'Demythologizing' Hollywood Western: E. L. Doctorow's Welcome to Hard Times

Hossein Pirnajmuddin (1) , Shafigheh Keivan (1)

1 University of Isfahan

This study is an attempt to shed light on the hollywoodization of the myth of the Frontier ― a seminal one in constructing American history and identity ― and E. L. Doctorow's take on it in his Welcome to Hard Times. Considering ideas regarding the importance of cinema in creating a simulated and hypereal world as well as the 1960s counter-culture, the writers try to demonstrate the way one of the major writers of postmodern fiction aspires to challenge, parody and demythologize this central myth and its Hollywood versions. Central to the discussion is how Doctorow foregrounds the very complexity of this 'demythologizing' venture.

Mots clés: E. L. Doctorow; Welcome to Hard Times; hollywoodization; the myth of the Frontier; postmodern fiction; parody

Domaines: Linguistique; Sciences de l'Homme et Société; Anthropologie sociale et ethnologie; Histoire, Philosophie et Sociologie des sciences; Science politique

Hossein Pirnajmuddin, Shafigheh Keivan. 'Demythologizing' Hollywood Western: E. L. Doctorow's Welcome to Hard Times. Teaching American Literature: A Journal of Theory and Practice, 2014, 6 (2/3), pp.33-45. ⟨halshs-02526953⟩