Nationalism and Literature: The Politics of Culture in Canada and the United States
Sarah M. Corse - Nationalism and Literature: The Politics of Culture in Canada and the United States
Published: 1996-10-28 | ISBN: 0521579120, 0521570026 | PDF | 226 pages | 5 MB
This analysis of two hundred American and Canadian novels offers a new theory of national literatures, demonstrating that national canon formation occurs in tandem with nation-building. It accounts for cross-national differences and illuminates the historically constructed and symbolic nature of the relationship between literature and the nation-state. High-culture national literatures are selected as different from other novels; popular-culture bestsellers are mass market commodities for the largest, least differentiated audience.