1929

Zeng, Xubai. Meiguo wen xue ABC [ID D29706].
Zeng regarded the birth of Walt Whitman as 'one of the glorious pages in the history of American literature' and believed the poet 'wove his whole life into an excellent poem'.
Zeng devoted a whole chapter to Henry David Thoreau and noticed the author's protest against American politics of his day and his act of resistance to civil authority but he did not call him 'an absolute anarchist'. According to Zeng, Thoreau is essentially as self-restrained man of individualism. What he practiced in life are no less than exercises in a political art of self-formation in which we can observe fully Thoreau's pursuit of self-culture and aims of life.
"American critics usually hold that Hawthorne represents Puritanism in his works. Personally, I do not agree with this idea because Puritanism cannot produce but destroy arts. The reason that arts came into being in New England is nothing but the fact that Puritanism began to decline there. We can find after a thorough examination of Nathaniel Hawthorne's works that he has completely broken away from Puritanism. His works are purely artistic, immune from social problems such as Abolition and reform movements at the time. His purpose is not to elucidate morality, but artistically represent souls."