THE AMERICAN BOOKS A LIBRARY OF GOOD CITIZENSHIP "The American Books" are designed as a series of authoritative manuals, discussing problems of interest in America to-day. AMERICAN BY LEON KELLNER Professor in the University of Czernowitz TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY JULIA FRANKLIN Copyright, 1915, by DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign languages, including the Scandinavian hakrail PREFACE IN HIS "Geschichte der Nordamerikanischen Literatur," published at Leipzig a year ago, Professor Leon Kellner undertook to acquaint Germans, in brief outline, with the characteristic features of the literature of our country. The verdict pronounced on the two little volumes by the press was so favorable that an English translation, for the benefit of American readers, has seemed justifiable. The author's knowledge of his subject, his broad outlook, and his incisive and independent judgments will, it is hoped, commend themselves to audiences able to compare his methods with literary canons generally accepted in this country and in England. It had been intended to submit the English version to Professor Kellner's scrutiny, but the exigencies of the European war have made this impossible. The University of Czernowitz, in the Austrian crown land of Bukowina, where Doctor Kellner has filled the chair of English philology and literature since 1904, is closed, the V |