This essay examines the significance of the American Revolution as a literary trope and a rhetorical device in shaping US political imagination. The Revolution fostered both utopian and dystopian rationales, justifying radical experiences such as fascism. I will examine this relevance in Nathanael West’s A Cool Million (1934) and Sinclair Lewis’s It Can’t Happen Here (1935).

Fascism, Populism, and the Myth of the American Revolution in 20th-Century US Literature

Nicola Paladin
2022-01-01

Abstract

This essay examines the significance of the American Revolution as a literary trope and a rhetorical device in shaping US political imagination. The Revolution fostered both utopian and dystopian rationales, justifying radical experiences such as fascism. I will examine this relevance in Nathanael West’s A Cool Million (1934) and Sinclair Lewis’s It Can’t Happen Here (1935).
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11564/793500
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