Descrizione

American Solitudes: Individual, National, Transnational collects
the papers presented at the xviii Biennial Conference of aisna
(Bari, 2005), investigating solitude in the history, literature, and culture
of the United States in its manifold and sometimes contradictory
implications: from self-reliant individualism to narcissistic selfabsorption,
from political isolationism to solitary global hegemony,
from radical non-conformism to consumer massification, from
loneliness in a boundless geographic or cosmic landscape to anonymity
in crowded urban locations or in the cyberspace. American solitudes,
however, are constantly underwritten by the covert or overt presence
of other parties and agents, suggesting the converse possibilities
of relationality, dialogue, and interdependence. In investigating
American solitudes, therefore, the essays comprising this volume mean
to investigate not just the inner dynamics of American culture, but also
the dynamics of our own relationship with America.