Through a careful examination of the work of the canonical nineteenth-century novelists, Mike Davis traces conspiracies and conspiratorial fantasy from one narrative site to another.

Mike Davis earned his Ph.D. in 2002 from Princeton University, where he conducted his own research concerning the American novel in addition to assisting Professor Arnold Rampersad in the preparation of the Harlem Renaissance section of the Norton Anthology of African American Literature. He is currently a Dean's Appointment at Temple University

Acknowledgments, Introduction, The Gothic Logic of Paranoia, Chapter 1. Wieland's Transformations: The Problem of Closure in the "Opening" American Novel, Chapter 2. "Hidden Significance": The Marble Faun as Post Script to Seven Gables, Chapter 3. Rhetorical Razors: "Lurking Significance" in the "Vexatious Coincidence" of Benito Cereno, Chapter 4. Literary Cloaks, Practical Jokes, and the Esophagus Hoax: Concealment, Conspiracy, and the Contrivance of History in Twain, Notes, Bibliography, Index