Volume 2, Part 1: Chapter 13-21 Summary and Analysis

The United States does not produce an important or valuable body of literature on its own. The only kind of literature America produces is of the journalistic type, mainly because this is what the majority is requesting. Americans read either to stay informed, for leisure or for entertainment purposes. The educated individuals read English (European) literature, which has typically little to do with, or say about the American environment. The American writer sees himself as an entrepreneur and writes in order to earn the money necessary to sustain a living.

The youthfulness of the New World, combined with the democratic values and ensuing attitudes, modifies not only the subject of the American literature, but also its source of inspiration. Aristocratic societies make countless intermediaries available between man and God; the aristocratic writer can thus appeal...