Bibliographical Notes. Van Doren, Carl. 1921. The American Novel

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Carl Van Doren (1885–1950). The American Novel. 1921.
Bibliographical Notes

FULL bibliographies for all of the major novelists and most of the minor figures discussed in this volume may be found in The Cambridge History of American Literature (Putnam: 1917–21: 4 vols.) edited by William Peterfield Trent, John Erskine, Stuart P. Sherman, and Carl Van Doren. See especially the bibliographies to Chapters VI and VII in Book II and Chapter XI in Book III—all three of them dealing particularly with prose fiction. In A Manual of American Literature (Putnam: 1909) edited by Theodore Stanton there is a useful chapter on The Novelists by Clark Sutherland Northup. Other important general accounts are: Leading American Novelists (Holt: 1910) by John Erskine; Southern Fiction Prior to 1860: An Attempt at a First-Hand Bibliography (University of Virginia: 1909) by J. G. Johnson; History of Southern Fiction by Edwin Mims in The South in the Building of the Nation (Richmond: 1909–13: 13 vols.); A History of American Literature Since 1870 (Century: 1915) by F. L. Pattee.

Chapter I

THE PERIOD to 1830 is covered in The Early American Novel (Columbia University: 1907) by Lillie Deming Loshe and in Early American Fiction, 1774–1830 (Privately printed, Stamford, Conn.: 1902; revised edition, New York: 1913), a bibliography by Oscar Wegelin. For Brackenridge see A Bibliography of H. H. Brackenridge (Heartman, New York: 1917) by Charles F. Heartman. Modern Chivalry has long been out of print, as have A Pretty Story, The Foresters, The Coquette, The Algerine Captive, Female Quixotism, The Asylum, etc. An edition of Charlotte Temple (Funk and Wagnalls: 1905) contains an introduction and a bibliography by F. W. Halsey. Charles Brockden Brown’s novels were issued in six volumes by Mackay (Philadelphia) in 1887. The Life of Charles Brockden Brown (Philadelphia: 1815: 2 vols.) by William Dunlap and Memoirs of Charles Brockden Brown, the American Novelist (London: 1822), a shorter biography by the same hand, are the sources of most information regarding Brown. Further titles may be found listed in the Cambridge History, Vol. I, pp. 527–29.

Chapter II

THE MOST desirable edition of Cooper it that with introductions by his daughter Susan Fenimore Cooper now published by Houghton Mifflin in 32 vols. James Fenimore Cooper (Houghton Mifflin: 1883) by Thomas R. Lounsbury and James Fenimore Cooper (Lane: 1913) by Mary E. Phillips are both important, the former for critical analysis, the latter for anecdotal information. See also the Cambridge History, Vol. I, pp. 530–34, for a more extended bibliography.

Chapter III

FOR Neal see his Wandering Recollections of a Somewhat Busy Life (Boston: 1869). For Judd see Life and Character of the Rev. Sylvester Judd (Boston: 1857) by Arethusa Hall. For Paulding see Literary Life of James K. Paulding (New York: 1867) by William I. Paulding. For Kennedy see The Life of John Pendleton Kennedy (New York: 1871) by H. T. Tuckerman. For Simms see William Gilmore Simms (Houghton Mifflin: 1892) by W. P. Trent and A List of the Separate Writings of William Gilmore Simms of South Carolina, 1806–1870 (Privately printed: 1906) by Oscar Wegelin. For Bird see The Life and Dramatic Works of Robert Montgomery Bird (Knickerbocker Press: 1919) by Clement E. Foust. Thompson has been kept in print in an edition of four volumes (Lothrop). Kennedy’s Swallow Barn and Horse-Shoe Robinson are still issued (Putnam). Simms exists in various editions of 17 volumes, apparently just now out of print. Ware’s Zenobia, Aurelian, and Julian are issued by several publishers. Of the other novels discussed in this chapter only Melville’s Typee, Omoo, and Moby Dick continue to exhibit their original vitality. All three are included in the Everyman series, and they with White Jacket may be read in an edition in four volumes published by Dana Estes. Bibliographies of the writers discussed in this chapter are given in the Cambridge History, Vol. I, pp. 525–46.

Chapter IV

THE BEST editions of Hawthorne are those published by Houghton Mifflin, particularly the Riverside and Wayside editions in 13 volumes with notes by G. P. Lathrop. There are numerous useful biographical and critical studies: A Bibliography of Nathaniel Hawthorne (Houghton Mifflin: 1905) by Nina E. Browne; Life of Nathaniel Hawthorne (Walter Scott: 1890) by Moncure D. Conway; N. Hawthorne: Sa Vie et son Oeuvre (Paris: Hachette: 1905) by L. Dhaleine; Nathaniel Hawthorne and his Wife (Houghton Mifflin: 1885: 2 vols.) and Nathaniel Hawthorne and his Circle (Harper: 1903) both by Julian Hawthorne; Hawthorne (Macmillan: 1879) by Henry James; Memories of Hawthorne (Houghton Mifflin: 1897) by Rose Hawthorne Lathrop; Hawthorne and his Publisher (Houghton Mifflin: 1913) by Caroline Ticknor; Nathaniel Hawthorne (Houghton Mifflin: 1902) by George E. Woodberry. See also the Cambridge History, Vol. II, pp. 415–24, for a larger bibliography.

Chapter V

FOR the dime novel see The Dime Novel in American Life (Atlantic Monthly: July, 1907) by Charles M. Harvey. For Cooke see the forthcoming Life of John Esten Cooke (Columbia University) by John Beaty. For Winthrop see The Life and Poems of Theodore Winthrop (New York: 1884) edited by Laura Winthrop Johnson. For Curtis see George William Curtis (Houghton Mifflin: 1894) by Edward Cary. Prue and I, Reveries of a Bachelor, Dream Life, The Wide Wide World, most of the minor sentimental novels of the period covered in this chapter, and the works of Holland (Scribner), Roe (Dodd, Mead), and Wallace (Harper) remain regularly in print and are apparently still read, though by a diminishing audience. For Roe see E. P. Roe: Reminiscences of his Life (New York: 1899) by Mary A. Roe. For Wallace see Lew Wallace: An Autobiography (Harper: 1906). Mrs. Stowe’s works are published in 15 volumes by Houghton Mifflin. See Life and Letters of Harriet Beecher Stowe (Houghton Mifflin: 1897) by Annie Fields; Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe (Houghton Mifflin: 1889) by C. E. Stowe; Harriet Beecher Stowe (Houghton Mifflin: 1911) by C. E. and L. B. Stowe. The material dealt with in this chapter receives a somewhat similar treatment in Volume III of the Cambridge History, Chapter XI, the bibliography to which, Vol. IV, pp. 656–71, furnishes additional titles and critical guidance.

Chapter VI

JOHN W. DEFOREST in The Nation for January 9, 1868, and T. S. Perry in The North American Review for October 1872 interestingly discuss “The Great American Novel.” For the local color writers see Chapter XI in Volume III of the Cambridge History, and also Chapter VI, The Short Story, in Volume II. For the period as a whole Pattee’s History of American Literature since 1870 is indispensable. DeForest’s novels have not been reprinted. There are accounts of Edward Eggleston in George Cary Eggleston’s The First of the Hoosiers (Philadelphia: 1903) and in Meredith Nicholson’s The Hoosiers (Macmillan: 1900). The writings of William Dean Howells are published by various houses, chiefly Houghton Mifflin and Harper. The most extensive bibliography is that in the Cambridge History, Vol. IV, pp. 663–66. There is a critical study, William Dean Howells (Huebsch: 1917), by Alexander Harvey. No authentic biography of Howells has yet been published, but much information concerning him may be found in Mark Twain’s Letters (Harper: 1917: 2 vols.) and in The Letters of Henry James (Scribner: 1920: 2 vols.), as well as in Howells’s own autobiographical writings, particularly Years of My Youth, My Literary Passions, Literary Friends and Acquaintance.

Chapter VII

THE BOOKS of Mark Twain are published by Harper. Albert Bigelow Paine’s Mark Twain: A Biography (Harper: 1912: 3 vols.) is an essential source for information regarding not only Mark Twain but also the entire period, particularly the relations between Mark Twain and Howells. There is also A Short Life of Mark Twain (Harper: 1920) by Paine. Of critical studies the most important are Howells’s My Mark Twain (Harper: 1910) and Van Wyck Brooks’s The Ordeal of Mark Twain (Dutton: 1920), the last a brilliant and illuminating piece of criticism. The Cambridge History brings the bibliography of Mark Twain to 1920, Vol. IV, pp. 635–39.

Chapter VIII

HENRY JAMES collected most of his novels and tales for the New York Edition (Scribner: 1907–09: 24 vols.; 2 more vols. added 1917), to which he contributed prefaces containing by far the most important commentary yet made upon his work. His Letters (Scribner: 1920: 2 vols.) are full of hints regarding his aims and methods. The Cambridge History brings the James bibliography down to 1920, Vol. IV, pp. 671–75. Of critical studies the following are notable: The Method of Henry James (Yale University Press: 1918) by Joseph Warren Beach; Henry James (Holt: 1916) by Rebecca West.

Chapter IX

FOR this chapter Pattee’s American Literature since 1870 and Chapters VI (Vol. II) and XI (Vol. III) of the Cambridge History, with the bibliographies, are essential. The works of Bret Harte are published in twenty volumes by Houghton Mifflin, a firm which also issues The Life of Bret Harte (1911) by H. C. Merwin. Mrs. Jackson’s Ramona is published by Little Brown, Cable’s The Grandissimes by Scribner, and Howe’s The Story of a Country Town by Harper. Miss Woolson’s novels were published by Harper, and some of them are still in print. Mrs. Deland’s John Ward, Preacher and Bellamy’s Looking Backward are both published by Houghton Mifflin. The novels and stories of Stockton were issued by Scribner in a collected edition of 23 volumes in 1899–1904. The Captain’s Toll-Gate (1903) contains a biographical sketch and a bibliography by Mrs. Stockton. The works of Eugene Field are published in 12 volumes by Scribner, as was also Slason Thompson’s Eugene Field (1905: 2 vols.). The novels of Marion Crawford are published in 32 vols. Macmillan, but Crawford still lacks a biography.

Chapter X

FOR the rococo romancers see Paul Leicester Ford’s essay The American Historical Novel (Atlantic: December, 1897), Pattee’s American Literature since 1870, and the text and bibliography of Chapter xi in Vols. III and IV of the Cambridge History. Most of these novels are still in print. S. Weir Mitchell’s Hugh Wynne is published by Century as are his other chief novels. His works were collected in 16 vols. (Century: 1910). Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage is published by Appleton in an edition which has a biographical preface by Ripley Hitchcock. Norris’s works are published by Doubleday Page, who in 1914 issued a small pamphlet, Frank Norris, by Charles G. Norris. The novels of Jack London have recently been reissued in an edition of 21 volumes by Macmillan. No biography of either Norris or London has yet been published. For the living novelists a competent critical discussion is still lacking, though some material may be found in the following books: The Men Who Make Our Novels (Moffat, Yard: 1919) by George Gordon; Some American Story-Tellers (Holt: 1911) by F. T. Cooper; The Women Who Make Our Novels (Moffat, Yard: 1918) by Grant Overton; Literature and Insurgency (Kennerley: 1914) by J. C. Underwood; Our Short Story Writers (Moffat, Yard: 1920) by Blanche Colton Williams.

CONTENTS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD · SUBJECT INDEX

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