Levander - Where is American Literature?

Table of Contents

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This edition first published 2013

2013 Caroline F. Levander

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Cover image: Underground station, Berlin. Photo Alan R. Levander

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Acknowledgments

In order to answer the question posed by this books title, I went many places and was helped by many people. I particularly thank the following institutions and individuals for inviting me to share the ideas driving this book in lectures, seminars, and, most importantly, conversations: the Swedish Research Council and Uppsala University; Yale University; Harvard University; the University of Southern California; the University of California, Irvine; the John F. Kennedy Institute for North America Studies at the Freie Universitt, Berlin; Karlstad University, Sweden; the Humanities Center at University of Buffalo; the Institute for Philosophical Research, Germany; Indiana University; the University of Vermont; the University of South Carolina; the Huntington Library, Pasadena California; the Humanities League and Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan; Brown University; and the University of Illinois, Champagn-Urbana.

To those who kept asking me where is American literature anyway? and helped me change my answer from in my mind, to on the page, and, finally, to at the press I am grateful beyond words. One answer to the books driving question has consistently been in my friends inboxes, and I thank Rachel Adams, Carrie Bramen, Anna Brickhouse, Sid Burrus, Russ Castronovo, Deborah Cohn, Cathy Davidson, Tim Dean, Susan Gillman, Melissa Gniadek, Matthew Guterl, Rodrigo Lazo, Robert Levine, Allen Matusow, Walter Mignolo, Anthony Pinn, John Carlos Rowe, Shirley Samuels, Jeffrey Schnapp, and Nicole Waligora-Davis for reading portions, and in a couple of cases, all of the book and giving great feedback every step of the way. Grateful thanks to Alan Levander for such a great cover image.

For me, one profoundly important answer to the books titular question of where American literature can be found has been at my home institution with the colleagues, students, and faculty visitors who have convened in seminar rooms at Rice to talk about the ideas driving this manuscript. I am grateful to Rice for supporting this venture and to the graduate students who have engaged it with energy and, at times, useful incredulity, particularly Karen Rosenthall, AnaMaria Seglie, and Abby Goode. Finally, I owe hearty thanks to Meredith Allison for her late-inning formatting skills and general proof-reading savvy.