The World, the Text, and the Americanist.

LUCE, Henry Robinson, 1898-1967; SAID, Edward W., 1935-2003

The author discusses his perspectives on historicized readings of American literature and American studies. He contends that the historicization of American studies draws boundaries around texts. He examines the assumed relationship between text and context and how the interpretation of American culture has been reconsidered in other parts of the world, such as the Middle East and North Africa, during the digital age. The author discusses a 1941 essay by the late U.S. publisher Henry Luce entitled "The American Century" and whether the circulation of American cultural products proved Luce's assertion that the 20th century was the "American century." The author also discusses a 1983 essay by the late scholar Edward Said entitled "The World, the Text, and the Critic."