Reproduction of the Discourse of America in Saul Bellow’s The Adventures of Augie MarchThe Approach of Cultural Materialism

The present article studies the interaction between the myth of America as a cultural discourse and Saul Bellow’s The Adventures of Augie March. Thus, we would consider the active role of this text in the reproduction of this discourse. To do so, we use the Cultural Materialism approach to see how what, in the words of Alan Sinfield, we call a “faultline” or contradiction in the structure of the dominant discourse, first allows the “dissidence” to come about and then in its interaction with this dissidence, “contains” it and uses it for circulating and reaffirming its principles. Therefore, for the sake or organization, first we formulate the dominant cultural system which is termed “the discourse of America” in the form of American Dream and then, consider the reduction of this discourse to the mere pursuit of materialistic interests and its ignorance of human values as a faultline. After that, we consider Augie’s desire for being intellectually different and independent as a voice of dissidence which occurs in the lack of such values (faultline). We argue that this psychological tendency in Augie’s disposition sends him out in search of self-made “fate”, but finally, for seeming sane and being accepted by the social norms, mainly materially represented in the beliefs and behaviors of other characters with whom Augie inevitably interacts, Augie has to repress his spiritual desire and follow the way toward being rich and economically prosperous, while by doing that, he reaffirms the values of the discourse of America.