The Fiction of America juxtaposes classic literature of the American Renaissance with twentieth-century popular culture-pairing, for instance, Ralph Waldo Emerson with Finding Nemo, Walt Whitman with Spider-man, and Hester Prynne with Madonna - to investigate how the "Americanness" of American culture constitutes itself in the interplay of the cultural imaginary and performance. Conceptualizing "America" as a transhistorical practice, Susanne Hamscha reveals disruptive, spectral moments in the narrative of "America" that confront American culture with its inherent inconsistencies.

The Fiction of America juxtaposes classic literature of the American Renaissance with twentieth-century popular culture-pairing, for instance, Ralph Waldo Emerson with Finding Nemo, Walt Whitman with Spider-man, and Hester Prynne with Madonna - to investigate how the "Americanness" of American culture constitutes itself in the interplay of the cultural imaginary and performance. Conceptualizing "America" as a transhistorical practice, Susanne Hamscha reveals disruptive, spectral moments in the narrative of "America" that confront American culture with its inherent inconsistencies.