Because this is my last reading response, I figure I might as well provide some final thoughts on my experience in this course...
As I've mentioned in a previous blog, I truly feel like I've learned a lot on this class. The readings have enriched my understanding of print culture in the early republic, and I've got a solid foundational understanding of how the novel functioned during this period.
The reason I know this is because the first 2 to 3 pages of Barnes's chapter felt like a condensed version of everything I had learned this semester. As I read, I simply wrote check marks next to each passage because it was only confirming something that I had previoulsy read. This is a good sign, too, as I begin work on my final research project. In order to write something substantial on a historical period, it's best to have as good a background understanding as possible--this course has done just that.
And as for this week's reading, there was one passage that brought up a completely new idea and made me think about the "voice" of American writers in a completely different way. We've heard all of the arguments and details on how Americans struggled to create a distinct national voice, but we really haven't gotten to the bottom of this issue. Barnes does just that…or at least she gives some reasons why.
The part I find most intriguing is when Barnes discusses how Americans felt "enslaved" by their shared language with England. Barnes writes that we can attribute "the deplorable state of American literature to his countrymen's subservience to English culture. A common heritage and, more ominously, a common language threatened to 'enslave' American authors to the 'influences' of the first and more powerful nation from which the United States derived" (445). I had never thought of this before: American writers were hesitant to create their own voice because they had no means of linguistically differentiated themselves from the mother land. This is a somewhat silly question, but it made me wonder if Americans ever considered adopting a new language, or even creating a new one.
Naturally, this chapter got me thinking about what defines our literature as "American" today. Is there a literary theme (like sentimentality in the early republic) that can be categorized as truly American? Or has technology and globalism done away with the ideas of a national literature? Can something like literature have the same impact today as to be able to create a national identity? Nothing really comes to mind for me in lit, film, music, or any art form, that defines our nationality, but maybe I'm just not thinking hard enough about the question…but what do you all think? I'm interested in your responses.
Hi, Klay,
ReplyDeleteI see that we have more regionalist and specialist literature in circulation now. Is seems as though we reached a point when "American" literature, as traditionally defined works by Hawthorne, Melville, Fitzgerald, Hemingway - basically the canonical boy's club - became dated in a way. In a new wave, we're seeing, or at least recognizing, for the first time an onset of works by authors of Latino/Latina heritage, African American writers, Southern writers - I know Carrie can point out a few! - Asian writers, Native Americans, unexplored female writers, etc., etc. Perhaps we are such a vast nation that there is not necessarily a national literature but a new exploration of works that represent the various groups and populations that compose the body of this nation.
Hi Klay, thanks for the good post, and thanks for your contributions all semester! I think the concept of "American literature," the field I trained in, is not critically fashionable. We do have regional literatures, and more recently trans-Atlantic literature. The heyday of "American literature" might have been in the 70s before "American Studies" was broken up into the various regions and specialties. But one thing is certain, the pendulum will eventually swing back into the macro vision. dw
ReplyDeleteIsn't the stuff about the common language just so interesting? I've been waiting for that little detail to be brought up all semester. :) I love your "silly question" (and I totally thought of this too, embrace the silly, man!) about whether Americans considered creating or adopting a new language. Can you imagine what kind of crazy language we'd come up with?! Haha.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we should make a project out of it-- Americaneese, anyone?