吴定柏编的《美国文学大纲》旨在概述美国从印第安人的口头文学到本世纪末实验性文学的发展过程及其基本特征，既要尽量反映美国文学的丰富内涵，又要在数不胜数的作家和纷繁浩瀚的作品中理出一个大致清晰的脉络。全书共17章。除导介绍文学基本常识外，第一－十七章的评述内容从殖民时期延续到本世纪末，时间跨度约400后。

Introduction

Chapter 1 Literaure fo Colonial America

Chapter 2 Early Romantics

Chapter 3 Transcendentalism

Chapter 4 High Romantics

Chapter 5 Realism

Chapter 6 Local Color Fication

Chapter 7 Naturalism

Chapter 8 Modern Poetry

Chapter 9 Modern Fiction Before 1945

Chapter 10 Postwar Realism in Fiction

Chapter 11 Beat Generation

Chapter 12 Women Writers in America

Chapter 13 Jewish American Writers

Chapter 14 Black Literature

Chapter 15 Southern Literature

Chapter 16 Postmodern Fiction

Chapter 17 Modern Drama

Epilogue

Bibliography