The American Counterfeit: Authenticity and Identity in American Literature and Culture

Contents

Contents Acknowledgments xi 1. The Real, the Self, and Commodity Culture, 1880–1930 1 2. Whitman’s Natural History: Specimen Days and the Culture of Authenticity 18 3. “I couldn’t see no pro¤t in it”: Discourses of Commoditization and Authenticity in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 41 4. Connoisseurs and Counterfeits: Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth 72 5. Dressing to Kill: Desire, Race, and Authenticity in Nella Larsen’s Passing 97 6. A World of Wonders: Collecting and the Authentic Self in The Great Gatsby 125 Notes 153 Works Cited 167 Index 177 ...