Jasmine or the Americanization of an Asian

Year 1995, Issue: 2, 27 - 32, 01.10.1995

Gönül Pultar

Abstract

One of the significant developments in the US over the past decades has been the revision of the literary canon, that had once been white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant and, needless to add, predominantly male. This meant, not only the incorporation of female authors as well as writers of various ethnic minorities who were or would have been neglected or undermined previously, but also a radical change of direction in the selection process. The standards, be they aesthetic or philosophical, that had been employed as criteria in the old canon were readjusted, in the belief that literature should "not only address itself to matters of transcendant human and artistic significance but also record ... the full variety of American life" Skardal 97 . Parallelled with as well as affected by the emergence of multiculturalism, this evolution made possible, among others, the flourishing of a powerful ethnic fiction by non-Anglo authors.

References

• Mead, Margaret.Culture and Commitment. New York: Doubleday and Company, 1970.
• Mukherjee, Bharati.Jasmine. New York: Fawcett Crest Books, 1991.
• Nye, David E. and Christen K. Thomsen, eds.American Studies in Transition. Odense (Denmark): Odense University Press, 1985.