SUGGESTED READINGS
THE PROSE REALISTS.—Sections II., XV., and XXVIII., from Howells's Criticism and Fiction. Silas Lapham is the best of his novels. Those who desire to read more should consult the list on p. 373 of this book.
In Henry James, read either The Portrait of a Lady or Roderick Hudson. A Passionate Pilgrim, and The Madonna of the Future are two of his best short stories.
Read any or all of these short stories by Mary Wilkins Freeman: A New
England Nun, A Gala Dress, in the volume, A New England Nun and Other
Stories, Evelina's Garden, in the volume, Silence and Other Stories.
Her best long novel is Pembroke.
WALT WHITMAN.—While the majority of his poems should be left for mature years, the following, carefully edited by Triggs in his volume of Selections, need not be deferred:—
Song of Myself, Triggs, pp. 105-120. (Begin with the line on p. 105, "A child said, What is the Grass?"), Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking, pp. 154-160, I Hear America Singing, p. 100, Reconciliation p. 175, O Captain! My Captain, p. 184, When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed, pp. 176-184, Patrolling Barnegat, p. 163, With Husky-Haughty Lips, O Sea! p. 232.
Selections from his prose, including Specimen Days, Memoranda of the
War, and his theories of art and poetry, may be found in Triggs, pp. 3-95.
QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
THE PROSE REALISTS.—To what school did the best writers in American fiction belong, prior to the last quarter of the nineteenth century? What was the subject of each? What is the realistic theory advanced by Howells? In what respects does this differ from the practice of the romantic school?
Take any chapter of Silas Lapham and of either The Portrait of a Lady, or of Roderick Hudson, and show how Howells and James differ from the romanticists. What difference do you notice in the realistic method and in the style of Howells and of James?