And  therefore  —  loss  of  interest.  Loss  in
interest  for  Europeans,  to  whom  Europe  was
familiar,  to  whom  America  was  a  matter  to
awaken  curiosity,  —  that  was  an  inevitable  result.
But  for  the  Americans,  for  whom,  after  all,
Cooper  and  Irving  were  writing,  and  from  whom
they  must  expect  the  deciding  voice  in  regard
to  their  work,  —  for  Americans,  probably,  the
interest  in  their  books  would  not  be  lessened  by
reason  of  the  change  of  scene.  Fontaney  finds
Cooper's  "Bravo"  less  original  than  his  Ameri
can  novels;  the  fact  is,  that  it  never  has  had
any  popularity.  But  of  Irving  the  same  is
hardly  true;  as  for  the  type  of  composition  of
the  "Alhambra,"  as  for  that  of  the  "Conquest
of  Granada,"  neither  of  which  can  expect  the
popularity  of  a  comic  history  or  of  a  work  of
pure  fiction,  those  books  have  surely  been  among
the  greatest  successes  in  American  publication;
indeed,  they  almost  constitute  an  exception  to
the  general  rule.  The  reason  has  been,  that  to
Americans  they  have  been  of  the  greatest  inter
est;  and  they  have  stood  the  test  of  time  very


68      FRENCH   CRITICISM   OF   AMERICAN   LITERATURE

well,  which  goes  a  long  way  to  prove  their  real
literary  worth,  the  question  of  originality
included.
