Childhood : a lifetime of material, 1908-33
First fiction : Bright center of heaven, 1933-34
Breakout novel : They came like swallows, 1934-38
Mature novelist I : The folded leaf, 1938-45
Mature novelist II : Time will darken it, 1945-48
Turning point : The New Yorker and The Chateau, 1948-61
The novelist as historian : Ancestors, 1961-71
Maxwell's New York, 1974-76
The masterwork : So long, see you tomorrow, 1972-80
Summing up: late short works, 1980-92.