Throughout the last decade, observers of American culture have drawn attention to an emerging transformation: an apparent shift from postmodern irony and play to a revalorization of the real and authentic. This "turn" in cultural values has been linked to general conservative tendencies and the after-effects of September 11 as well as a lingering sense of crisis following post- Cold War triumphalism. 'The Pathos of Authenticity' investigates this new valorization of the authentic and tests the explanations offered for the various "returns of the real" detectible in the current moment. In close readings and case studies, contributions hone in on aspects of American contemporaneity particularly shaped by discourses of authenticity. Topics include the significance of things in a world constituted via media representations, the prominence of trauma theory, renewed interest in autobiography, the pathos of religious experience, and efforts to define ethnicity as a source of authentic feeling.