I wrote this book in Philadelphia during 1988–92. To say I had help would be an Understatement; to say that I wish I could express my gratitude to the people I have listed below, and about twenty others I have not mentioned, in some more compelling way than a brief acknowledgment is an equal Understatement. For reading the entire manuscript through every draft, and making formative suggestions throughout, I would like to thank Peter Conn, Myra Jehlen, and Gregg Camfield. For providing advice and background at key times, I thank Michael Gilmore, Shannon Ravenel, Jan Radway, and Drew Faust. For an hour of informal conversation that made me redraft the fifth chapter (and for the pleasure of the conversation itself), I am grateful to Bobbie Ann Mason. Hilene Flanzbaum, Paula Geyh, and Andrew Weinstein provided advice and encouragement; I might have written this book without them, but it would have been a more neurotic proposition. For guiding me through the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars, and providing me with insight into the spheres of writing Workshops and publishing, I thank John Barth and Steve Dixon; for all that and for their friendship, I thank Fred Leebron, Kathryn Rhett, Eberle Umbach, and Julie Fishbein. Richard Burgin taught me how a good magazine is run, and gave me invaluable support. I thank Bill Walker and the Humanities Department of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science for giving me a job I truly enjoyed. For showing me Iowa's offices, thanks to Connie Brothers; for making Penn's offices less labyrinthine, I thank David Coleman.