LITERATURE AND SOCIETY

A book chiefly of interest for public libraries, colleges, reading circles and study groups -- and for anyone seriously interested in the history and philosophy of literature. Not a tabloid method of taking a short cut to the subject, however. The thesis is primarily a study of the influence of race, time, and temperament on literature, and he pretty much tears down Taine's theories of an interlocking and motivating force in social influences, and proves his point that there is no distinctive author type, that racial influences are rarely discernible, that the period has only a limited influence in molding the literary output of the creative artist.