First of all, Stein was a chauvinist: She didn't know or care about any writing outside the English language. Her theory of English literature boiled down to the fact that England is a tiny island, insular and surrounded. There isn't much room to move around in, which means there isn't much change. So writers from Chaucer to Jane Austen naturally spent a lot of time describing ordinary daily life. This worked fine until the 19^th century, when imperialism complicated the picture: The regular internal life now had to be explained with reference to this new outside element. Victorian writing became too unwieldy, with tortuous paragraphs made up of sentences running to 20 clauses. By the end of the 19^th century, the great English formula had lost its hold. Fortunately, according to Stein, American literature was ready to pick up the slack. America is huge, so American literature is about journeying through space. And since Georgia is totally different from Boston is totally different from Sioux Falls, American literature accommodates all kinds of entities in any number of combinations. American literature is inherently abstract and therefore, Stein says, poised to lead the 20^th century. All in all a convincing theory, and a good example of Stein's entrepreneurial ability as a critic to sell her most unreadable work.