ABSTRACT
The inclusion of Santayana's only novel as volume 4 of the critical edition of his works amounts to a form of canonization comparable to publication in the French Pleiade series, and it constitutes a welcome if belated recognition of Santayana's mastery in the art of prose fiction. That The Last Puritan lay virtually ignored for four decades after 1940 is scandalous. The narrative was closely based on Santayana's own experience in New England, Germany, France, England, and Italy over the long years of its composition, from 1891 to 1935. That is, most of its materials can be substantiated by the evidence of letters, articles, newspapers, and history itself. The initial popularity of The Last Puritan occurred, because Santayana combines the continental roman these with the English language novel of manners most skillfully, compellingly incorporating his philosophical convictions along the way.
