“It is not my objective to be metaphoric or allegorical”

After Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America (2004) came out he published “My Uchronia” (2004). Among other things, Roth explains that before reading Arthur M. Schlesinger’s A Life in the 20th Century (2000) he “had no such novel in mind” (2017: 341). This autobiography made him think of what would have happened if Charles A. Lindbergh—the famous aviator and Nazism supporter—had won the 1940 elections instead of F.D. Roosevelt. In this essay, which abounds in the theme of antisemitism introduced in a previous paper (Sánchez Canales, 2021), I will focus on the factual figure of Lindbergh—and to a lesser extent that of his wife Anne Morrow—Roth’s counter-versions of them, and key factual and counterfactual events depicted in the narrative. Through this comparative analysis I will attempt to show that Roth’s fictional America is by no means something far-fetched.

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Publication Details

Journal
ACTIO NOVA Revista de Teoría de la Literatura y Literatura Comparada
Published
2024-12-31
DOI
https://doi.org/10.15366/actionova2024.m7.006
Primary Topic
Political and Economic history of UK and US
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

“It is not my objective to be metaphoric or allegorical”

Gustavo Sánchez Canales
ACTIO NOVA Revista de Teoría de la Literatura y Literatura Comparada
Political and Economic history of UK and US
article

“It is not my objective to be metaphoric or allegorical”

Gustavo Sánchez Canales
article en

Abstract

After Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America (2004) came out he published “My Uchronia” (2004). Among other things, Roth explains that before reading Arthur M. Schlesinger’s A Life in the 20th Century (2000) he “had no such novel in mind” (2017: 341). This autobiography made him think of what would have happened if Charles A. Lindbergh—the famous aviator and Nazism supporter—had won the 1940 elections instead of F.D. Roosevelt. In this essay, which abounds in the theme of antisemitism introduced in a previous paper (Sánchez Canales, 2021), I will focus on the factual figure of Lindbergh—and to a lesser extent that of his wife Anne Morrow—Roth’s counter-versions of them, and key factual and counterfactual events depicted in the narrative. Through this comparative analysis I will attempt to show that Roth’s fictional America is by no means something far-fetched.

ACTIO NOVA Revista de Teoría de la Literatura y Literatura Comparada
Openalex Percentile: Top 59%
Political and Economic history of UK and US
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