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A word should be said about Lawrence's Studies in Classic American Literature, which is something of a neglected classic. Eccentric, opiniated, often extreme, it's arguably one of the best books on the subject, if your standard of quality in criticism is how provocative it is. It includes one quote which surely belongs in any anthology of The Best Things Anyone Ever Said: "The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted."