The fulcrum of America is the Plains, half sea half land, a high sun as metal and obdurate as the iron horizon, and a man's job to square the circle.Some men ride on such space, others have to fasten themselves like a tent stake to survive.As I see it Poe dug in and Melville mounted. They are the alternatives.In Moby-Dick, when Ishmael has said all he can say about Ahab, he admits that the larger