Books in the New Directions in American Studies series

This book presents a new theory of American culture based not on the phenomenologically- and existentially-derived vocabularies of consciousness, which have dominated earlier accounts, but rather on a revitalized notion of the unconscious.

The American Scene considers major texts of nineteenth century American literature: The Leatherstocking Tales, Poe's fiction, The Scarlet Letter, Moby-Dick, Leaves of Grass, Dickinson's poetry, Huckleberry Finn, James's The American Scene.