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Aronson & American Dream
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From: jomalley at caruspub.com <jomalley>
Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2001 11:05:10 -0600
Ruth, Marc is eager to provide more context for his comments about the American Dream. Here's his response:
Marc Aronson 03/11/2001 07:32 PM
To: Judy Omalley/Caruspub at Caruspub cc: Subject: Re: [CCBC-Net] Aronson & American Dream (Document link not
converted)
The whole burdern of my trilogy is the effort to challenge and engage with exactly the question of what the American Dream is -- in all of its good and bad sides. First, via Ralegh, the dream is of an El Dorado, a bonanza
-- preserved to this day in, say dot.com billionaires, contained in that dream, too, is the sense of America as an Eden to be protected and a virgin to be raped. Second, via Puritans in England and New England, I will investigate the idea of America as a promised land, a place in which a community of believers can live perfectly according to God's law. Contained within that story will be the counter story of Cromwell in Ireland and of King Philip's War here -- the need to destroy those who do not confirm your vision of perfection. Finally, in the third book, I will discuss Paine and Madision: the American Dream as the product of reason and faith in the people, and America as a practical compromise that allows a democracy to function, at the price of legalizing slavery.
So while I keep returning to this idea of a dream - last articulated, by the way, by MLK who called upon all of the types of imagery I'm investigating -- I am certainly not seduced by any easy image of it.
Marc
Received on Mon 12 Mar 2001 11:05:10 AM CST
Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2001 11:05:10 -0600
Ruth, Marc is eager to provide more context for his comments about the American Dream. Here's his response:
Marc Aronson 03/11/2001 07:32 PM
To: Judy Omalley/Caruspub at Caruspub cc: Subject: Re: [CCBC-Net] Aronson & American Dream (Document link not
converted)
The whole burdern of my trilogy is the effort to challenge and engage with exactly the question of what the American Dream is -- in all of its good and bad sides. First, via Ralegh, the dream is of an El Dorado, a bonanza
-- preserved to this day in, say dot.com billionaires, contained in that dream, too, is the sense of America as an Eden to be protected and a virgin to be raped. Second, via Puritans in England and New England, I will investigate the idea of America as a promised land, a place in which a community of believers can live perfectly according to God's law. Contained within that story will be the counter story of Cromwell in Ireland and of King Philip's War here -- the need to destroy those who do not confirm your vision of perfection. Finally, in the third book, I will discuss Paine and Madision: the American Dream as the product of reason and faith in the people, and America as a practical compromise that allows a democracy to function, at the price of legalizing slavery.
So while I keep returning to this idea of a dream - last articulated, by the way, by MLK who called upon all of the types of imagery I'm investigating -- I am certainly not seduced by any easy image of it.
Marc
Received on Mon 12 Mar 2001 11:05:10 AM CST
