Failure and the American writer: a literary history

Introduction: Henry Adams and the catastrophic century

1. Falling for Edgar Allan Poe

2. Herman Melville in the doldrum

; 3. The disappointments of Henry David Thoreau

4. Stephen Crane's fake war

5. The double failure of Mark Twain

6. Sarah Orne Jewett falling short

7. The faltering style of Henry James

Conclusion.