There is a nice mix of drama,poetry,short fiction,and excerpts from longer fiction in this book,Prof,Zhai's short,lucid introductions to each period and writer provide the student with a comprehensive view of American literary development,while four of the five non-fiction essays are important critical comment by leading writers. They discuss individual concerns of each period.

"Selected Readings In American Literature"(Author Zhai Shizhao)suitable for research staff reference reading.

PART ONE

THE AGE OF ROMANTICISM

Ⅰ WASHINGTONIRVING(1783-1859)

Rip Van Winkle

Ⅱ RALPH WALDO EMERSON (1803-1882)

Nature (Ⅷ Prospects)

Ⅲ NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE (1804-1864)

The Scarlet Letter (Chapters 1, 17, and 18)

Ⅳ WALT WHITMAN(1819-1892)

Song of Myself (20, 30, 31, and 46)

I Hear America Singing

I Hear It Was Charged Against Me

I Saw in Louisiana a Live-Oak Growing

One's-Self I Sing

PART TWO

THE AGE OF REALISM

Ⅴ MARK TWAIN(1835--1910)

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

(Chapters 16 and 31)

HENRY JAMES (18431916)

The Art of Fiction (Excerpt)

Ⅵ HENRY (1862-1910)

The Gift of the Magi

The Cop and the Anthem

Ⅶ THEODORE DREISER (1871-1945)

An American Tragedy (Book Two: Chapter 47)

PART THREE

MODERN AMERICAN LITERATURE

Ⅸ ROBERT FROST (1874-1963)

Mending Wall

The Road Not Taken

Fire and Ice

Dust of Snow

Design

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Ⅹ T. S. ELIOT (1888-1965)

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

Tradition and the Individual Talent

Ⅺ SINCLAIR LEWIS (1885-1951)

Babbitt (Chapters 9 and 25)

Ⅻ EUGENE O'NEILL (1888-1953)

The Hairy Ape (Scenes 2, 3, and 8)

ⅩⅢ F. SCOTT FITZGERALD (1896--1940)

The Great Gatsby (Chapter 7)

ⅩⅣ WILLIAM FAULKNER (1897--1962)

Barn Burning

Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech

ⅩⅤ ERNEST HEMINGWAY(1899-1961)

The Killers

The Old Man and the Sea (Excerpt)

ⅩⅥ JOHN STEINBECK(1902-1968)

Of Mice and Men (Chapters 5 and 6)

ⅩⅧ RALPH ELLISON (1914-1994)

The Invisible Man (Prologue)

SAUL BELLOW (1915-)

A Father-to-Be

ⅩⅩ ARTHUR MILLER (1915-)

Death of a Salesman (Excerpt from Act Ⅱ )

Tragedy and the Common Man

JOSEPHHELLER(1923-)

Catch 22 (Chapter 40)