“GOODBYE, AMERICANA, HELLO REAL TIME”: THE DEATH OF IDEALISM IN PHILIP ROTH’S AMERICAN PASTORAL

Cristina  CHEVEREȘAN

doi:10.24193/subbphilo.2024.3.06

Authors

Cristina CHEVEREȘAN Department of American Literature, Culture, and Civilization, Faculty of Letters, West University, Timișoara, Romania. Email: cristina.cheveresan@e-uvt.ro. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6000-1142

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24193/subbphilo.2024.3.06

Keywords:

Americana, community, discourse, ideology, identity, myth, trauma

Abstract

“Goodbye, Americana, Hello Real Time”: The Death of Idealism in Philip Roth’s American Pastoral. Philip Roth’s 1997 American Pastoral is a textbook illustration of failed cultural transmission: the transference and transformation of values, idea(l)s and information in the lives of Seymour Levov, his family, his community prove to be governed by loss, misrepresentation and gradual decline into disorder. Far from delivering the romanticized version of life in the Jewish neighborhood that the title implies, the novel captures a disenchanted Americana, wherein idealism and radicalism clash against the background of the ideologically fractured 1960s. While ‘the Swede’ apparently initially embodies the (super)hero, middle-class American Dream, American Pastoral chronicles America’s evolution after World War II, which is captured as a mixture of convention and rebellion, both stemming from clashing political ideologies. This paper examines the book’s polarizing discourses, keeping an emblematic passage in mind: “Maybe the best thing would be to forget being right or wrong about people and just go along for the ride.”

“Goodbye, Americana, Hello Real Time”: moartea idealismului în Pastorala americană de Philip Roth. Pastorala americană a lui Philip Roth (1997) constituie un exemplu tipic de transmitere culturală eșuată. Transferul și transformarea valorilor, ide(alur)ilor și informației în viețile lui Seymour Levov, familiei și comunității sale se dovedesc guvernate de pierderi, reprezentări eronate și, în cele din urmă, entropie. Departe de a oferi o versiune romanțată asupra vieții în vecinătatea evreiască, așa cum sugerează titlul, romanul surprinde o imagine dezvrăjită a Americii, unde idealismul și radicalismul se ciocnesc pe fundalul unor ani 1960 scindați ideologic. În timp ce „Suedezul” pare că întruchipează inițial (super)eroul Visului American al clasei de mijloc, Pastorala americană înregistrează evoluția Americii după cel de Al Doilea Război Mondial, redată drept un amestec de convenționalism și rebeliune, ambele rezultate din diferite tipuri de îndoctrinare. Lucrarea examinează discursurile polarizante ale cărții, luând în considerare un pasaj emblematic: „Poate cel mai bine ar fi să uităm de a avea sau nu dreptate despre oameni și să ne bucurăm doar de călătorie”.

Cuvinte-cheie: Americana, comunitate, discurs, ideologie, identitate, mit, traumă

Article history: Received 15 March 2024; Revised 27 August 2024; Accepted 01 September 2024; Available online 30 September 2024; Available print 30 September 2024.

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