起源的迷思：《最後的莫希根人》中的國族論述

Abstract

In the nineteenth century Americans were troubled by the problem of national subjectivity. On the one hand they faced the post-colonial difficulty of purifying themselves of the colonial culture. On the other hand they had to cleanse their position of the invading Other to native Indians. To solve the dilemma, Americans called for a literary nationalism that would serve as a national narrative to depict American identity for their nationals. With the experience of frontier life, Cooper gives himself the role as a historian who will portray the American character by presenting the historical meaning of the 1757 Fort William Henry massacre. In this representation, Cooper aims construct American character by returning to their colonial history and thus disavow their British genealogy and redefine their origin at the same time. However, through the help of post- structuralist theories, this paper first discloses that, in writing The last of the Mohicans, Cooper is not producing the truth of history but translating the history of American colonization. Then, through the strategies offered by the post-colonial scholars, this paper explores how the political elements, such as power relation and apparatuses of consolidating identification, function in this translation. At the same time, the depressed desire, which is formed by lack and absence in American national identity as also disclosed.