From the publisher’s description:
With this history of the American novel, a presentation is presented that stands in the context of the debate about the contribution of the novel to the modernization process. Fluck’s work pursues the exciting complementarity of imaginary self-transgression and discursive preparation of the cultural imaginary in detailed individual interpretations of all important stations and genres of the American novel in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Fluck, Winfried (NHC Fellow, 1987–88). Das kulturelle Imaginäre: Eine Funktionsgeschichte des Amerikanischen Romans, 1790-1900. Suhrkamp-Taschenbuch Wissenschaft. Frankfurt, Germany: Suhrkamp, 1997. ISBN 9783518288795.