There have been a number of influences that have shaped American literature. From the time that Western Europeans founded the country to the inclusion of Native American lore to the contributions of such literary giants as Mark Twain and Carol Sandburg, the composition of American Literature has been both constant and ever changing. In deed as much as America, itself, is a melting pot of diversity within a cultural concern, so too is this considerable diversity a significant aspect of its emerging literature.Grantland S. Rice, author of The Transformation of Authorship in America, contends that the ultimate composition of American literature is fundamentally based upon a combination of efforts involving gender, class, period and application. What is particualy, interesting about Rices observations is the manner in which he applies his theories to literary considerations. According to Rice, there were a great many influences that constructed American literature up through modern times; as much as writers were increasingly forced by social, political and economic changes (Rice 159), it was because of these modifications that the literary experience gained in substance. In their attempts to uphold civic virtue, early writers no doubt turned to the audience through whom they felt they could still effect significant cultural changes (Rice 159). It is this very determination and knowledge of craft that eventually aided in the efforts of countless writers -- both men and women -- to establish American literature as it has come to be known: The story I till here is thus far from the usual one of the progress or rise of American literature, an account which has come from an almost exclusive on the continuity of literary forms and the influence of the aesthetic heritage of Romanticism. (Rice 12)Inasmuch as Rice attributes lifes influences as an integral component of American lite...
