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/lit/ - Literature

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17977328 No.17977328 [Reply] [Original]

What are some books that truly encapsulate the American spirit?

>> No.17977345

Infinite Jest.

>> No.17977362

>>17977328
Fast Food Nation

>> No.17977388

>>17977328
That america is dead. Any man with a soul still venerates its memory. Never forget what they took from you ameribros

>> No.17977409

Walden

>> No.17977453

>>17977388
>All America lies at the end of the wilderness road, and our past is not a dead past, but still lives in us. Our forefathers had civilization inside themselves, the wild outside. We live in the civilization they created, but within us the wilderness still lingers. What they dreamed, we live, and what they lived, we dream.
>–T.K. Whipple, Study Out the Land

>> No.17977466

Adventures of augie march

>> No.17977477

>>17977453
Yeah, I would propose we don’t actually live in a civilization. 90% of this country is inorganic and basically phony. It’s quite literally unsustainable and never would’ve popped up were in not for complex debt instruments and complex industrial technology. As for our wilderness, well, that’s been a bit pretty monopolized by public parks and ag/natural resource companies too hasn’t it?

>> No.17977487
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17977487

>>17977453
Nice that you read the intro quote of McMurty's "Lonesome Dove," but have you actually read Whipple himself?

>> No.17977506

>>17977487
>but have you actually read Whipple himself?
you got me, I have not; it's still a very beautiful quote though

What would you recommend for someone who wants to start?

>> No.17977507

>>17977477
Hey at least you can go and buy arable land in the US - stuff that has water access, wildlife nearby etc

The other day I wanted to go for a walk in a semblance of nature - even the artificial national parks in the netherlands are insipid and small.

Go live outside of society then,

>> No.17977568

>>17977506
That book is probably the only place to start. The quote comes from an essay called "The Myth of the Old West" which is pretty good if you're interested in western genre writing.

Honestly though Whipple is a minor academic writer. He's of interest to western genre afficianados, and perhaps to those who enjoy mid-century American literary criticism more generally (though if you're in that boat you really should start with Lionel Trilling who is both a better writer and more important), but beyond that his work really amounts to nothing more than a footnote. Which is still more than anything I write will amount to.

>> No.17977588

>>17977507
>Hey at least you can go and buy arable land in the US - stuff that has water access, wildlife nearby etc
News to me. I mean, sure, you’re legally able to. Actually making it happen might be a titanic endeavor give price if nothing else. I don’t know why everyone thinks good land is cheap in America. It’s not.

>> No.17977610

>>17977588
Compared to europe it is, even a plot of land in the ass end of the Ukraine will fetch a hefty price considering the country itself.

It's more that the cost of land relative to the development of the country is very cheap.

>> No.17977625

>>17977610
>It's more that the cost of land relative to the development of the country is very cheap.
This is true, but you also need to keep in mind that the states in the USA in which you can get good land comparatively cheaply are probably closer to the development status of a Ukraine than they are of a United Kingdom. Still a very comfy way to live though.

>> No.17977632

>>17977610
Sure, but Europe has perks the US doesn’t have I think. For example, I was reading a book about someone who ended up in Sils Maria and make a remark about Nietzsche doing his writing there among his daily walks through the mountains. What struck me was that a man could just live in a house there, walk out the front door, and be walking in wilderness, or at least mountains. In the US, that’s pretty much impossible. Those beautiful Rockies we have? They’re public parks. You can’t access them with driving there in a car first and you certainly can’t live there. Sure, you could get any plot of land cheaper and easier than in Europe but so what? I think a lot of people here fantasize about that sort of thing but would find it’s rejuvenating but not actually that fulfilling or satiating.

>> No.17977649

>>17977625
Exactly. I read a book detailing Ezra Pound’s walking travels across rural France. I was shocked by that because such a thing would literally not even be possible here.

>> No.17977676

>>17977649
It depends on the state. In Eastern and Southern states that's probably possible. In the mid-west and west, it isn't.

The thing that most Europeans miss about the United States is its sheer size. Our states are the size of their countries, and the middle of the United States is essentially a desert (before real estate speculators and political boosters came up with the term 'the Great Plains' to dry to draw settlers out there, everyone called the space "the Great American Desert," and for good reason.

>> No.17977765 [DELETED] 
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17977765

People Mover is an allegory for Manifest Destiny, yeah?
Probably that then, at least in terms of recent stuff.

>> No.17977830

Leaves Of Grass

>> No.17977856

>>17977830
Based. Whitman's poetry and Emerson's essays should be read by everyone with an interest in American literature.

>> No.17978513

>>17977856
Don't forget Thoreau.

>> No.17979008

gr

>> No.17979472

Blood Meridian, unironically.

>> No.17979756

>>17977466
facts

>> No.17979784

Call of the Arcade.