6. Experiment and Decision The Attempt to Be an American Artist

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Acknowledgments xi
4. Introduction 3
5. 1. The Civil War and Harvard's Tented Field 8
6. 2. Literary Influences – All the Breezes of the West 17
7. 3. The Hawthorne Aspect 38
8. 4. Transatlantic Trials 45
9. 5. A Certain Form. Watch and Ward 57
10. 6. Experiment and Decision The Attempt to Be an American Artist 67
11. 7. Comic Pastoral. The Europeans 89
12. 8. American Episodes and The Portrait of a Lady 103
13. 9. Points of View 113
14. 10. Evasive Boston and Threadbare Internationalism 133
15. 11. A Very American Tale The Bostonians 141
16. 12. English Years and American Letters 160
17. 13. The Restless Analyst of the American Scene 182
18. 14. Undiscovered America 200
19. 15. In the Finer Grain 209
20. 16. The Fresh Start and the Broken Link. The Ivory Tower 239
21. 17. The Obstinate Finality 261
22. Bibliographical Note 269
23. Abbreviations and Short Titles 271
24. Notes 274
25. Index 281
26. Backmatter 297