In general civilization | Whitman Archive

Whitman Archive Title: In general civilization
Whitman Archive ID: pml.00008
Repository ID: MA 517
Repository: Catalog of the Walt Whitman Literary Manuscripts in The Pierpont Morgan Library, New York
Date: about 1890
Genre: prose
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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Content: Eighteen lines of prose in Whitman's hand, beginning "In general civilization" and concerning the formation of a "National Literature," written in pencil with corrections in purple crayon. This is a draft of the essay Whitman later published as "American National Literature" in Good-Bye My Fancy (1891). It is laid in one of Whitman's diaries of the war. The draft is composed on the inside of an envelope addressed to "Walt Whitman, Esq., Camden, N.J., Oct. 9(?), 1890" from the North American Review .