Why a National Literature Cannot Flourish in the United States of North AmericaRocchietti, Joseph
General
Why a National Literature Cannot Flourish in the United States of North America
Rocchietti, Joseph
American literature; United States -- Social life and customs
consent of the respective foreign writers.
The americans so susceptible (and better so, since susceptibility is a
sign of nice feeling) when travelers write, or speak of them, will they
neglect the glory of their National Literature, the best and greatest
glory of nations?
CHAPTER X.
CONCLUSION.
My readers, I hope, will pardon a new word I introduce in this chapter.
It is Unitedstatians. When this Union will spread herself, until the
continent of this new world will be under a single popular government,
then the word americans, or columbians, will be the general, and
particular name. But, as there are indians, canadians, and mexicans
also, it seems to me, that the citizens of this Union are wanting a
particular name.
During the foregoing chapters, I wrote against fashionable literature;
unreligious religion; bad newspapers; tourists, whose blind love for
their country rendered them pert, or saucy towards other nations;
american theatres; political parties; and selfish merchants of
books. Odd, or bad men are found in every part of the world; and
bad creatures, though they have more, or less influence in every
part of this too much ruled earth, the plurality has now sufficient
understanding to discriminate good from bad, when the frightful
hobgoblin of the so called Religion does not put its long tail.
Demagogues, scribblers, bad politicians, or bad merchants cannot injure
my character, as a member of society in America: but unreligious
religionists, can do a great mischief. And why so? Because in America
the hypocrite is not easily known. The hypocrite who must, of course,
be offended of what I have said against unreligious religion, has
a great power on this new soil of America, against all those who,
despising as I do any kind of cant, take off the mask from the long
face. To such hypocrites, I have only to say now, that their Belief
does not give them any right to brand my Belief. If they think their
Belief better than my Belief, they have only to keep their good
conscience for themselves, without branding my Belief with their
inquisitorial hot iron, and frightful words. He who thinks himself
a religious man, and thinks it man’s duty to be religious as he is,
should keep his beautiful face with modesty, and never say that
those, who have not his very face, are ugly; and as the inquisition
of the mind, or that of the body have never done any good to the true
religion, it is now time to learn, that in condemning those, who
cannot think as he does, he shows to be no better than an inquisitor.
Fanatics have wronged too much the morals of Jesus. The hypocrite may,
hereafter, speak behind my back against me, with impunity, as far as
his infernal voice does not reach my ears.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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