The Crisis in Nineteenth Century American Mythology: An Examination of the Authentic American in Popular Literature (1792-1852)
Abstract
The paper is an examination of the concept of the American as it was expressed in the enduring popular literature of the period. A brief discussion of the fundamental principles of American mythology is followed by an examination of the development of national identity in eight significant works of fiction. The works discussed are: Modern Chivalry (Brackenridge), A History of New York and "Rip Van Winkle" (Irving), The Spy and The Pioneers (Cooper), The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables (Hawthorne), and Uncle Tom' s Cabin (Stowe).
The thesis of the paper is that an image of the American emerged in the works prior to Uncle Tom's Cabin which was of a strongly individualistic nature. The emphasis on self-reliance resulted in an individual ethical standard as a characteristic of the national identity. An unfortunate result of this standard is the seeming lack of a workable social ethic. The existence of this flaw in the national identity was revealed with the publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1852.
Finally, some suggestions are offered for examining the course of the cultural dialogue, with its corresponding developments in literature, after the Civil War.
Description
Program year: 1985/1986Digitized from print original stored in HDR
Subject
popular literatureAmerican mythology
Modern Chivalry
A History of New York
Rip Van Winkle
The Spy
The Pioneers
The Scarlet Letter
The House of the Seven Gables
Uncle Tom' s Cabin
individualism
self-reliance
cultural dialogue
Citation
Parker, Kelly (1986). The Crisis in Nineteenth Century American Mythology: An Examination of the Authentic American in Popular Literature (1792-1852). University Undergraduate Fellow. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /CAPSTONE -PorterJ _1976.