Alfred Kazin's Vision in the American Romance Tradition

Huimin Hao

doi:10.47297/wspctWSP2515-470206.20230702

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Alfred Kazin's Vision in the American Romance Tradition

Volume 7, Issue 2

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Alfred Kazin's Vision in the American Romance Tradition
Post-doctoral researcher in the School of Liberal Arts, Shanghai University, 200444, P.R. China
Vol. 7, Issue 2, Pages: 64-75(2023)
Published： 30 December 2023 ，
DOI：10.47297/wspctWSP2515-470206.20230702

Full txt

Hao Huimin.Alfred Kazin's Vision in the American Romance Tradition[J].Critical Theory,2023,07(02):64-75.
DOI：

Hao Huimin.Alfred Kazin's Vision in the American Romance Tradition[J].Critical Theory,2023,07(02):64-75. DOI： 10.47297/wspctWSP2515-470206.20230702.

摘要

Abstract

As a member of the second-generation New York Intellectuals

Alfred Kazin described himself as a "Walker

" detached from the dominant forms of social criticism. Kazin highlighted the construction of personal faith and the American national spirit of romance

namely

the Romantic "vision" or "second nature." Being unable to identify with Jewish cultures and American Marxists' theoretical values

he turned to radical literature and relied on "American sensibility" as a key component of his literary imagination. Standing on the native grounds

Kazin participated in and witnessed the development and growth of American literary studies. Although having not properly defined the scope of "modern American literature

" he revealed the "tragic" sense of American literary history and

as a result

transformed this literary history into a history of American romance spirit. When his sense of alienation from society was increasing

the occurrence of the Holocaust had further aggravated Kazin's spiritual crisis

which made his "American sensibility" a fusion of American and Jewish minds. In a post-modern context of political crisis

cultural nihilism and withering of American Religion

Kazin tried to restore the tradition of Emersonian self-reliance. In the process of writing about both the private and national "selfhood

" Kazin created his own belief of "Jewish Romanticism."

关键词

Keywords

Alfred Kazinvisionthe American romance traditionthe Jewishness

references

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