although ezra pound was the first organiser of the group— placed their emphasis on a visual poetry (“ the presentation of an image ’’), on ‘absolute freedom in the choice of subject,” on “ the language of common speech,” on the “ use of the exact word, not the merely decorative word.’ though much of their work was the product of a programme rather than the result of a creative compulsion, their influence was that of a healthy cor- rective. the late amy lowell was the most tireless fighter against facile platitudes and the cliches of the period; her volumes are a series of brilliant protests, though she herself scorned propa- ganda in poetry. even her two-volume biography jofn keats (1925) caused almost as much discussion as her controversial criticism. jfen, wemen and ghosts (1916) and pictures of the 108 floating world (1919) reveal an enamelled world whose glittering contours are as “ hard and clear” as any artisan could desire. the group disintegrated; amy lowell turned to larger and more orthodox patterns; john gould fletcher and *‘ ie. d.” amplified their vers fibre with rhyme and an almost formal construction, the latter’s collected poems (1925) proving to be one of the chief accomplishments of this movement. of the rhapsodists, the two most important were vachel lind- say and james oppenheim. where lindsay used a drum-beai rhythm and percussive rhymes, oppenheim employed a semi- whitmanic, semi-biblical free verse, but a broadly rhapsodic spirit dominated the work of both. lindsay was essentially a populariser, capturing in his chants the syncopated sounds of modern american life. although he disdained the appellation, he was called “ the poet who united ragtime and religion,” and an examination of his general booth enters into heaven (1913), the congo and other poems (1914) and the golden whales of california (1920) disclosed the influence of half-savage dance tunes, minstrel shows and the hurly-burly of ‘ jubilee ” camp- meetings. but lindsay was as much the missionary as the minstrel, a strect-corner evangelist pausing in the midst of his preaching to perform on the saxophone. oppenheim achieved his effects by recalling the sonority of the psalms. the sea (1924), a collection of his previous volumes, was both prophetic and analytical; its key was major and its theme was ‘‘ we are flesh on the way to godhood.”’ another poet influenced by whitman though not imitative of him was robinson jeflers. jetfers’ roau stallion (1926), a sensational blend of beauty and violence, was hailed by even the more academic critics as a communication of almost elemental power. many of the critics of the ‘new ” poetry, admitting its vigorous spontaneity and intellectual variety, objected that it lacked the sheer singing quality which had been the chief property of english verse. nothing could be farther from the fact. lizette woodworth reese was the forerunner of the lyricists who, reacting from the elaborate graces and coy affectations of the love-songs of the preced- ing period, delighted in a direct speech, sparse imagery and imme- diacy of contact. of these singers the majority were women, of whom the best known was edna st. vincent millay. adelaide crapsey, genevieve taggard, leonie adams, elizabeth j. coastworth, hazel hall, jean starr untermever were possibly the most ingratiating of this group, although a sharper and more cerebral type of lyric was patterned if not perfected by elinor wylie and the more impassioned louise bogan. mrs. wylie’s verses, in nets to catch the wind (1921) and bleck armour (1923), were par- ticularly edged; here was a dazzling technique fitted to an unusually “jyewelled brain.””. among the more resonant singers, conrad aitken fashioned a curiously crepuscular music, which later, in puch; the immortal liar (1921) and priapus and the pool (1925), developed into a dark lyricism of extraordinary plangency. | john crowe ransom perfected a subtly modulated accent in chills and fever (1924); john mall wheelock, beginning with the buoyant athleticism of the tuman phantasy (1911), ascended to a more controlled ecstasy in the black panther (1922); william rose benet and stephen vincent benet, brothers in blood and balladry, struck their most vigorous chords in the former’s the burglar of the zodiac (1918) and the latter’s tiger joy (1925). following edwin markham’s the alan with the toe (1899), social protest found voice in the extended poet in the desert (1915) by charles e. s. wood, arrows in the gale (1914) by arturo giovan- nitti and challenge (1914) by louis untermeyer. the last was untermeyer’s most popular volume, although roast leviathan (1923), displaying a far greater restraint, was a decided advance in tone and technique. as parodist and translator, his performances in jieluding itorace (1919), fleavens (1922) and poems of heinrich itetne (1923) were well received, and his critical collections, afodern american poetry and modern british poetry, were revised several times subse- quent to their publication in igtiog. after america’s entrance into the world war a great quantity of militant poetry was produced of which next to nothing remains. the names of only two “ war pocts,” both of whom were killed in action, have survived, and each of these persists by virtue of a single poem: “ trees by joyce kilmer and “ i have a rendezvous with death ” by alan seeger. as has been implied, ezra pound was the leader of the experi- mentalists. a pioneer in style and an innovator in metrics, he allowed his artistry to become theory-logged and to sink in a welter of erudi- tion. the same is true of much of the work of t. s. eliot, whose the waste land (1922) occasioned a fierce controversy. nor would the record of energetic experiment be complete without listing the cuphuistic ironies of maxwell bodenheim, the staccato whinisicalities of alfred kreymborg, the abstract elegance of wallace ‘ american literature stevens, the critical wit of marianne moore, the curious combina- tion of typographical trickery and lyric gravity of ke. ek. cummings. the traditional note, though less assertive, has not been silenced for lack of expression. among the more conservative technicians were william k:llery leonard, whose autobiographical tie lives (1925) proved to be one of the most remarkable sonnet sequences ever pro- duced in america: arthur davison ficke; john g. neihardt, whose song of three friends (1919) is part of an epic series celebrating the ‘vinning of the west; and the rhetorical but often cloquent george sterling. ial: hil. fiction the death of mark twain in roto led to a change of opinion concerning him in the united states, which was symptomatic of a larger change of opinion, already under way, concerning fiction in general. heretofore he had customarily been valued for his broad humour and his eloquent gusto. now, however, the publi- cation of mark twain: a biography;(1912) by albert bigelow paine, afark twain’s letters (1917) and such posthumous works as the mysterious stranger (1916) and what is man? (1917 —but privately printed in 1906) called attention to a strain of naturalism, often profound and almost always pessimistic, which had grown upon mark twain during his later years. that this strain was noted after his death as it had not been noted before was due only in part to the further evidence which his posthu- mous books offered. various other writers as well, since about the time of the war with spain (1898), had been insisting, both in their theories and in their practice, that realism could no longer be bounded by the discreet and kindly limits set by william dean howells but must look more searchingly into various hidden paths and remote fields of human conduct; and there had come into existence a public which was impatient of a certain genteel smugness characteristic of much of the fiction produced at the close of the 19th century and the beginning of the zoth. of the predecessors of the movement the first place may be given to stephen crane, whose civil war novel the red badge of courage (1895) remains at once the most convincing and the most beautiful fiction commemorating that war. in this and in his other stories dealing with warfare, and in his maggie: a girl of the streets (1893; 1896), crane disregarded the expansive and sentimental moods ordinarily implied or evoked in fiction con- cerned with such themes, and fixed his eye upon specific facts with the intensity of genius. no one of his followers was quite so in- tense, but some of them learned from him, or shared with him, the method of concentrating upon individuals rather than upon types or social classes. harold frederic’s the damnation of theron ifare (1896), a study of the disintegration of a clergyman under the influence of liberal ideas; theodore dreiser’s sister carrie (rg00), an account of the rise of a trivial woman to fame as an actress; david graham dphillips’s susan lenox, 2 vol. (1917), a record of the drab miseries and sober splendours of a courtesan; hamlin garland’s al son of the middle border (1917), an auto- biographical chronicle of a pioncer—all these are devoted to ex- ceptional individuals whose stories become more rather than less impressive in their application for the reason that they are so little muffled in generalisations. this interest in exceptional individuals not infrequently gives to american naturalism a quality which makes it seem more or less romantic as compared to the official realism of howells and his school, with their primary emphasis upon the normal ways of life. i'rank norris, in the two parts of his uncompleted trilogy, the octopus (1g01) and the pit (1903), wrote with touches of epic magnificence about the growing and marketing of wheat. jack london, in the cail of the wild (1903), the sea-w olf (1904), love of life and other storics (1907) and in many other volumes of autobiographical and fictive adventure, dealt with animals and men waging a fierce evolutionary struggle against hostile en- vironments, and may be said to have created the demand for “red blood ” in fiction which still persists. upton sinclair, the chief spokesman in fiction of the american proletariat, made vigorous, if at times sensational, drama out of the warfare be- tween social classes, in the jungle (1906) and 100% (1920), as well as in other equally characteristic, though not equally suc- { cessful, books, all occupied with phases of the same conflict. american literature william sydney porter, better known as “ o. henry,” brought a kind of vivacious bohemianism to bear upon the little comedies of existence which he noted among the undistinguished inhabi- tants of new york city, as in the four afillion (1906), and extended the same spirit with the dexterity of an accomplished raconteur to other sections of the country, as in heart of the west (1907). strictly speaking, however, american naturalism did not reach its full development until the second decade of the 20th century, when theodore dreiser (g.v.) published the bulk of his fiction: jennie gerhardt (2911), the financier (1912), the titan (1914), the genius (1915), free and other stories (1918), twelve alen (1919). these, with am american tragedy (1925) and the various autobiographic works, a traveler ai forty (1913), «a hoosier holiday (1916), a book about myself (1922), the color of a great city (1923), should have served to make dreiser’s attitude and aims clear. instead, he has been misunderstood and mis- represented, mispraised and misdefended, with an abundance which falls to the lot of only those writers who, whether delib- erately or not, become centres of controversy. the controversy about dreiser is due simply to his habit of regarding human life with more attention to its personal than to its social aspects. his characters either move in the direction of their desires under the impulse of some primitive will or else drift at the mercy of capricious tides of fortune. something romantic unquestionably appears in his preoccupation with such primitive elements and in his disposition to forgive whatever seems to be natural in the conduct of men. his brooding pity, however, does not reduce him to mere softness. he has been unwearying in his search for evidence in every case, and has assembled such a mass of rugged documents as no other novelist of his school has furnished. his best work, on the whole, may be found in sister carrie, twelve men and an american tragedy. with the school of naturalism may be associated certain novel- ists who, while technically not much akin to it, join with it, in effect, in swelling the literature of protest. robert herrick in such of his novels as the memoirs of an american citizen (1905), together (1908) and waste (1924) has bitterly arraigned the conventional american ideas about marriage and about money. sinclair lewis in main street (1920), babbitt (1922) and arrow- smith (1925), has won a hearing for an issue never before made popular in the united states. his heroes and heroines all revolt against the dullness of life and attempt, with varying de- grees of success, to escape from it. brilliant as a satirist, with an alert and decisive intelligence, lewis has also the gift of rapid and persuasive narrative. he has also the knack of phrase which has enabled him to make “ main street”’ synonymous with pro- vincial dullness and “babbitt” the generic name of any com- placent business man. less witty and clear-cut than lewis, sherwood anderson has been engaged in the same assault upon stupidity. in a sense, winesburg, ohio (1919), the triumph of the egg (1921), morses and afen (1923), a story teller’s story (1924) and dark laughter (1925), all tell the same story, of how a troubled spirit, bewildered by the complexity and apparent meaninglessness of american industrial life, makes an effort to break away from it toward freedom. the bondage is always ob- scurely felt and the goal is always dim, but the impulse is keen and irresistible. anderson, who is a poet at heart, is profoundly devoted to the idea that life to be truly good must be mobile and creative, not fixed and obedient. the literature of protest, of course, is far from including all the recent varieties of fiction. booth tarkington has been con- tent, as in penrod (1914), seventeen (1916), the magnificent ambersons (1918) and alice adams (1921), to accept contem- porary life on virtually its own terms and to make observant and agreeable fun of its follies. something of the same impulse guides george ade, whose work from fables in slang (2899) to hand-amude fables (1920) caricatures a generation in an in- imitable idiom. the language of illiteracy has been employed with humorous shrewdness by don marquis in the old soak and hail and farewell (1921) and the old soak’s history of the world (1924) which create a character in the honourable native 109 line of artemus ward and mr. dooley, and by ring w. lardner in vou know me al: a busher’s letters (1916), with its amusing burlesque hero, and with less illiteracy but no less vernacularity in how to write short stories (1924), a collection of short nar- ratives of notable veracity. at the other extreme are the novels and tales by edith whar- ton, who has apphed a method inherited from henry james to the representation of fashionable life chiefly in new york city and in the parts of europe frequented by cultivated and so- phisticated americans. the house of mirth (1905), the custom of ithe country (1913), ningu and other storics (1916) and the «age of innocence (1920) are written with subtle irony and with an imaginative grasp of delicate situations. mrs. wharton’s masterpiece, however, is generally conceded to be ethan frome (1911), a moving tour de force concerned with a tragic stroke of fate in rural new england. willa cather, almost as subtle though not so ironical as mrs. wharton, surpasses her in sympathy with simple, instinctive persons. the heroines of o pioneers! (1913), the song of the lark (1915), aly antonia (1918) and a lost lady (1923) are among the most convincing women in the entire range of american fiction. the interpretation goes past all super- ficial judgments as to the goodness or badness, the intelligence or stupidity of these characters, and reveals an essence which some- how seems to lie deeper than any of thcir defining traits. considerably aloof from all these other tendencies are three novelists who are often put in a single class because they have in common a taste for exquisite decoration. they have little else in common. elinor wylie began her career as a poet, but turned aside to write jennifer lorn (1923) and the venetian glass nephew (1925), dainty, exotic romances with plots as ir- responsible as those of fairy tales and with the pungent, allusive manner of high comedy. carl van vechten turned from musica] criticism to write peter whiffle: his life and works (1922), the blind bow-boy (1923), the tattooed countess (1924) and fire- crackers (1925), which with a witty erudition and some diabolism chronicle the lives of certain groups of emancipated intellectuals, mostly resident in new york city. joseph hergesheimer in mountain blood (1915), the three black pennys (1917), java head (1919), linda condon (1919) and cytherea (1922), mention only his most characteristic novels, has set forth various american periods and localities with remarkable pictorial vivid- ness and has also made striking drama out of various profound problems of character. most detached of all from contemporary life and from current modes of fiction is james branch cabell (q¢.v.) who is as eminent among modern american romancers as dreiser is among the naturalists. cabell’s work consists of a series of novels, tales and poems, all bound together in a concerted scheme and furnished with a critical prologue and an autobiographical epilogue. the stories are gay, high-hearted and dramatic. the style, while now and then mannered, is uniformly rich and beautiful. information respecting most of the writers mentioned above and numerous others who cannot be mentioned for lack of space will be found in george gordon, the afen who alake our novels (1919); grant overton, the women who make our novels (1918); blanche colton williams, our short story writers (1920); carl van doren, contemporary american novelists 1900-1920 (1922). the ‘‘ modern american writers ’”’ series includes studies of dreiser (1925) by burton rascoe, edith wharton (1925) by robert morss lovett, and james branch cabell (1925) by carl van doren, (c.¥). dy) iv. history, biography, etc. the efiort toward realism characteristic of american litera- ture since 1910 is apparent in history, biography and criticism, as well as in fiction and poetry. in historical writing this spirit of realism has shown itself in the collection and study of docu- ments reflecting the social and economic life of different epochs, and the scientific interpretation of events in their light. the publication of frederick j. turner’s the frontier in american history (1920) was an important contribution to this movement. while the continuation of the monumental works on the i10 history of the united states, by james ford rhodes and edward channing, is to be noted, a more important work is the river- side history of the united states (1915), edited by william el. dodd, to which carl l. becker contributed beginnings of ameri- can life; allen johnson, union and democracy; w. e. dodd, expansion and conflict, and f. l. paxson the new nation. other members of this school of realistic interpretation are james truslow adams in his studies of revolutionary new england 1691-1776 (1923), charles a. beard in his economic inter preta- tion of the constitution of the united states (1913) and economic origins of jeffersonian democracy (1915), samuel eliot morison in his maritime history of afassachusetts 1783-1860 (1921) and his sources and documents illustrating the american revolution 1714-1788 (1923). the contributions of american writers to euro- pean history are necessarily less striking, but at least the afedi- aeval mind (1914) by henry osborn taylor and jfont-saint- michel and chartres (1913) by henry adams should be mentioned. certain american historians who maintained their scientific detachment were able to render a service of high value in the review of the documents bearing upon the origin of and responsi- bility for the world war, chief among them prof. sidney b. fay. in the philosophic interpretation of the forces which have underlain the unfolding of the national life of the country, such as the economic urge of the pionecr and the religious zeal of the puritan, herbert croly’s promise of american life (1909) and progressive democracy (1914) have exercised most influence on the new school of critics to be mentioned shortly. the founding of the new republic in 1914 under his editorship brought together a group of journalists whose chief aim was the constructive criticism of contemporary politics, among whom walter lippmann with his prefuce te politics (1913), drift and mastery (1914) and public opinion (1922), and walter e. weyl with the new democracy (1912) and tired radicals (1921) were outstanding figures. os the same tendency toward realism in the collection of fact and observation of phenomena shows itself in biography and autobiog- raphy. the period under discussion is remarkable for the number of narratives of personal experience which divided with fiction the favour of the reading public. thus we have the self-revelation of a member of the puritan aristocracy in the [ducation of henry adams (1918), the experience of the pioncer in hamlin garland's a son of the middle border (1917), and the life-stories of immigrants in mary antin’s the promised land (1912), the americanisation of edward bok (1920) and ludwig lewisohn'’s up stream: an american chronicle (1922). a rich experience among many of the various strains of our population is recorded in jane addams’ twenty years at ifull-house (1910). light is thrown upon the political life of the time in the autobiography (1913) of theodore roosevelt and the autobiography: a personal narrative of political experiences (1913) of robert marion la follette. biography during this period felt the impulse toward new and penetrating methods of interpreta- tion afforded by the psychological investigations of the psycho- analysts and behaviourists. among the more formal biographics, albert bigelow paine’s afark twatn’s biography (1912) and amy lowell’s john keats (1925) are in the front rank. the specific effort to detach characters from conventional appraisal and to interpret them anew in the light of their behaviour and environment and by the aid of analytic psychology is seen in the biographical studies of van wyck brooks, the ordeal of mark tiwvatn (1920) and the pilgrimage of itenry james (1925), the essays of gamaliel bradford, damaged souls (1923) and bare souls (1924). with the possible exception of poetry, the field of most striking development in american literature in the years 1910-26 is criticism. here we find at the beginning of the period a well-en- trenched group of critics carrying on the traditions of lowell and whipple, devoted to maintaining the aesthetic standards of clas- sicism, the ethical standards of puritanism, the social ideals and individual tastes for which president harding later coined the word “ normalcy.” in 19roappeared the new laokoon of irving babbitt in which he stated with much ability the case for classi- cism. during the period paul elmer more was continuing his shelburne essays, rg0f-1o and w. c. brownell was adding to his acute studies of style in american prose masters (1909). stuart pratt sherman began as a militant member of this school, with americans (1922), but has steadily moved leftward with his acceptance of such realists as sherwood anderson and sinclair lewis. a critic who showed a marked departure from this group was james k. huneker, who protested that he cared nothing for general ideas, and though possessed of sound technical equipment in the fields of music and literature, gave himself more and more american literature to sheer impressionism. tollowing huncker, henry l. mencken asserted the creed of creative criticism; but in the main he has devoted himself to attacking the social and aesthetic idols of traditional american culture, and defending realistic, out-of- door writers like theodore dreiser and i:dgar lee masters. his first campaign was in behalf of therobust philosophy of nietzsche, philosophy of friedrich nietzsche (1911). in subsequent years his book of prefauces (1917) and successive books of prejudices: first serics (1919), second series (1920), third series (1922), fourth series (1924), continued his challenge. with the estab- lishment under his editorship of the american afercury (1924), he became for the moment the greatest critical force in america. among other critics who have extended the bounds of american appreciation are ernest boyd who as a cosmopolitan of the world of letters has brought foreign developments, particularly the awakening in ireland—ireland’s literary renaissance (1916) —to notice, and carl van doren, who with professor sherman erskine and trent edited the cambridge iistory of american literature (1917-21), and as literary editor of the nation and later of the century has been the foremost to greet newly arriv- ing poets and novelists. the most original and distinctive sum- mary of american literature is that by john macy, the spirit of american literature (1913). in the years before the war appeared a group of literary critics who joined hands with the new school of political critics to press questions of ultimate significance with reference to the bases of american culture and its relation to original creative art. these writers pointed out the close connection between the puritan and pioneer origins and the subsequent development of a civilisation based on ideals of luxury and material success. they endeavoured to forward in national culture and creative effort the original and genuine in place of the imported and imitated. the ground was prepared for their effort by the gathering of a group of writers and workers in the arts about the personality of alfred stieglitz in his studio in new york. out of this group sprang the seven arts magazine, which had among its contributors james oppenheim, van wyck brooks and randolph s. bourne. the sceptical attitude of these critics toward the past.extended itself to the contemporary crusade of america to make the world safe for democracy, and their magazine perished in the war. the attitude and purposes of the school found expression in van wyck brooks’ america’s coming of age (1915) and letters and leadership (1918), randolph bourne’s youth and life (1913) and untimely papers, published posthumously in i9i9. : a definite and fundamental relation to these advanced schools of political and cultured thought is held by pragmatic philosophy. william james died in 1910; but his personal influence remained strong, revived by the publication of his letters (1920). the chief formal promulgation of the pragmatic attitude in regard to conduct and education was made by john dewey in /tuman nature and conduct (1922) and itxperience and nature (1925). the ablest oppo- nent of the pragmatists was george santayana in winds of decirine (1913) and character and opinion in the united states (1920). in scepticism and animal fatth (1923), however, he seems to approach their point of view. santayana has reached a high place in american letters as a literary and miscellaneous essayist in three philosophic poets (1910) and soliloquies in england (1922). among other essay- ists, dr. s. m. crothers in jznmanty speaking (1912) and the dame school of experience (1920) continues the genial tradition of dr. oliver wendell holmes; agnes repplicr, with considerable tartness, defends the conservative point of view in counter currents (1916) and under dispute (1924). another tradition of the american essay, that of thoreau, is continued in the nature studies of john bur- roughs, studies in nature and literature (1913) and john muir, boyhood of a naturalist (1916). (r. lo.) v. negro literature the plight of the africans brought to america during the slave trade and of their descendants is one of the most dramatic in human history. that there should arise a literature written by black americans touching their own situation depended on many things—their education, their economic condition, their growth in group consciousness. before 1910, the books written by ameri- can negroes were with some exceptions either a part of the gen- eral american literature or individual voices of americans of negro descent. there began, however, about 1910 something that can be called a renaissance. it came because of oppression, because the spread of education made self-expression possible, and because a larger number of these 10,000,000 people were raising themselves above amery--amir ali the lowest poverty. the first sign of this renaissance was natural- ly a continuation of the self-revelations current during the abo- lition controversy in the slave narratives, of which frederick douglass’s life and times (1892) was the most striking and booker washington’s up from slavery, published in 1901, the last great example. since 1g10, other autobiographies have fol- lowed. in these later stories there is, of course, less of the older spontaneity, little of adventure and more self-consciousness. ‘john r. lynch published his revealing facts of reconstruction in 1913. alexander walters (a black bishop), r. r. moton (the successor of booker washington) and many others published autobiographies. a more careful consideration of the negro's social problems has characterised the period 1910-26. this is perhaps best illustrated by the three or four volumes of essays published by kelley miller, the trenchant work of william pickens, w. e. b. dubois’s dark- wufer (1920), and j. a. rogers's from superman to afan (1917), and especially by the files of the growing weekly negro press. these general considerations have led to a number of scientific studies. foremost among these are the series of atlanta university studies covering 13 years and touching such matters as /fforts for social betierment among negro americans (1910); the college-bred negro american (1911); the common school and the negra american (1912); the negro american artisan (1913); morals and manners among negra americans (1915). there came also as a result of the chicago riot the careful study of the negro in chicago (illinois- chicago commission on race relations, 1922), the tuskegee negro year book, edited by m. n. work annually since 1915, and the work of dr. george fe. haynes have been along the same lines. more striking work, however, begins with the rewriting of amer- ican history from the negro point of view. the doyen of this effort since 1910 has been carter g:. woodson, whose work has been pro- lific and painstaking. beginning with 1916 he has published a con- siderable number of hooks, including the journal ef negro itistory, 10 large volumes filled with documents, essays and research. next comes benjamin g. brawley with his short iistory of the american negre (1913 and 1919), social ilistory of the american negro (1921) and his study of the negro in literature and art in the united stutes (1921). with these may be noted steward's the haitian revolution, 1791 fo 1804 (1914), emmett j. scott's the american negro an the world war (1919) and the gift of black folk: the ne- groes in the making of america (1924), by w. e. b. dubois, published by the knights of columbus. , but not in propaganda, science nor history has the essence of the renaissance shown itself. rather the true renaissance has been a matter of the spirit and has shown itself among the poets as well as among the novelists and dramatists. in poetry, there are a dozen or more writers whose output has been small but significant. george mcclellan, with his somewhat didactic and conventional verse, forms the link between past and present. then comes james weldon johnson, claude mclxay, leslie ilill, joseph cotter, jr., georgia douglas johnson, countee cullen and langston hughes, besides a half-dozen others. it is notable that already several critical anthologies (by james weldon johnson, robert kerlin, white and jackson) have appeared. william stanley braithwaite has appeared as a widely read critic of poetry. the development in fiction is still newer and includes some earlier attempts like the quest of the silver fleece by w. e. b. dubois (1911) and james weldon johnson’s a nto- biography of an ex-coloured afan (1912), and newer and more sig- nificant work by rudolph fisher, jessie fauset, walter white and jean toomer. in the drama, willis richardson and one or two others have been writing effectively, while in the explanation and collection of negro music and folk-lore we have j. rosamond johnson, t. w. talley and j. w. cotter. perhaps the extent of this renaissance of negro literature can be summed up in two works. one is the 15 volumes of zhe crists maga- zine, which began publication in nov. i910, and has since been a compendium of occurrences, thoughts and expression among american negroes. most of the newer negro writers found first publication in its pages. the second is the book called the new negro, published in 1925 and edited by alain locke, in which some 30 contemporary negro writers express the spirit of their day. all these things are beginnings rather than fulfilments, but they are significant beginnings. they mean much for the future. (w. e. 3b. dub.) bibliography.—the following is a selection from the numerous works which have been published during the past ten years dealing with recent american literature: van wyck brooks, america’s coming-of-age (1915), and letters and leadership (1918); amy lowell, tendencies 11 afodern american poetry (1917); lloyd r. morris, ed., the young idea, an anthology of opinion concerning the spirit and aims of contemporary american literature (1917); w. p., trent, et al., the cambridge iiistory of american literature, 4 vol. (1917-21); grant overton, the women who afake our novels (1918); george gordon, the afexn who afake our novels (1919); conrad aiken, skepticisms (1919); h. l. mencken, a book ii! of prefaces (1920); t. e. rankin, american writers of the present day (1920); f. haskett, ed., on american books, a symposium (1920); blanche cotton williams, our short story \writers (1920); marguerite wilkinson, new voices (1921); j. w. manly and e. rickert, con- temporary american literature (1922); f. e. schelling, a ppraise- ments and asperities (1922); carl van doren, contemporary american novelists 1900-1920 (1922); bruce weirick, from whitman to sand- burg (1922); stuart p. sherman, the gentus of america (1923); norman foerster, nature in american literature (1923); grant overton, american night's entertainment (1923); carl van doren, the raving critie (1923); c. fe. bechhofer, the literary renaissance in slmerica (1923); w. l. phelps, ds ij like it, 2 vol. (1923-4); l. untermeyer, american poetry since 1900 (1923); fe. a. boyd, por- traits (1924); p. h. boynton, some contemporary americans; the personal equation tn literature (1924); grant overton, authors of the day (1924) and cargoes for crusoes (1924); carl van doren, many afinds (1924); j. c. farrer, ed., the literary spotlight (1924); carl van doren and mark van doren, american and british litera- ture since 1890 (1925). the “ modern american writers’ series includes studies of the more prominent writers of the period. amery, leopold charles maurice stennett (1873- ) british politician, was born at gorakhpur, northwest provinces, india, nov. 22 1873, and was educated at harrow and balliol college, oxford. he was elected a fellow of all souls college in 1897, and, after travelling for a year in the near east, in 1899 joined the staff of the times, london, and acted as chief correspondent to that paper during the south african war (1899-1902), remaining associated with it till 1909; during this period he edited the times history of the south african war. he began his political career as a strong advocate of tariff reform and, having contested in the unionist interest seats at wolverhampton and bow and bromley, was elected in 1911 m.p. for the sparkbrook division of birmingham. from 1914 to 1916 he served with the british army, first in france and later in the near east, and from 1917 to 1918 was a secretary of the war cabinet and on the personal staff of the secretary for war. in jan. toro, he became under-secretary gr the colonies and in 1921r parliamentary and financial secretary to the admiralty. from oct. 1922 to jan. 1924 he was iirst lord of the admiralty in the unionist cabinet. in nov. 1924, he became secretary of state for the colonies. he has published various works, including the problem of the army (1903); fundamental fallactes of free trade (1906); the great question (1909); union and strength (1912). amiens (see 1.855) had a population in 1921 of 92,780. the city is recovering slowly from the ravages caused by the bombardments of 1918, when the cathedral was struck nine times; the roof was pierced and the triforium, two chapels in the ambulatory, and some buttresses and window tracery were hit. the churches of st. germain and st. remy, the prefecture and the musee de picardie were partially ruined and much damage was done in the rue de beauvais. the wool and textile industries have regained their pre-war condition. amiens fell into german hands on aug. 30 1914, but after the battle of the marne it was cleared of the scattered german units who remained, and the front established some 20 m. eastwards, where it remained till t918. amiens formed the first concentration point for british troops disembarking at boulogne in 1914, and the first aircraft park was established here. it remained of high importance owing to its position on the lines of communication, and in march 1ro918 the germans made a great effort to break through between the british and french armies at the amiens salient and “roll them up on either hand.” they advanced to within eight miles of the town, which was evacuated by civilians and bombarded daily by heavy guns. but the tide was turned by the opening of the british strategic offensive in aug., and on aug. 15 mass was said in the cathedral as a thanksgiving for the town’s deliverance. | amiens, battle of: see victory, advance to. amir ‘ali, seyyid (1849— ), indian jurist and moslem leader, was born april 6 1849, of an arab family, tracing descent from the prophet, which migrated from persia and settled at mohan in oudh in the middle of the 18th century. at hugli college, calcutta, he graduated in 1867, taking his m.a. in 1868. he came to london and was called to the bar of the inner ii2 temple in 1873. he hadalready published { critical examination of the lifeand teachings of alahomed, the first of a series of books cf islamic modernist interpretation and apologetics, which have given him a recognised place in english literature. he was for some years a lecturer on mahommedan law at the presidency college, calcutta, and afterwards president of the faculty of law at the university there. he was also chief presidency mag- istrate of calcutta and in 1890 was appointed a judge of the bengal high court, being the first mahommedan to reach the bench in india. he was made a c.1.e. in 1887. in 1904 he re- tired and settled in england. he was the first indian to be swom (nov. 1909) of the privy council and to serve on its judicial committee. but his chief ambition in life was the advancement of the indian moslems, both morally and mate- rially, along practical and constitutional lines and his activities paved the way for the morley-minto and subsequent reforms.