American and European Literature
Suggesting that there is a fundamental difference between American and European literature means much more than acknowledging that the culture produced by geographically distinct regions is similarly distinct, because it suggests that there are much deeper underlying symbols and tropes which mark these cultural productions as distinctly American or European regardless of the wide variety of genres and themes present in the literature of either region. While the claim of an identifiable distinction between American and European literature feels accurate due to the clear differences between American and European culture, this claim requires critical examination because of the potential for stereotype and condescension inherent in it. Examining some of the more important factors which might produce a recognizable difference between these two canons, as well as the processes responsible for the formation of literary canons in the first place, reveals that the differences between American and European literature is inextricable from the historical and cultural forces which shaped the development of either region's political and societal organizations.
The first step in identifying the differences between American and European literature is a recognition of the clear differences in the historical development of cultural production in either region, because one cannot attempt to describe any national or transnational literature without considering the political and historical forces which shaped these nations. In short, Europe has had a largely contiguous history, and as such, the production of literature and culture in general in Europe has steadily built upon everything that came before it, so that any literature produced in Europe cannot be considered outside of the context of the continent's long, recorded history. In contrast, for the most part the canon of American literature has only included those texts produced since the first white settlers first came to continent. This is because, as John Guillory notes in his book Cultural Capital: The Problem of Literary Canon Formation:
In order to answer the question of what 'representation in the canon' means within the larger context of […] political culture, we must acknowledge at the outset that our concept of 'social identity' is a product of that culture, and that only within that culture can the category of an author's racial, ethnic, or gender identity found a politics of curricular revision. (Guillory 5)
Guillory recognizes that the defining features of a national literature are inextricable from the political and cultural forces of that nation, because the idea of a distinct national literature is dependent upon the distinct nature of any given nation. Briefly noting the political and cultural forces which went into the creation of America will serve to highlight this fact, and help to explain how America developed a distinct literary tradition even though it has been predominantly populated and ruled by people of European descent.
The arrival of European settlers over the course of the last six centuries precipitated a massive genocide of the indigenous population, such that the robust cultural productions of the Native American Indians were lost to history except for the fragments which survived the various genocides, forced relocations, and intentional cultural destruction. Recognizing this fact actually reveals one of the more important factors which has produced the visible differences between American and European literature, because the removal of indigenous populations coincided with the intentional construction of an American identity entirely distinct from its European roots. The American Revolution was not only a political separation from England and Europe in general, but also a cultural separation, and this cultural separation was dependent upon the utter decimation of any culture already present in the geographical area that would become America. Thus, while European literature draws upon a long history, American literature depends upon the assumption of a new, uninhibited political and cultural landscape. This becomes clear when one considers two authors considered exemplars of their respective national backgrounds who were also contemporaries, Oscar Wilde and Mark Twain.
These two authors present an ideal means of evaluating the difference between American and European literature, because they each embody their respective regions' literary traits while uncovering some of the ideological assumptions which underlie those traits. For instance, Mark Twain's work (and even the public image of Twain himself) embody "three complex figures who rose from regional folk origins to the level of national myth: the rural deadpan Yankee, the tall-tale telling backwoodsman, and the black-faced minstrel" (Messent & Budd 14)....
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