Tawil uncovers the unique voice of American literature

What exactly is American exceptionalism?

Esteemed Columbia English and comparative literature professor Ezra Tawil answered this question at a Tuesday Heyman Center event, which had quite a daunting title—“American Exceptionalism and the Question of Style”—and at a somewhat odd time—6:15 on a school night.

American exceptionalism, Tawil explained, is the idea that American literature has a voice separate from that of other Anglophone and European literature. Tawil, with help from his colleagues Andrew Delbanco, the director of Columbia’s American studies department, and Ross Posnock, a fellow English professor, delivered an engaging and intriguing discussion and explanation of the topic at hand. American literature is, as Tawil said, “not merely different, but unique.” It has a different tone, a different set of rules to follow, and a different goal.

In what was essentially a peer-editing session opened for an audience viewing, Delbanco and Posnock praised and analyzed their colleague’s work. While they had both read Tawil’s paper, they had not read each other’s critiques, which caused some overlap. Primarily, this overlap was shown in the frequent reference to the recently published “A New Literary History of America,” which obviously tied in to Tawil’s own work. Posnock emphasized that American exceptionalism is the brainchild of a “made-up nation,” while Delbanco stressed the question of “what it meant to be original in a borrowed language.”

American literature has its roots in the genres introduced in the ancient European tradition—the novel, the epic poem, the short story—so how did it manage take on a personality of its own? Tawil often referred to what is thought of as the first example of American literature, “Letters from an American Farmer” by J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur. What is especially noteworthy about this text is its style, dubbed “incorrect” by the British, whose proper style was very different. This style would go on to become the trademark of other quintessential American writers such as Emerson and Whitman.

When St. John de Crevecoeur’s work was first published, though, the world was still preoccupied with the idea, as Tawil explained, that “French literature is written in French, … English literature is written in English, and American literature is written in English, too.” People are still trying to find out how a literature borrowed from a tradition in the same language could turn into something new.

Discussion was eventually opened to the room, which was so packed that people spilled over into the balcony space upstairs. While the number of audience members waned as the evening progressed, their academic zeal and interest in the topic was consistent and reflected Tawil’s own enthusiasm for his presentation.

Near the end of the discussion, Delbanco paraphrased Emerson when he declared that “every generation has to write its own books.” Perhaps every culture has to create its own literature, too.