In Respect to Egotism: Studies in American Romantic WritingJoel Porte offers a timely reassessment of nineteenth century literature, focusing on the general question of the American Romantic ego and its varying modalities of self creation, self display, self projection, and self concealment. The book begins by exploring the status of the text in nineteenth century American writing, the relationship of rhetorical reading to historical context, and the nature of Romanticism in an American setting. Porte then