American literature and culture

Who speaks for whom?

When the English writer and preacher Sidney Smith inquired in 1820 that, “In the four quarters of the globe, who reads an American book?” He couldn’t have been sure that in less than two centuries the upfront answer would be, everyone!

We live in times where the American power is the determinant, the definitive force; a force more powerful than any ideology or belief. When a country rules the hearts and minds of the world as such, hands down, its literature becomes a focal point where world literary attention converges. Hence, a dominant culture breeds a dominant literature. Interchangeably, once afforded the power, literature consumes an authority and begins to then feed the mores already existent in a society.

In an age where American culture is found to be ubiquitous, it is only a pressing need to delve into its essential treasure trove. The source that feeds the culture, nourishes and ultimately resonates it: literature. Yes, it is the literature of any culture in the world that cultivates its mores, nostrums and conventions. Hence, rather than a blind following of the cultural aesthetics, let us dwell in its literary side to fathom its workings better.

American literature, like any canonical literature, strongly resonates the inklings of American nostrums and ideologies. Despite being a cosmopolitan, multicultural place, the United States of America has managed to arrive at quite a few distinct junctures of ideological tradition that ring throughout their literature. In the following paragraphs I will be essentially looking at themes such as race, history and memory, inversion of stereotypes and issues of identity. To this end, I have befriended the chosen texts — The Piano Lesson by August Wilson, Topdog/Underdog by Suzan Lori Parks and Yellow Face by David Henry Hwang — which will help unequivocally resonate the American idol of an ideology that runs through its vena cava.

Culture and literature

It is essential that we discuss the linkage between American literature and culture before we embark on explaining how each of these texts, as mentioned above, elucidates this linkage in terms of each individual theme. In order to explain the linkage between literature and culture I will employ two of the most fundamental articles; one by Levander called “Discovering American Literature” and the other by Lisa Lowe called “Power of Culture”. Levander says that American literature is a case of an ever shifting corpus and hence it is in a constant phase of transition and change. This, because of the immense amalgamation of sorts amongst the American society that American literature, like culture, cannot be viewed as monolithic anymore. Levander goes on to say that this literature is definitely resonant of the place it is written in but more so where it is read and the linkage between where it is interpreted as such is almost inextricable because it will be interpreted the way it is read and by whom it is read. Similarly, Nathaniel Hawthorne has been quoted in the same article as saying that writing is a construct. Actual working is the one that of culture and mores of tradition behind the writer’s psyche. So while American literature has strong echoes of American culture — the connotations of which I shall describe in following paragraphs — it works to basically unsettle a lot of the regional and local narratives of where it is read as well. At the same time it helps strengthen the local narratives of places where it is read as well simultaneously.

Moving on, Lisa Lowe in the same vein brings to the fore the dimensions of the power of culture within the American set up. She says that the plays like ‘Walls’ brought to the American consciousness the concept of redefining ‘nation’, ‘community’ and ‘class’ where questions were raised over the Vietnam War. Where, from within the American society objections were pinpointed, sending the people on a spree to define their own culture hence concluding that the different races come together to define their own selves but working for the national project of nationhood at the same time. The crux of what the author means to communicate through this rather insightful analysis is as follows:

“Culture is the terrain through which the individual speaks itself as a member of the contemporary national collectivity, but culture is also a mediation of history, the site through which the past returns and is remembered, however fragmented, imperfect, or disavowed.”

The above finds its echo in “The Piano Lesson” and “Topdog/Underdog” where the authors have very skilfully weaved the themes of historicity, past and memory into the fabric of their respective plays.

Race

Race and identity are quite intricately linked but the reason why I have put them separately is that race would cover the racism factors and identity shall cover how it is formed and retained in alien souls. Race is definitely in general terms a construct of identity and vice versa. Actually it is just a matter of mental block to which a wide majority in American system succumb in order to create a milieu of racism that literature then echoes.

I shall begin with “Yellow Face” that carries strong echoes of the racial imbalance where the taking of a white person in an Asian role — in a play within the play — is strongly resented by the author/protagonist of the play. He opposes the ‘blatant restriction of artistic freedom’. When race is made an excuse to basically subvert the working of the smooth non-racial environment, where art is not respected and adored as such!

History and memory

“The Piano Lesson” was written in 20th century and it projected the African sensibility of the American north as well as the American south. This play explores the collective African unconscious that is haunted by memories of the slave trade. The violent scourge of animalistic treatment unleashed. These poor souls languished on the plantations under the relentless heat of inhumanity.

In the play, the heirloom piano which is a family symbol of love and unity becomes an image of hatred and bitter disgust. Even Its shadow Berniece dreads, thus wishes to keep away from her daughter. This haunting of the mind is a powerful metaphor of mental subjugation of the blacks at the hands of the whites and the past that is rooted in pain. Therefore, the words of Doaker are foreboding in the same vein.

‘Now what I done learned after 27 years of railroading is this… if the train stays on the track… it’s going to get where it’s going. It might not be where you going. If it ain’t, then all you got to do is sit and wait cause the train’s coming back to get you. The train don’t never stop.’

The train is the inexorable nature of past that keeps coming back to haunt. The history of colonisation that keeps returning to haunt the protagonists of the play.

Moving on, in “Topdog/Underdog”, the role of past returning is equally fundamental, because firstly, the names of the two characters — Lincoln and Booth — echo a historical reality of the US. Secondly while Lincoln poses to be the president and getting shot by the passersby, he is not happy with his job because he cannot wear his real self at the place where he sits. This unsettlement is quite similar to Berniece’s chagrin at the past returning.

Identity

In “Topdog/Underdog”, Lincoln is a weak character. Being a weak link he starts making songs in his head when he wants to avert a situation. He is not happy with his job which is nothing more than a monotone of a drudgery. His identity has morphed into that of a mechanised object, a definitive result of the capitalistic economies where the individual is sucked into the system so hard, that personal gratification from one’s job seems like a remote thing even to dream. His persona echoes universal truth about individuals earning a living but not exactly living thereof. In one of the places in the play, Booth and Lincoln converse as follows.

Lincoln: It’s a living

Booth: But you ain’t living

Lincoln: I’m alive ain’t i?

In “Yellow Face”, identity is often a mutable and mutual thing where immigrants have taken over the American landscape. Hence Homi Bhabha’s theory of the Third Space is being employed. Accentuating, thereby, the ever shifting identity corpus inside America. Does this endanger the actual American culture or is ‘actual America’ just a mirage in the desert one blow from nearing close. There are strong references to identity and formulation of it because the author’s father came from China and his frequent allusion to the American Dream is explicit. This raises strong echoes of identity being protected and sustained even in a place of such cultural diversity as well. DHH’s father says about the American Dream that:

‘When I was working in a laundry, could I ever have dreamed? That one day Charlton Heston would write about my son? I’m telling you, this is the land of opportunity.’

Hence, while these texts raise important themes of identity, history, memory and stereotypes, they very honestly reveal the American experience from all angles. While they do that, simultaneously they vouch for the strongest case: their homeland. One wants to go visit these places they mention, and sit with people having hearts that feel what the writers conjure, and put one’s hand on the pulse of the nation so celebrated in our day and age. Literature possesses the power to dominate the hearts and minds of its readers — hence rippling the national influence manifold.

Every anon one comes across literature that resonates strongly the particular country’s culture. Its recurrent themes in the stories echo the persistent pulse of the very nation — and one can’t help but dream the same for one’s own land. One is poised to think, when will our fortunate star of birth of a national conscience, rooted in national honour and pride, shine? When will our written word be the constant talk of the global literary town; and when and how will our written word acquire the persistent strength and warmth of a strong nationalistic love, swerving the international reader’s heart.

So many writers, so many books, so many bestsellers has Pakistan produced, all we need is more…