The Rise of Silas Lapham
a realistic novel of the manners and ambitions of Boston society some forty years ago. For a good study of realism and romanticism in fiction, in fact for a good study of this whole art of the novel, get Professor Bliss Perry’s A study of prose fiction.[4] And for a text covering in a brief illuminating way the whole of American literature, take Bronson’s Short history of American literature[5] mentioned above.[6]
The next book I will name is Mark Twain’s