文选的体例分作者、作品简介,选文•注释和讨论题五部分。为了给学生一点所选作品创作时的背景知识,全书分成三个时期,在每一个时期的开头。都有一篇扼要的评介,概述这一时期美国文学发展的*一般的情况,同时也简单介绍另外一些重要作家及作品。

PREFACE
PART ONE
THE AGE OF ROMANTICISM
I WASHINGTON IRVING(1783-1859)
Rip Van Winkle
II RALPH WALDO EMERSON (1803-1882)
Nature (VIII Prospects)
III NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE (1804-1864)
The Scarlet Letter (Chapters 1, 17, and 18)
IV WALT WHITMAN (1819-1892)
Song of Myself (20, 30, 31, and 4G)
I Hear America Singing
I Hear It Was Charged Against Me
I Saw in Louisiana a Live Oak Growing
One's-Self I Sing
PART TWO
THE AGE OF REALISM
V MARK TWAIN (1835-1910)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
(Chapters 16 and 31)
VI HENRY JAMES (1843-1916)
The Art of Fiction (Excerpt)
VII O. HENRY (1862-1910)
The Gift of the Magi
The Cop and the Anthem
VIII THEODORE DREISER ( 1871- 1945)
An American Tragedy (Book Two: Chapter 47)
PART THREE MODERN AMERICAN LITERATURE
IX ROBERT FROST (1874-1963)
Mending Wall
The Road Not Taken
Fire and Ice
Dust of Snow
Design
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
X T. S. ELIOT (1888-1965)
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
Tradition and the Individual Talent
XI M SINCLAIR LEWIS (1885-1951)
Babbitt (Chapters 9 and 25)
EUGENE O'NEILL (1888-1953)
The Hairy Ape (Scenes 2, 3, and 8)
XII F. SCOTT FITZGERALD (1896-1940)
The Great Gatsby (Chapter 7)
XIV WILLIAM FAULKNER (1897-1962)
……
后记