自1894年美国跃升为世界经济强国以来,美国文人逐渐意识到需摆脱长期以来对欧洲传统文化的依附,建构根植于本土经验的“美国性”文学。回顾19世纪末20世纪初的美国文学创作,可以发现美国文学中的国家意识书写体现在三个维度:建构美国民族精神、书写美国地域文化、确立以美式英语为标准的美国语言。文学作为民族精神的重要载体,在国家身份塑造的关键历史阶段,积极参与了美国国家意识从建构到播迁的全过程。对这一时期美国文学国家意识书写的考察,亦为我国在外语学科中探索国家意识话语体系的建构提供了重要的经验参照与借鉴。

Since the United States rose to global economic power in 1894, American writers gradually recognized the need to break away from long-standing dependence on European cultural traditions and to develop a literature grounded in local experience. In American writing of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, national consciousness appears in three major forms: shaping a national spirit, representing regional culture, and establishing American English as a linguistic standard. As a key vehicle of national spirit, literature actively participated in the formation and dissemination of American national consciousness during this pivotal historical period. Examining this process also provides useful insights for building a national consciousness discourse within China’s foreign language studies.