The American Ideal: Literary History as a Worldly Activity by Peter Carafiol (Associate Professor and Chair, Department of English, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of English, Portland State University)
The American Ideal argues that the institution of American literary scholarship enshrines a reactionary view of history, of narrative, and a reactionary and dangerous view of America itself. It examines the way the idea of `America' has been wrapped up with American literary history and unwraps the implications of that relationship for contemporary debates about the methods and status of literary history in general.