The Tribulations of American Democracy in Philip Roth’s "The Plot Against America"
Since its establishment American democracy has always been challenged to a greater or lesser extent. If neoliberalism and the reign of finance constitute democracy’s major contemporary challenge, in his 2004 alternate history novel, The Plot Against America, Philip Roth ostentatiously chooses to se...
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University of Latvia Press
2018-06-01
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| Series: | Baltic Journal of English Language, Literature and Culture |
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| Online Access: | https://journal.lu.lv/bjellc/article/view/376 |
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| author | Aristi Trendel |
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| author_sort | Aristi Trendel |
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Since its establishment American democracy has always been challenged to a greater or lesser extent. If neoliberalism and the reign of finance constitute democracy’s major contemporary challenge, in his 2004 alternate history novel, The Plot Against America, Philip Roth ostentatiously chooses to set his narrative in the 1940s and explore democracy in the ‘what-if’ mode, which gives him extra breadth allowing for extravagant flights of fancy. In the tradition of Sinclair Lewiss 1935 novel, It Cant Happen Here, Roth’s novel juxtaposes an innocent America with an evil one. The latter renders the former heroic, and this brief interlude of a relatively mild form of fascism that takes hold of America ends with the triumph of democracy. Roth seems to imply that American exceptionalism, a safeguard and Deus ex machina in the narrative, appears to be at work sheltering the US from any totalitarian excess. This paper examines the narrative’s political agenda which turns out to be the assertion of American democracy that can only triumph over a brief suspension of civil rights during a politically dark era for the Western world. Roth’s imaginative inquiry into the past can be read as an attempt to reconcile himself with those who had felt offended by his work. The political novel, conspiracy theories, concepts such as ‘democratic patriotism’ and the work of Seymour Lipset provide the theoretical framework of this article.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-dfe928f0e0e2497f9f39430cfd4d641f |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1691-9971 2501-0395 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2018-06-01 |
| publisher | University of Latvia Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Baltic Journal of English Language, Literature and Culture |
| spelling | doaj-art-dfe928f0e0e2497f9f39430cfd4d641f2025-08-20T02:24:23ZengUniversity of Latvia PressBaltic Journal of English Language, Literature and Culture1691-99712501-03952018-06-01810.22364/BJELLC.08.2018.08The Tribulations of American Democracy in Philip Roth’s "The Plot Against America"Aristi Trendel0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2349-5478Le Mans University Since its establishment American democracy has always been challenged to a greater or lesser extent. If neoliberalism and the reign of finance constitute democracy’s major contemporary challenge, in his 2004 alternate history novel, The Plot Against America, Philip Roth ostentatiously chooses to set his narrative in the 1940s and explore democracy in the ‘what-if’ mode, which gives him extra breadth allowing for extravagant flights of fancy. In the tradition of Sinclair Lewiss 1935 novel, It Cant Happen Here, Roth’s novel juxtaposes an innocent America with an evil one. The latter renders the former heroic, and this brief interlude of a relatively mild form of fascism that takes hold of America ends with the triumph of democracy. Roth seems to imply that American exceptionalism, a safeguard and Deus ex machina in the narrative, appears to be at work sheltering the US from any totalitarian excess. This paper examines the narrative’s political agenda which turns out to be the assertion of American democracy that can only triumph over a brief suspension of civil rights during a politically dark era for the Western world. Roth’s imaginative inquiry into the past can be read as an attempt to reconcile himself with those who had felt offended by his work. The political novel, conspiracy theories, concepts such as ‘democratic patriotism’ and the work of Seymour Lipset provide the theoretical framework of this article. https://journal.lu.lv/bjellc/article/view/376democracyAmerican exceptionalismalternate historynovel of American Fascismconspiraciesdemocratic patriotism |
| spellingShingle | Aristi Trendel The Tribulations of American Democracy in Philip Roth’s "The Plot Against America" Baltic Journal of English Language, Literature and Culture democracy American exceptionalism alternate history novel of American Fascism conspiracies democratic patriotism |
| title | The Tribulations of American Democracy in Philip Roth’s "The Plot Against America" |
| title_full | The Tribulations of American Democracy in Philip Roth’s "The Plot Against America" |
| title_fullStr | The Tribulations of American Democracy in Philip Roth’s "The Plot Against America" |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Tribulations of American Democracy in Philip Roth’s "The Plot Against America" |
| title_short | The Tribulations of American Democracy in Philip Roth’s "The Plot Against America" |
| title_sort | tribulations of american democracy in philip roth s the plot against america |
| topic | democracy American exceptionalism alternate history novel of American Fascism conspiracies democratic patriotism |
| url | https://journal.lu.lv/bjellc/article/view/376 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT aristitrendel thetribulationsofamericandemocracyinphiliprothstheplotagainstamerica AT aristitrendel tribulationsofamericandemocracyinphiliprothstheplotagainstamerica |