"On Americanism"

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When Germans speak of culture, they do not mean the sum of technical achievements and civilizational creations that ensure the satisfaction of life’s material needs with the least possible expenditure of energy, nor do they mean the process of taming humanity that has led to the weakening of instincts and vital forces and to a system of external forms of civility and convention.

For them, culture cannot be derived or shaped by the means of a rationalized economy of life; for them, culture is “something that has grown” rather than “something that has been made,” and its roots, in their view, lie in the fertile soil of an irrational being—a being of a ethnic nature.

Here, culture appears as that other realm in which human beings, through the voice of their geniuses—beyond nature and yet deeply rooted in it—reveal their essence: in a long historical process of maturation, it builds a spiritual world of values that, like the seasons of nature, constantly renews itself from within, from its ethnic stream of life.

Its manifestations stem from experience, not from reflection; from the creative spirit, not from the dissecting intellect; in their deepest essence, they can only be perceived.

In its images, culture reflects landscape and people, ethnic culture and the richness of the individual’s particularities, God and the devil, struggle and peace, form and content—the entire microcosm of human existence.

Such is the case in Europe.

In America, however, the common denominator and yardstick of culture is money; even cultural achievement there is a job, a business, which must prove its worth through resounding success: the more a book earns its author, or a painting its painter, the higher the fee of an actor, musician, or even a movie star, the higher they rise in the esteem of Americans.

Even if finer traits may be hidden here and there beneath this outward appearance—the defining characteristic remains its loud, gold-laden superficiality.

What are the reasons for this conception of culture, so different from our own?

Authentic culture and its roots in a centuries-old shared history are denied to American society; in its social structure, it is a gathering place for the scattered, set within a foreign landscape; in its form of government, it is a construct of pure reason, cut off from the nourishing springs from which true creativity draws its strength.

Alongside political outcasts from the most disparate groups in Europe—often idealists, but frequently immature, fanciful do-gooders—it is, especially in the 19th century, the destitute and the oppressed, the good-for-nothings and the bullies, the desperados, and robust, predominantly materialistic elements that converge within it; their character traits then blend with the belief in a chosen people and the fanaticism for success inherited from English Puritanism, as well as with the idea of progress characteristic of the dawning age of industrialization, thus leading to that overvaluation of money and outward success, and to that smug, superior, often ostentatious self-assurance of Americanism, which, in a way we can scarcely comprehend, claims all superlatives for itself.

The freedom to do or not do as one pleases becomes a bondage to the trivial, to what everyone else does; life becomes standardized, turned into a cliché; the homogenized soul becomes impoverished in its needs; the liberalism of democracy produces the mass man, and the much-vaunted “Anglo-Saxon individualism” fosters behavior that runs counter to the spirit of the people.

The Westerner’s concept of freedom is entirely compatible with a sense of commitment to the community, and his individualism creates the creative personality, the driving force of every culture; the European’s outlook remains metaphysical—that is, full of reverence for the mystery of life—even when he reaches the extreme form of realism.

Western culture is animated by the tension between opposites, from which creation springs; the American remains non-metaphysical, devoid of tension, even when he goes to extremes in sectarianism.

In Europe, even the atheist has religion - but over there, even the believer seems irreligious to us.

How, then, does the German—the European—experience the manifestations of American culture in comparison to the values of his own world?

Instead of the sanctuaries of Gothic cathedrals, he sees the mostly soulless concrete structures of skyscrapers; instead of the solemnity of Bach’s organ music, he hears the clamour of the Salvation Army; instead of the intimacy and cheerfulness of folk songs, he hears the clatter of jazz.

While Europeans seek inner joy and solace in the works of their great poets, Americans find satisfaction in the carefree—though endlessly formulaic—gangster novels: at best, they seek the thrill of the latest bestseller, which is usually a novelty that lasts only a day, a month, or a year.

True devotion to science is rare - certainly, America has also produced some brilliant minds, but primarily in practical fields, for the pure humanities and the arts are foreign to him, and when a great figure in these fields has emerged, he has found no resonance among his own people.

The clamour of advertising, the intrusiveness of reporters, the frenzy of sports sensations, and the garish glare of Hollywood rob the quietly creative forces of their fertile ground and deprive the delicate buds of culture of the air they need to breathe - thus, the refinements of the bathroom and the machinery of kitchen appliances are elevated to the status of “culture,” and a car’s horsepower determines the status of its owner.

With these achievements, America feels superior to the Old Continent and smugly looks down on the “ballast” of European historicity - but a thorn, however, remains in its soul—the insecurity of the upstart, hence the accumulation of fine European works of art in American museums and its striving to “buy” the great living figures of European artistic life for America.

“Brothers, these Americans are petty merchants whose souls stink to high heaven: dead to all intellectual life, dead as a doornail...

The American knows nothing; he sees nothing but money; he has no ideas.”

So wrote Lenau¹ more than 100 years ago about the country from which, like him and after him, so many had expected freedom and vastness, opportunities for the full development of all good and strong forces - yet what they found was an empty civilization without awe or mystery, without tradition or depth.

Keeping this contrast between the fundamental attitudes of American and European life in mind is essential and necessary at this very moment, for America, in alliance with an England that has grown weary and devoid of instinct and with Soviet Russian barbarism, stands in conflict with Europe.

It is only seemingly that the United States is at war with Germany alone, for in the struggle against Bolshevism, Europe learned to see itself as a unity that must defend shared values, and in the face of American arrogance, it, too, has its highest good to protect: its very existence, its heritage, and its cultural future.

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From “Kultur in USA” (Culture in the USA: The Reality of a Mass Delusion) by a collection of authors, 1943

1. Nikolaus Lenau, Austrian poet who went to America in 1832. - The Translator