EARLY AMERICAN LITERATURE AND THE ISSUE OF NATIONAL CHARACTER

This article analyzes the issue of national character in early American literature, demonstrating the ideological and aesthetic functions of literature in its formation process. The formation of national character, especially during religious, Enlightenment, and Romantic periods, was connected with social, political, and cultural changes in the newly independent society, as reflected in literature. The article illuminates, through literary and cultural analyses, how the development of the concept of national character influenced historical memory and the moral-aesthetic ideal of society. The research also emphasizes the continued relevance of national character images in early American literature today and indicates the necessity of their reinterpretation in modern literature.