CONSTRUCTING NATIONALISM IN CRÈVECŒUR’S LETTER “WHAT IS AN AMERICAN?”
CONSTRUCTING NATIONALISM IN CRÈVECŒUR’S LETTER “WHAT IS AN AMERICAN?”

Summary/Abstract: This essay aims to offer a close analysis of J. Hector St. John de Crèvecœur's well-known letter "What is an American?" (1782), using a nationalist perspective and taking into account some of the principles shared by authors such as Homi Bhabha, Anthony Giddens, Walker Connor, Hutchinson and Smith, Mungiu-Pippidi in their critically acclaimed works. It tries to highlight an important step in the construction of the American cultural identity as Crèvecœur highlights the transformation faced by the immigrants coming to a new land, talks about their social fluidity and amalgam, and foresees the "melting pot" metaphor. This essay combines the technique of close reading with theoretical interpretations of concepts such as "nationalism", "nation", "identity", "ethnicity" and "assimilation", and preserves at its core the idea that "the American is a New Man, who acts upon new principles" revealing the natural changes of the American thought which generates a new type of a national consciousness.

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