In "The Critic as Artist," Oscar Wilde declares that the critic's artistic capabilities are as important as those of the artist. Wilde's passionate defense of the aesthetics of art criticism is among the wide-ranging and thought-provoking essays of this original collection, in which noted writers discuss the role of criticism in English and American literature. Contents include Edgar Allan Poe's "The Philosophy of Composition," in which the author draws upon his most famous poem, "The Raven," to illustrate his theories on writing; Matthew Arnold's "The Study of Poetry"; and commentaries on Shakespeare's plays by Samuel Johnson and Wordsworth's poetry by William Hazlitt. Walter Pater, whose work was highly influential on the writers of the Aesthetic Movement, is represented by an essay on style. Other selections include Mark Twain's satirical "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offences" and the "Preface to Leaves of Grass" by Walt Whitman. Brief introductory notes accompany each essay.

Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses by Mark Twain

"Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses" is an 1895 essay by Mark Twain, written as a satire and criticism of the writings of James Fenimore Cooper. Drawing on examples from The Deerslayer and The Pathfinder from Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales

Dr. Alan Gribben, a foremost Twain scholar, made waves in 1980 with the publication of Mark Twain's Library, a study that exposed for the first time the breadth of Twain's reading and influences. Prior to Gribben's work, much of Twain's reading history was assumed lost, but through dogged searching Gribben was able to source much of Twain's library. Mark Twain's Literary Resources is a much-expanded examination of Twain's library and readings. Volume I included Gribben's reflections on the work involved in cataloging Twain's reading and analysis of Twain's influences and opinions. This volume, long awaited, is an in-depth and comprehensive accounting of Twain's literary history. Each work read or owned by Twain is listed, along with information pertaining to editions, locations, and more. Gribben also includes scholarly annotations that explain the significance of many works, making this volume of Mark Twain's Literary Resources one of the most important additions to our understanding of America's greatest author.

Reproduction of the original: Fenimore Cooper ́s Literary Offences by Mark Twain

Within months of publishing Homeward Bound, James Fenimore Cooper continued that story in a second, stand-alone novel, Home as Found. One of the most important of his long career, Home as Found is a novel of manners in which Cooper satirized Wall Street speculation, jingoism, the penny press, and high society, writing boisterously and with a sharp but critical eye about a nation in transition. He revealed “follies and peculiarities” of the young nation, but did so with a hope that the advancing forces of democracy would not get turned aside by greed and insular nationalism. In drawing rooms, ballrooms, and Wall Street offices, Cooper sees clearly into the heart of the democratic experiment, dramatizing conflicts that we are still grappling with nearly two hundred years later. Stephen Carl Arch provides a historical introduction discussing Cooper’s composition of the novel and its politicized reception in journals and newspapers, along with detailed explanatory notes. This authoritative edition draws upon the first edition, a partial author’s manuscript, and a substantial (but not complete) amanuensis copy of the author’s manuscript; and provides a full scholarly apparatus discussing the editorial choices. It has been approved by the Committee on Scholarly Editions of the Modern Language Association. The Writings of James Fenimore Cooper The distinguished Cooper scholar James Franklin Beard (1919–1989) began organizing the Writings of James Fenimore Cooper in the late 1960s, as his work on publishing the monumental Letters and Journals of James Fenimore Cooper came to fulfillment. Beard’s intention was to provide readers with sound scholarly editions of Cooper’s major works, based wherever possible on authorial manuscripts. To date, the Writings of James Fenimore Cooper has made available texts of many of Cooper’s best-known novels, as well as some of his most important works of political and social commentary.