New Old Additions to the American Canon.

The present expansion in the American literary canon has largely overlooked one of the richest sources for new material: authors who were known and respected in their own time but have been unjustly neglected or forgotten, and important literary material which is either unknown or forgotten because it exists only in back issues of unexplored periodicals. American literary periodicals constitute not only an important underutilized resource but one which must be systemically developed if American literary scholarship is to avoid preciosity. The American canon cannot be complete until a more systematic search is carried out for "new" lost or forgotten works by known authors, and for "new" old authors who have been accidentally or mistakenly lost and forgotten. Research and study must be undertaken not just for major authors but also for neglected authors of merit. (Sixteen notes are included.) (RS)