Contrasting visions: perceptions of America in Henrik Ibsen's 'Pillars of Society'

The great conversion about America that took place in European letters throughout the nineteenth century was characterized by a marked tendency towards polarization and routinely cast the NewWorld either as a “dream” or a “nightmare” (Arendt). This polarization was due in part, especially in the first half of the century, to the relative scarcity of reliable information about the United States. Yet the main reason was that writers and intellectuals tended to approach America strictly in Eurocentric terms, perceiving this country, not in its own right, but as a foil for political and social issues within a European setting; those with a liberal outlook, for example, tended to extol America as a way of implicitly criticizing the prevailing conditions in Europe, whereas conservatives, for the opposite reason, often opted for a strongly dismissive attitude. In the absence of sustained, dispassionate enquiry, the European image of America, not least in the context of fictional literature, remained a battleground of opposing mythologies, pitting enamored accounts of American freedom and authenticity against glum visions of moral and cultural decay.