Abstract
American literature is often read, studied, and taught as if it makes the same basic demands of each reader. Before beginning this anthology, it is important to set aside such an assumption as not only incorrect and useless but dangerous.
Here is what the American literary tradition has always, or anyway up until quite recently, asked of its readers: Do you have the strength to be an individualist? (Even as I deny the very fullness of your personhood?)
The first question is all-embracing. It is the inquiry that makes Americans Americans, and as such it is the seed of Americanism