Myth-making and Uchronia: The Advent of a Fascist America in Nathanael West’s A Cool Million (1934)

Myth-making and Uchronia: The Advent of a Fascist America in Nathanael West’s A Cool Million (1934)

Nathanael West’s A Cool Million (1934) has been largely viewed as both a deadpan parody of the «Rags to Riches» success story popularized by Horatio Alger and a satire on nascent fascism in Depression-era America. In the novel, two storylines cross-pollinate: ex-President Nathan «Shagpoke» Whipple’s...

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1. autor: Conesa, Frank
Format: Article ou chapitre numérique
Język:Anglais
Wydane: Les Cahiers de Framespa 2017
Hasła przedmiotowe:
mythe
Nathanael West
A Cool Million
uchronie
fascisme
myth
uchronia
fascism
mito
ucronía
fascismo
Dostęp online:Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
id openedition-oai:revues.org:framespa_4276
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spelling openedition-oai:revues.org:framespa_4276 https://doi.org/10.4000/framespa.4276 urn:doi:10.4000/framespa.4276 en https://journals.openedition.org/framespa/4276 2017-03-29T02:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/gdqj https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Myth-making and Uchronia: The Advent of a Fascist America in Nathanael West’s A Cool Million (1934) Les Cahiers de Framespa UMR 5136 – FRAMESPA info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/1760-4761 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/framespa Conesa, Frank mythe Nathanael West A Cool Million uchronie fascisme myth Nathanael West A Cool Million uchronia fascism mito Nathanael West A Cool Million ucronía fascismo Nathanael West’s A Cool Million (1934) has been largely viewed as both a deadpan parody of the «Rags to Riches» success story popularized by Horatio Alger and a satire on nascent fascism in Depression-era America. In the novel, two storylines cross-pollinate: ex-President Nathan «Shagpoke» Whipple’s successful fascist revolution and young Lemuel Pitkin’s thwarted Algeresque success story. As young Pitkin gets dismantled and eventually assassinated, the retrained politician sets out to create his own Revolutionary Party to save his country from decay. This paper will re-articulate the two trajectories and show how they actually inform an American fascist myth. I will argue that in the context of the Depression, A Cool Million emerges as a uchronia, an alternate history dramatizing the advent of a dictator who decides to exterminate all that is un-American, seizing upon Lemuel Pitkin’s martyr to forge and enunciate the official mythology of the new political regime. Écrit en 1934 par Nathanael West, A Cool Million se lit à la fois comme une parodie cynique du mythe du « Rags to Riches » popularisé par les success stories d’Horatio Alger, et comme une satire de la montée du fascisme dans l’Amérique de la Dépression. Dans le roman, deux récits se déploient de façon croisée : la révolution fasciste menée à son terme par Nathan « Shagpoke » Whipple et l’échec de Lemuel Pitkin dans sa success story « algérienne ». Tandis que le jeune Pitkin est graduellement dépouillé et finalement assassiné, l’homme politique reconverti se lance dans la création de son propre parti révolutionnaire pour sauver le pays de la décadence. Dans cet article qui combinera les deux trajectoires et montrera qu’elles façonnent en fin de compte un mythe fasciste américain, je défends l’idée que A Cool Million apparaît comme une uchronie sur fond de Dépression, une histoire alternative qui met en scène l’avènement d’un dictateur qui prend la décision d’éradiquer tout ce qui n’est pas américain, allant jusqu’à s’emparer du martyre de Lemuel Pitkin pour fonder et énoncer la mythologie du nouveau régime politique. La novela A Cool Million (1934) escrita por Nathanael West se considera como una parodia socarrona del famoso cuento «Rags to Riches» popularizado por Horatio Alger, y también como una sátira del fascismo emergente, en tiempos de la Gran Depresión americana. En esta novela corta, dos relatos se van desplegando y cruzando: por una parte, la revolución fascista llevada hasta su desenlace por el ex-presidente Nathan «Shagpoke» Whipple y, por otra parte, el fracaso de la success story argelina de Lemuel Pitkin. Mientras el joven Pitkin se encuentra progresivamente despojado y finalmente asesinado, el político reconvertido se dispone a crear su propio Partido Revolucionario para salvar a su país de la decadencia. En este artículo en el cual se estudiarán conjuntamente las dos trayectorias, demostrando que forman un verdadero mito fascista americano, intentaré probar que, en el contexto de la Depresión, A Cool Million aparece como una ucronía, o sea una historia alternativa que dramatiza el advenimiento de un dictador deseoso de exterminar todo lo antiamericano, apoderándose inclusive del martirio de Lemuel Pitkin para forjar y enunciar la mitología oficial del nuevo régimen político.
collection OpenEdition Journal
language Anglais
format Article ou chapitre numérique
building 0/Bibliothèque numérique/
1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/
topic mythe
Nathanael West
A Cool Million
uchronie
fascisme
myth
Nathanael West
A Cool Million
uchronia
fascism
mito
Nathanael West
A Cool Million
ucronía
fascismo
spellingShingle mythe
Nathanael West
A Cool Million
uchronie
fascisme
myth
Nathanael West
A Cool Million
uchronia
fascism
mito
Nathanael West
A Cool Million
ucronía
fascismo
Conesa, Frank
Myth-making and Uchronia: The Advent of a Fascist America in Nathanael West’s A Cool Million (1934)
description Nathanael West’s A Cool Million (1934) has been largely viewed as both a deadpan parody of the «Rags to Riches» success story popularized by Horatio Alger and a satire on nascent fascism in Depression-era America. In the novel, two storylines cross-pollinate: ex-President Nathan «Shagpoke» Whipple’s successful fascist revolution and young Lemuel Pitkin’s thwarted Algeresque success story. As young Pitkin gets dismantled and eventually assassinated, the retrained politician sets out to create his own Revolutionary Party to save his country from decay. This paper will re-articulate the two trajectories and show how they actually inform an American fascist myth. I will argue that in the context of the Depression, A Cool Million emerges as a uchronia, an alternate history dramatizing the advent of a dictator who decides to exterminate all that is un-American, seizing upon Lemuel Pitkin’s martyr to forge and enunciate the official mythology of the new political regime.
author Conesa, Frank
author_facet Conesa, Frank
author_sort Conesa, Frank
title Myth-making and Uchronia: The Advent of a Fascist America in Nathanael West’s A Cool Million (1934)
title_short Myth-making and Uchronia: The Advent of a Fascist America in Nathanael West’s A Cool Million (1934)
title_full Myth-making and Uchronia: The Advent of a Fascist America in Nathanael West’s A Cool Million (1934)
title_fullStr Myth-making and Uchronia: The Advent of a Fascist America in Nathanael West’s A Cool Million (1934)
title_full_unstemmed Myth-making and Uchronia: The Advent of a Fascist America in Nathanael West’s A Cool Million (1934)
title_sort myth-making and uchronia: the advent of a fascist america in nathanael west’s a cool million (1934)
publisher Les Cahiers de Framespa
publishDate 2017
container_title URI:https://journals.openedition.org/framespa
url https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.4000/framespa.4276
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/framespa/4276
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