ACTA UNIVERSITATIS UPSALIENSIS Studia Anglistica Upsaliensia 127 Editores Rolf Lundén, Merja Kytö & Monica Correa Fryckste
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ACTA UNIVERSITATIS UPSALIENSIS Studia Anglistica Upsaliensia 127 Editores Rolf Lundén, Merja Kytö & Monica Correa Fryckstedt Eva Zetterberg Pettersson The Old World Journey National Identity in Four American Novels from 1960 to 1973 Dissertation for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English presented at Uppsala Univer- sity in 2005. Abstract Zetterberg Pettersson, E., 2005. The Old World Journey: National Identity in Four American Novels from 1960 to 1973. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Studia Anglistica Upsaliensia 127. 185 pp. ISBN 91-554-6306-1. A commonly held assumption among literary critics is that the motif of the European journey is exhausted in American literature in the post-World-War-II period. Challenging this view, the present study claims that the Old World journey narrative lives on, but in new guises, and that it continues to be a forum for the discussion of American national identity. Studying four novels about Americans traveling to Europe – William Styron’s Set This House on Fire (1960), Mary McCarthy’s Birds of America (1971), John A. Williams’s The Man Who Cried I Am (1967) and Erica Jong’s Fear of Flying (1973) – this thesis examines the ways in which the European journey is utilized for a questioning of “America.” Informed by the political debates of their time, which, lead, for example, to the displacement of hegemonic ideologies such as nationalism, they share a critical stance vis-à-vis the conventional construction of national identity. They represent, however, different strands of the contemporary political counterculture; while the first two texts view national identity from the center of American society, addressing a moral and an ideological/intellectual critique, respectively, the last two represent marginal perspectives, that of the African American and feminist protest move- ments. The function of the European setting in the four novels is also scrutinized: in all of them the European setting provides the backdrop for a story that deals, almost exclusively, with American culture; it serves in a variety of ways, for example as a many-facetted stage, an experimental ground, or a zone of liberation. The Coda sketches recent developments in the 1980s and 1990s, finding the theme of initiation and the figure of the independent warm- hearted American girl to persist and the myth of American innocence to continue to be con- tested. Keywords: Erica Jong, Mary McCarthy, William Styron, John A. Williams, Birds of America, Fear of Flying, The Man Who Cried I Am, Set This House on Fire, “America,” “Europe,” European journey, international novel, journey narrative, nationalism, national identity, Old World Eva Zetterberg Pettersson. Asphagsvägen 6A, SE-732 48 Arboga, Sweden. © Eva Zetterberg Pettersson 2005 ISBN 91-554-6306-1 ISSN 0562-2719 Printed in Sweden by Elanders Gotab, Stockholm 2005 Distributor: Uppsala University Library, Box 510, SE-751 20 Uppsala www.uu.se, [email protected] To Hilda and Astrid ii Contents Acknowledgements.........................................................................................9 INTRODUCTION Discovering “America” Abroad....................................................................11 CHAPTER ONE American National Identity...........................................................................18 National Identity: National Self and Other...............................................20 Nation/Journey/Gaze................................................................................24 Nation, Narrative, and the Story of “America” ........................................36 CHAPTER TWO A History of the Old World Journey.............................................................46 An Affirmation of Innocence – the Nineteenth Century..........................47 An End to Innocence? – from 1900 to the 1950s .....................................54 CHAPTER THREE Expatriate Innocents? William Styron’s Set This House on Fire .................63 National Allegory.....................................................................................64 America’s Italy.........................................................................................70 American Hegemony................................................................................74 The “Mission” ..........................................................................................78 A Rejection of the Old World ..................................................................83 CHAPTER FOUR Portrait of a Rare American and His Kin: Mary McCarthy’s Birds of America.........................................................................................................88 Peter Levi, the Endangered American Bird and His Flyways.................90 The Expatriate Community: Migratory American Birds..........................98 Peter Levi, American Tourist Bird.........................................................104 The Death of the American Liberal Idealist...........................................108 CHAPTER FIVE The Education of an African American: John A. Williams’s The Man Who Cried I Am...................................................................................................115 The African American Male and the Bildungsroman ............................117 The Old World: A Continent of Liberation or White Power?...............122 The Closed Road – the Dead End ..........................................................128 Turning Away from Europe ...................................................................135 CHAPTER SIX Mrs. America Abroad: Erica Jong’s Fear of Flying ...................................139 The Modern American Girl and Her European Adventure...................142 American Gazer......................................................................................148 Return to “America”...............................................................................155 CODA The Survival of the Old World Journey Narrative.....................................163 Bibliography ...............................................................................................170 Index ...........................................................................................................181 Acknowledgements Although the journey is a cliché metaphor for the writing of a dissertation, it is an apt one; it captures the fundamental nature of the experience, that of the process. In my case it is, of course, doubly appropriate, as my thesis is con- cerned with journeys. Nevertheless, I find the metaphor flawed because, primarily associated with adventure, even pleasure, it does not account for the fact that research is hard labor, albeit one of love. And, as it calls up the image of the traveler, one conventionally thought of as an individualist, it obscures the community, or communities, that the doctoral student is sup- ported by. To acknowledge these communities, the many people who have toiled with me, or sponsored my work, is essential to me because without them this book would never have been completed. Throughout the years, the one person who has devoted most time and ef- fort to my texts is my supervisor Dr. Elisabeth Herion-Sarafidis. I thank her for teaching me how to use my tools. For what I know about the art and craft of literary scholarship, and about academic writing, I am greatly indebted to her. The perceptive comments of my co-supervisor Professor Rolf Lundén have also been crucial, as has his guidance at the beginning and end of my training. At every stage of the process, the response so generously given by the members of the American Literature Seminar has helped me improve my arguments and inspired me to persevere. I thank all members, past and pres- ent, but I particularly want to mention Dr. Jenny Bonnevier, Anna Borgström, Dr. Maria Holmgren-Troy, Dr. Elizabeth Kella, Dr. Anna Linzie, Dr. Ellen Matlok-Ziemann, Johanna McElwee, Dr. Karin Molander Dan- ielsson, Dr Anders Olsson, Alan Pejkovic, Anna Svensson, Fredrik Tydal, and Dr. Helena Wahlström. Dr. Erik Löfroth, who has been a most reliable, and appreciated, presence in the seminars deserves to be singled out and so does Dr. Bo G. Ekelund who offered valuable criticism when my final manuscript was discussed. Special gratitude is extended to Colin Haines who, not only was a member of the seminar, but also expertly proofread my manuscript. PhD studies inevitably have a practical side; for assisting me in administrative matters I thank Ruth Hvidberg. For financing for my doctoral project recognition is due to the Depart- ment of Arts and Humanities, Mid-Sweden University, Adolf Lindgren Stiftelse, Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Stiftelse, and the Department of Eng- lish, Uppsala University. A travel grant from Helge Ax:son Johnson Stiftelse enabled me to go abroad to do library research at U.C. Santa Cruz, San José 9 State University, Stanford University, and the British Library in London. Ograduerade Forskares Fond contributed to this research trip, as well as to conferences I have attended. Friends and family are appreciated for having accepted my odd occupa- tion – and offering me relief from it. The hospitality and kindness of the Siverson family of Gilroy, CA made my summer stay in the United States enjoyable and memorable. Most of all, my gratitude goes out to my family, whose unconditional love, patience, and encouragement have given me a safe haven away from the pressure of work. I admire my parents for their faith in me and I thank them for their willingness to help out in my domestic