Читать книгу Halleck's New English Literature - Reuben Post Halleck - Страница 3

In this New English Literature the author endeavors to preserve the qualities that have caused his former History of English Literature to be so widely used; namely, suggestiveness, clearness, organic unity, interest, and the power to awaken thought and to stimulate the student to further reading.

The book furnishes a concise account of the history and growth of English literature from the earliest times to the present day. It lays special emphasis on literary movements, on the essential qualities that differentiate one period from another, and on the spirit that animates each age. Above all, the constant purpose has been to arouse in the student an enthusiastic desire to read the works of the authors discussed. Because of the author's belief in the guide-book function of a history of literature, he has spent much time and thought in preparing the unusually detailed Suggested Readings that follow each chapter.

It was necessary for several reasons to prepare a new book. Twentieth century research has transformed the knowledge of the Elizabethan theater and has brought to light important new facts relating to the drama and to Shakespeare. The new social spirit has changed the critical viewpoint concerning authors as different as Wordsworth, Keats, Ruskin, Dickens, and Tennyson. Wordsworth's treatment of childhood, for instance, now requires an amount of space that would a short time ago have seemed disproportionate. Later Victorian writers, like Meredith, Hardy, Swinburne, and Kipling, can no longer be accorded the usual brief perfunctory treatment. Increased modern interest in contemporary life is also demanding some account of the literature already produced by the twentieth century. An entire chapter is devoted to showing how this new literature reveals the thought and ideals of this generation.

Other special features of this new work are the suggestions and references for a literary trip through England, the historical introductions to the chapters, the careful treatment of the modern drama, the latest bibliography, and the new illustrations, some of which have been specially drawn for this work, while others have been taken from original paintings in the National Portrait Gallery, London, and elsewhere. The illustrations are the result of much individual research by the author during his travels in England.

The greater part of this book was gradually fashioned in the classroom, during the long period that the author has taught this subject. Experience with his classes has proved to him the reasonableness of the modern demand that a textbook shall be definite and stimulating.

The author desires to thank the large number of teachers who have aided him by their criticism. Miss Elizabeth Howard Spaulding and Miss Sarah E. Simons deserve special mention for valuable assistance. The entire treatment of Rudyard Kipling is the work of Miss Mary Brown Humphrey. The greater part of the chapter, Twentieth-Century Literature, was prepared by Miss Anna Blanche McGill. Some of the best and most difficult parts of the book were written by the author's wife. R.P.H.