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clearly show a European influence on his writing.
8. The phrase this trend refers to This, in fact, has become a major criticism of Irving’s Practice Test
A the use of European subject writing. While stories like The Legend of Sleepy
matter as the basis for Irving’s Hollow were set in America and illustrated certain 1
stories aspects of American life, they were ultimately derived
B the increasing criticism of Irving’s from European source material. Irving’s later writings Reading
work followed this trend with such books as The Life and
C Irving’s publication of highly Voyages of Christopher Columbus, The Conquest of
American works while living in Granada, and Tales of the Alhambra. While not all
Europe literary scholars agree, many feel that this focus on
D the spread of Irving’s popularity essentially European subjects leaves a stain on
throughout Europe Irving’s legacy.
James Fenimore Cooper, whose literary career
trailed that of Irving’s by several years, is now
9. The word mediocre in the passage is
generally recognized as a more influential figure than
closest in meaning to
Irving in the emergence of a truly American
A childish literature. Cooper’s first success was The Spy, an
B unremarkable adventure novel that dealt with the American
C unacceptable Revolution. Cooper’s most important works,
D illiterate
however, were The Leatherstocking Tales, a set of
five novels following the life of Cooper’s fictional hero
Natty Bumppo. What sets these novels apart is not
the quality of Cooper’s writing, which is mediocre as
best, but rather it is his creation of an entirely
American character and his treatment of uniquely
American themes. In Natty Bumppo, Cooper created
what would come to be seen as the quintessential
American hero: rugged, independent, morally
upright, and fearlessly loyal to his beliefs. Cooper’s
work is also the first to portray the American
fascination with the frontier. Throughout the
Leatherstocking series, Bumppo is pushed deeper
and deeper into the wilderness as he seeks to
maintain his independence from an ever expanding
civilization. This, too, is an original feature of
Cooper’s writing. In his novels, the protagonist is
civilization itself. This would in time become a major
theme of American literature, the struggle to keep

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