45] ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA 45 



which had been tested by time. Popular taste was also 

 provincial, rather than catholic. It did not care for litera- 

 ture which was universal in its appeal, but preferred that 

 which dealt with matters of local and transient interest. 

 This provincialism may well account for the small number 

 of writers of talent in the later decades of the study. 

 Authors of merit merely produced what the people would 

 read. It was a poor literature which could not command a 

 foreign audience, or even hold the attention of Americans 

 for any length of time. In other words, popular taste had by 

 its very nature made it increasingly difficult for a litterateur 

 to win recognition as a man of talent, though comparatively 

 easy for a man to attain the rank of a man of merit. 



The fourth significant fact to be noted in connection 

 with the theory under consideration is given in Table V, 

 which contains an analysis of the fields of activity of liter- 

 ary women. The table shows that women did considerable 



TABLE v 



AMERICAN LITERARY WOMEN CLASSIFIED BY FIELD OF CHIEF ACTIVITY AND 

 PERIOD OF BIRTH 



