are an enigma to him; when, if he has, historically, some conception of
Puritan society, he cannot have a glimmer of comprehension of the subtle
modifications and changes it has undergone in a century? When he visits
America and sees it, it is a puzzle to him.  How, then, can he be
expected to comprehend it when it is depicted to the life in books? 

No, we must expect a continual divergence in our literatures.  And it is
best that there should be.  There can be no development of a nation's
literature worth anything that is not on its own lines, out of its own
native materials.  We must not expect that the English will understand
that literature that expresses our national life, character, conditions,
any better than they understand that of the French or of the Germans.
And, on our part, the day has come when we receive their literary efforts
with the same respectful desire to be pleased with them that we have to
like their dress and their speech. 

End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of England, by Charles Dudley Warner