The face of nature and civilization in this our country is to a certain point a very sufficient literary field. But it will yield its secrets only to a really grasping imagination... To write well and worthily of American things one need even more than elsewhere to be a master.
WritingLiteratureCultureAmericaImaginationNational identityNature
Not every writer has the innate imagination required to unlock these secrets.
Everything about Florence seems to be coloured with a mild violet, like diluted wine.
It's a complex fate, being an American, and one of the responsibilities it entails is fighting against a superstitious valuation of Europe.
In the long run an opinion often borrows credit from the forbearance of its patrons.
It always amuses me that the biggest praise for my work comes for the imagination, while the truth is that there's not a single line in all my work that does n…
The ideal American type is perfectly expressed by the Protestant, individualist, anti-conformist, and this is the type that is in the process of disappearing. …
'The task of an American writer is not to describe the misgivings of a woman taken in adultery as she looks out of a window at the rain but to describe four hu…