American Literature

Nationalism requires a sense of identity as it supplements the characteristics that allows the individuals creation of a self based on his conception of the cultural link between his group and its land. In relation to this, the most important facet of national identity is the description of a common national experience. If such is the case, it follows that the creation and existence of a national identity involves the political act of enabling the validation of a particular account of a nations culture. The relationship of culture and identity is apparent if one considers that national identity is based on the rhetoric of memory or the rhetoric of the self. Given that the rhetoric of memory changes in line with the way an individual understands the social and political conditions during his period, it follows that the rhetoric of identity is continuously in flux.

In line with this, the following discussion extrapolates on the cultural production of the meaning and value attributed to the American identity through an analysis of Henry James Jolly Corner, Christopher Isherwoods My Guru and His Disciple, and Joseph ONeills Netherland based on Raymond Williams conception of the structure of feelings. The discussion is based on the argument that James, Isherwood, and ONeills texts provide manifestations of the practical consciousness related to the creation of the views pertaining to the importance ascribed to shared experiences in developing an American identity. In other words, James, Isherwood, and ONeills texts map the different ways that led to the creation of a specific American identity during the period of their texts production. With this in mind, the discussion is divided into two parts. The initial part of the discussion will provide the theoretical framework of Williams conception of practical consciousness which is followed by a specification of how James, Isherwood, and ONeills texts manifest the practical consciousness pertaining to American identity in their texts.

Raymond Williams, in Structure of Feelings, argues that the cultural production of ideas in society is a result of action. Such is the case since concepts as well as institutions do not merely emerge as analytical wholes since they are results of formative processes (Williams 128).

Williams states, Contemporary life, in which relationships, institutions, and formations in which we are still actively involved, are converted into formed wholes rather than forming and formative processes. Analysis is then centered on relations between these produced institutions  and living presence is always, by definition, receding (128). He argues that such a conception of the cultural production of ideas fails to grasp all the nuances involved in the process as it perceives the production of ideas as a procedure that merely involves the shift from one formal social framework to another (Williams 129). He claims that the shift from one formal social framework to another is characterized by a personal conception of the social which is exemplified by (1) their indication of the changes of presence and (2) their exertion of palpable pressures(that) set effective limits on experience andaction despite their existence as emergent or pre-emergent social products (Williams 131-132). Underlying the formative process of these emergent or pre-emergent social forms is the structure of feeling which provides the internal relationship between the different manifestations of practical consciousness that occurs in between the formalization andD  or institutionalization of beliefs and practices. Williams claims

Practical consciousness is almost always different from official consciousness Practical consciousness is what is actually lived, and not only what it is thought is being lived  (It) is a particular quality of social experience and relationship, historically distinct from other particularities, which gives the sense of a generation or of a period (A) structure of feeling is a cultural hypothesis, actually derived from attempts to understand such elements and their connections in a generation or period. (131-132)

The structure of feeling thereby provides the framework for grasping the different manifestations of practical consciousness. Practical consciousness, on the other hand, provides the existing modes of knowing and understanding reality that exists in the intersections of defined cultural forms of knowing and understanding reality. Practical consciousness thereby manifests the structure of feeling in society as it presents the personal and hence subjective perspectives existing between predefined social forms of acting and knowing in society.

In the case of literary texts that provide a distinct perspective of understanding reality during the period of their production, one may claim that these texts present a manifestation of a periods practical consciousness while at the same time supplying one of the possible institutionalized views for understanding reality in the future. In other words, literary texts provide positions that may exist either as a thesis, antithesis, or synthesis to a specific perspective. In most cases, if a literary text reacts against a predominant cultural viewpoint, it occupies the position of an antithesis. In other cases, if a literary text opts to unify two seemingly opposing viewpoints, it occupies the position of a synthesis. However both an antithesis and a synthesis may also occupy the position of a thesis once its views have been incorporated in the dominant mode of understanding events in the social arena. This is apparent in the case of James, Isherwood, and ONeills texts mentioned above.

James Jolly Corner discusses the relationship between identity and an individuals spatiotemporal location. In the text, Joyce describes the growth of American cities during the initial period of the 20th century and its relationship to the expansion of the factors that will determine the definition of the American identity. He argues that the expansion of the city entails the expansion of its population, as can be seen in the number of immigrants in the country, as well as the redefinition of the American identity. For Joyce, such an expansion leads to the loss of a national culture as he depicts Spence Brydon, the tales protagonist, as a displaced individual who is incapable of determining his membership to a particular community.  Brydons existence is divided by three opposing locations, that being the hotel where he resides at night and his two inherited properties. Amongst these locations, Brydon is mostly attached to the passageways of the jolly corner which he also chooses to visit at night in the hopes of meeting the ghostly presence that he considers to wander through the clear vistas of the location (James 83). Joyce describes his wandering in the following manner, Visiting the ample house from attic to cellar, making sure he was alone, he knew himself in safe possession and, as he tacitly expressed it, let himself go (83). Brydons attraction to the house may be attributed to his desire for a small-scale location where he is capable of determining a distinct and clear conception of his being. Joyces text thereby provides a reaction not only against the continuous expansion of American cities or America itself but also to a globalized world since he perceives it as a location where individuals are incapable of grasping a specific view of themselves thereby leading to the production of a global population of displaced individuals.

Joyces view of the relationship between globalization and the deterioration of the American identity provides an example of one of the views against globalization during his time-frame. His depiction of Brydons condition, in this sense, may be understood as an example of one of the manifestations of practical consciousness during the initial period of the 20th century. As opposed to Joyces view, Isherwood provides another perspective for understanding the American identity within the context of a globalized world. In My Guru and His Disciples, Isherwood presents an autobiography of his life as he traces his relationship with Swani Prabhavanda who like Isherwood is an American Vedantist. Within the text, Isherwood recounts the tenets of Vedantic philosophy while giving special emphasis to its repercussions to personal identity.

Isherwood argues that although Vedantic philosophy has its origins from a different culture and nation, its principles which places premium on the individuals achievement of internal coherence does not contradict the beliefs or practices of American culture or any culture for that matter (338). It is important to note that besides its content, one of the defining characteristics of My Guru and His Disciples also lies in its continuation of the subjectivist style of writing experiences which was initially introduced by Eliot and Lawrence. His text, in this sense provided a manifestation of practical consciousness during the initial period of the 20th century as it presented a different viewpoint regarding the effects of globalization and as it presented this viewpoint in a literary style which was considered pass during the period. It is important to note that although Isherwoods text does not provide an explicit view pertaining to the issue of globalization, this is implicitly stated in his text as it shows the possibility of maintaining a strong sense of American identity despite its fusion with certain elements or practices of other cultures.

In relation to Joyces text, one may claim that Isherwood provides a counter-argument and hence an antithesis to Joyces views regarding the effects of globalization to the American identity. Although both texts were created in the 20th century, they presented opposing viewpoints which may be considered as manifestations of practical consciousness since both of their views did not represent a specific institutionalized perspective for understanding the effects of globalization in American culture during the period of their production. ONeills Netherland, on the other hand, was created in a period where America recognized the importance of globalization as well as cultural pluralism. In the text, ONeill introduces the reader to the repercussions of the 9D 11 attack through Hans van den Broeck s character. Hans  character grapples the effects of the attack to the immigrant residents of Manhattan. He claims, for example,  I ve heard that social scientists like to explain such a scene-a patch of America sprinkled with the foreign-born strangely at play- in terms of the immigrants quest for subcommunities(ONeill 120). ONeills text, in this sense, manifests the changes in perceiving American identity since although Hans is an immigrant he is also affected by the terrorist attack in the country. In a sense, his identity which is also rooted in the American soil has also been affected by the acts of terrorism. ONeills text thereby manifests a social belief that provides a synthesis of Joyces and Isherwoods beliefs introduced in their texts as he shows that although the values and meanings associated to the American identity has changed to include even those who have immigrated to the country, it still remains a truism that the expansion of ones boundaries, in this case the expansion of Americas power throughout the world, still leads individuals to consider the negative effects of this expansion in relation to ensuring the well-being of American citizens.

Within this context, James, Isherwood, and ONeills text provide the practical consciousness regarding the relationship of the American identity to globalization during the period of their production. The combination of their text, on the other hand, shows an example of a dialectic at work as their texts provided a thesis, antithesis, and synthesis towards an understanding of the relationship of globalization and the American identity.