WEGELIN, O. Early American Fiction, 1774-1830. 1913. See also Cambridge History of American Literature, Vol. I, pp. 527-529. =History and Criticism= DUNLAP, WILLIAM. Life of Charles Brockden Brown: with selections. 1815. 2 vols. ERSKINE, JOHN. Leading American Novelists. 1910. HIGGINSON, T. W. Charles Brockden Brown, in Carlyle's _Laugh and Other Surprises_. 1909. MARBLE, ANNIE R. Charles Brockden Brown and Pioneers in Fiction, in _Heralds of American Literature_. 1907. PRESCOTT, W. H. Life of Charles Brockden Brown, in Sparks's _Library of American Biography_, Vol. I. 1834. Also in Prescott, _Biographical and Critical Miscellanies_. 1845. VAN DOREN, C. Early American Realism. _Nation_, Nov. 12, 1914. (The Source of Wieland.) VAN DOREN, C. Minor Tales of Brockden Brown, 1798-1800. _Nation_, Jan. 14, 1915. (A detailed study, adding several titles not before ascribed to Brown.) VAN DOREN, C. In chap. vi of Cambridge History of American Literature, Vol. I, Bk. II. TOPICS AND PROBLEMS Read W. L. Cross's "Development of the English Novel" for general characterization of the Gothic romance, and for contemporary reaction against this type of fiction read Jane Austen's "Northanger Abbey," chaps. i, xx ff. * * * * * Brown and his work are so remote from the present that they challenge inevitable comparisons with other authors who preceded, accompanied, or followed him in literary history. For example: * * * * * Read "Arthur Mervyn," Bk. I, for a comparison in handling similar material with Defoe's "Journal of the Plague Year" and the entries in Pepys's Diary on the plague of 1666. * * * * * Read "Arthur Mervyn" for a comparison of subject matter, plot, and purpose with Godwin's "Caleb Williams." * * * * * Read "Edgar Huntly" for a comparison as a detective story with any modern story, as, for example, one of Conan Doyle's. * * * * * Read the great suspense passages in "Wieland" for a comparison with similar passages in the tales of Edgar Allan Poe. CHAPTER IX IRVING AND THE KNICKERBOCKER SCHOOL