可以这么说,自上一部篇幅齐全的美国文学史问世后的四十年间,一般读者并未过于急切地感到要写一本新的文学史的需要了。文学仍旧按光阴的推移继续繁荣,其进展速度依然如故。但文学的发展道路却如此纷繁多样,以致于历史已不再是唯一陈述它的手段。与此同时,在批评的时代里,产生 It can be said that during the 40 years since the publication of the full length of American literary history, the average reader has not eagerly felt the need to write a new literary history. Literature still continues to prosper as time passes, and its rate of progress remains unchanged. However, the path of development of literature is so diverse that history is no longer the only means of presenting it. At the same time, in the era of criticism