The book argues that in the encounter between desire and ideology we find American literature to be a narrative of a decentered ego in the context of a culture that subverts structure and stability in order to promote change and renewal. Consensus and dissensus commingle in a process of disintegration and reconstruction. The book applies modern theories of literature and psychoanalysis to a broad range of American literary works and extends to the unconscious recent theoretical discussions of the relationship between literature and ideology. The book attempts a reconstruction, not only of American literature and culture, but of Freud as well.