Standing at the beginning and center of American national identity is the mythologized figure of the self-made man, says Carden (English, Edinboro U., Pennsylvania), which she noticed at an
early age excludes her, but not just her, and not just women. She argues that though the discourse of self-making proclaims itself available to all, it posits an impossible standard of
Americanness, a standard that cannot be met by anyone, and so withholds its rewards even from those subjects who seem positioned as its heirs and beneficiaries. She discusses self-making and
self-improvisation; paternal erotics of place in Faulkner, Welty, and Morrison; un-make children in Petry, Ellison, and Boyle; alternative places in Cather, Smiley, and Faulkner; and
self-improvisation in Cisneros, Wideman, and Morrison. Annotation 穢2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
