... reprinted the article separately in the New World Poe must have decided to begin the Critical History soon after he read the article, for by the second half of 1844, he The road to `Literary America' ... Poe the go-ahead New responsibilities, however, would soon interfere In 1845, Poe took the opportunity to become, successively, a contributor to, an editor of, and the proprietor of the Broadway ... materials for a Critical History of Am Literature.''9 Though the idea of a body of written works which together formed a distinct American literature The road to `Literary America' 103 was at least...