This is a collection of pieces concerning a variety of topics in American literature. They include essays, introductions, lectures, and a radio talk, along with some unpublished papers. There is no continuity or binding theme: they simply represent aspects of my interest in American literature over some twenty-five years. The earliest (on Henry Adams and Mark Twain) dates from 1961, while the first and last essays in the collection (previously unpublished) represent comparatively recent work. Inevitably, differences in approach and method will be detectable, and these may reflect changing attitudes to American literature through the period covered. If anything unites the pieces it is one person's uninterrupted and ongoing interest and pleasure in the distinguishing features and singular achievements of American writers and writing. From this point of view it is at once something of an act of homage and a small repayment of a debt of gratitude. As my method relies extensively on allusions and numerous short quotations it seemed undesirable to burden, lengthen, or interrupt the texts with numerous footnotes. This may seem unscholarly – indeed it is. I can only say that the pieces are offered exactly as essays – meditations, interpretations, explorations – and not as contributions to scholarship.

Thanks are due to the following periodicals and publishers for permission to reprint material: Journal of American Studies; Modern Age; London Magazine; TriQuarterly; Salmagundi; Oxford University Press; the British Academy; Macmillan.