This book focuses on the pivotal role which space and spatiality assume in the plot and narrative discourse of contemporary American literary narratives. Embarking from a new, spatialized approach to cultural history and particularly narrative theory that might also prove useful for neighboring philologies, Marcel Thoene hypothesizes that the canon of novels selected represents a dialectic of simultaneous affirmation and subversion of the American myth of space. This brings about an integrative and emancipatory function of space, reflecting the current dynamic toward a more transcultural, diverse, and conflicting post-national American society.