SOURCE: “What Is the Early American Canon, and Who Said It Needed Expanding?”, in Resources for American Literary Study, Vol. 19, No. 2, 1993, pp. 165-73.

In the following essay, Mulford surveys some recent studies regarding the early American literature canon and concludes that not only its works, but even the type of textual analysis used on those works, is still a matter of heated debate among American literature scholars.

The title question of my essay underscores the differences, even among Americanists, that still seem to remain among scholars in the literary profession regarding the study of early American materials. That is, although the topic of this special issue of Resources for American Literary Study assumes that the early American canon can—and should—be expanded, it is likely that some who see the title of this issue will wonder how it is that early American materials can be said to...