The implicit menace and violence surrounding the character of Watson must surely evoke interested response, and exploring that initial response will provide a good point of entry into Matthiessen's ideas. Some attention to the narrative form will also be in order, particularly if it emphasizes not merely that form's innovative quality, but also its appropriateness for the media-inflected era this book and its readers jointly inhabit.

1. Given Matthiessen's blurring of the line between history and fiction, what can be made of the intervening passages of objective "history" that cement the separate recollections?

2. This is Matthiessen's only major fiction set in an American locale. What is specifically American about its places, people, ideas?

3. What are the precise delineations of Mr. Watson, as synthesized from the various accounts? What is the real source of his menace? How good or bad is he? What purpose is served by the...