The book explores the liminal aesthetics of U.S. cultural and literary practice. Interrogating the notion of a presumptiveunityof the American experience,Moveable Designsargues that inner conflict, divisiveness, and contradiction are integral to the nation’s cultural designs, themes, and motifs. The study suggests that U.S. literary and cultural practice is permeated by ‘moveable designs’—flexible, yet constant features of hegemonial practice that constitute an integral element of American national self-fashioning. The naturally pervasive liminality of U.S. cultural production is the...