Sex and money. It says so much about the novel – or at least that’s the argument of a new book by Dr. Karen Weyler, assistant professor in the Department of English at UNCG.

“Intricate Relations: Sexual and Economic Desire in American Fiction, 1789-1814” (282 pp. University of Iowa Press $39.95) explores the relationship between these two factors into the development of early American fiction. Weyler argues that considering how these issues influence fiction is essential to understanding that fiction and its place in American culture.

“If the most informative map of a nation’s imagination is created by surveying its anxieties, then Karen A. Weyler’s ‘Intricate Relations’ is the foundational chart of the American psyche,” writes David S. Sheilds, editor of “Early American Literature.” “…Weyler traces the haunted landscape of the early republic where debt, seduction and madness were situated in city, town and country with no haven of security.”

“Intricate Relations” (ISBN 0-8-87745-884-7) includes nine photos and will be released January 5 from the University of Iowa Press. For a review copy of the book, contact Deidre Woods, publicity manager at the University of Iowa Press at (319) 335-2008.