T 1290.pdf - Pondicherry University DSpace Portal

"Americanlsatlon" did not touch the deeper self. The ongoingimmlgration makes it difficult to see the real success ofAmerlcanlzatlon in creatlnq distlnctlve types, characters,styles and artlfaCtS of all sorts. Americans recognize oneanother, take prlde In things that fellow Americans have madeand done and idertify with the national community. Americanimmlgrant-soclety has no choice. Tolerance 1s a way of muddlingthrough when any alternative pollcy would be vlolent anddangerous.An ethnlc Amerrcan is someone who can llve his spiritualllfe as he chooses, on elther slde of the hyphen. In thls senseAmerlcan cltlzenshlp 1s anonymous, for lt doesn't requlre afull cornmltment to Amerlcan natlonallty. The all lmportantrdeologlcal cornmltment 1s the so;e pre-requlslte of Americancltlzenshlp. Amerlcan population lacks coheslon and itscultural llfe lacks coherence. At the core, the left slde ofthe hyphen 1s stronger; along the periphery, the right sideseems stronger though never fully dominant. What Amerlca offerdwas as eluslve and ethereal as the speculatlve condltlons oflts own polltlcal founding. Amerlca 1s lmaglnatlon's own land.The practlce of fiction in Amerlca has been a necessarlly selfconsciousaffalr-lt has contributed to lts greatness. Americanauthors, In faclng crltlcal problems, have produced some of the