From the Revolution to the present day, many American writers have chosen to live in Europe - with considerable consequences for American art and consciousness. Malcolm Bradbury suggests such expatriation represented not so much a rejection of America as a response to deep-rooted cultural problems: he considers the difficulties of American writers in creating a national culture, and the many stages of their connection with European movements and art forms. Looking at major authors and texts - Irving, Cooper, Hawthorne, James, Stein, Eliot, Pound, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Henry Miller - and their artistic and social context, he emphasizes the importance of a 'comparative' approach to American literature, and the persistence of artistic and intellectual attachments which have sustained the interconnections of contemporary American culture.