Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Introduction: The Era of Discussion -- Note on the Texts -- 1 Early American Novelists (1876) -- 2 New American Novels (1877) -- 3 Have We a Novelist? (1878) -- 4 Bret Harte and the Critics (July, 1878) -- 5 Decline of the Atlantic (November, 1878) -- 6 The Value of Novels (January, 1879) -- 7 Southern Novels (November, 1879) -- 8 Sectional Fiction (1880) -- 9 Sir Walter Scott (1880) -- 10 Zola's Last Novel (1880) -- 11 Death of American Literature (December, 1880) -- 12 A Southern Magazine (March, 1881) -- 13 The Portrait of a Lady and Dr. Breen's Practice (1882) -- 14 Mothers in American Novels (1882) -- 15 William Dean Howells (1882) -- 16 Preface to Hot Plowshares (1882) -- 17 A Romantic Conundrum (May, 1882) -- 18 Judge McGloin's New Book (August, 1882) -- 19 Realistic Fiction (September, 1882) -- 20 Novelists and Novels (December, 1882) -- 21 Two Southern Novelists (1883) -- 22 The Native Element in American Fiction: Before the War (1883) -- 23 The Native Element in American Fiction: Since the War (1883) -- 24 Modern Fiction (1883) -- 25 Southern Literature (April, 1883) -- 26 A Novel Novel (May, 1883) -- 27 Southern Literature and "Observer" (May, 1883) -- 28 Mark Twain on the Mississippi (May, 1883) -- 29 Magazine Mysteries (July, 1883) -- 30 Latterday Reviews (November, 1883) -- 31 The American Element in Fiction (1884) -- 32 Dime-Novel Wickedness (April, 1884) -- 33 The Valley of Unrest (May, 1884) -- 34 Authors and Success (May, 1884) -- 35 Mr. Cable's Dr. Sevier (October, 1884) -- 36 Novel-Writing as a Science (1885) -- 37 Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn (1885) -- 38 Why We Have No Great Novelists (1886) -- 39 Talent and Genius (March, 1886) -- 40 Sins of Genius (June, 1886) -- 41 Books and Reviews (August, 1886) -- 42 Pictures Vs. Texts (September, 1886)