ABSTRACT
American novelists have for the most part advocated rather classical restraints than romantic anarchy, recognising that 'the American dream' can be realised only in part and with the compromises and concessions demanded by the human condition. These themes and treatments are of equal importance to the modern American novelist. The trilogy covers the period immediately before, during and immediately after the First World War and is American enough in having as its central interest the character of American society. It is a most depressing, hopeless story—and we have the right to ask why he should be so different from the Wright brothers, why there should be no fictional counterpart to the story from real life, why, in sum, the gloom should be so universal. As Professor Trilling argues, the link between literature and life is its exposition of 'formulable ideas'.
