ABSTRACT
There is no absolutely new note in American literature, and especially no one trait which is common to all American writings and which is not found in any European. The eighteenth century was unfruitful for the New World, in lyric as in epic literature. The history of American lyric is contained in the large and admirable collections of Stedman, Onderdonk, and others; and it is the history of, perhaps, the most complete achievement of American literature. The practical literature, especially the newspaper, reveals the American physiognomy most clearly. Fiction stands in the centre of the characteristic literary productions; but also literature in the broader sense, including everything which interprets human destinies, as history and philosophy. The libraries guide the tastes and interests of the general public, and try to replace the ordinary servant-girl's novel with the best romances of the day and shallow literature with works which are truly instructive.
