Studies in Classic American Literature, collection of literary criticism by English writer D. H. Lawrence, published in 1923. This seminal work of literary criticism is startling, even revolutionary, for several reasons. The prose style is extremely informal, yet filled with penetrating psychological and moral insights. In this series of essays about great American authors, Lawrence characterized American culture as unsteady and set adrift from the stable moorings of European culture.The themes running through are the concern of Lawrence with the primacy of the individual spirit and his belief in the importance of love, for better or for worse, as a force in human affairs.