| This research looks at samples of U.S. and Canadian literature including canonical novels, literary prize-winning novels, and best-selling novels and asks to what extent literatures actually do differ cross-nationally. The central focus of the research is on the source of the observed national literary differences. Many existing theories imply that individual-level, cross-national psychological differences are responsible for cross-national literary differences. This research questions whether such arguments are adequate explanation by examining popular-culture literatures as well as high-culture literatures.;The results of the study show little cross-national difference in popular-culture texts, indicating little difference in cross-national popular taste, which suggests that previous psychological explanations for literary difference are inadequate. Instead, I argue that the political functions of high-culture literature, primarily its involvement in national identity formation and maintenance, are responsible for the differentiation of national literatures. It is the location of national literary differences in high-culture texts but not popular-culture texts which provides evidence assessing the validity of competing arguments. The dissertation concludes with suggestions for a model of cultural analysis which incorporates the varying functions of cultural products. |
