What makes an American “classic”?

Authors

  • Caterina Domeneghini
  • Claire Barnes

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18422/76-2099

Abstract

American “classics,” and “classic” definitions of America and its people, are often tied to an apparently inescapable, ineffable sense of greatness. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN has resurfaced as the mantra of 2025, with the newly elected President’s promise to restore a broken nation, elevating it above time, and in defiance of his own criminal record, even above the law. The slogan echoes some of the tones, if not the politics, of the preface of Leaves of Grass (1855), when Walt Whitman wrote, “The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem…”

Author Biographies

Caterina Domeneghini

Caterina Domeneghini recently completed her DPhil in English at the University of Oxford, where she was co-supervised by Professor Stefano Evangelista (English) and Professor Fiona Macintosh (Classics). Her doctoral thesis, supported by the Wolfson Foundation and a Rare Book Collection Fellowship at UNC Chapel Hill, examines the questions “what is a classic?” and “what is world literature?” through the lens of the Victorian autodidact and working-class publisher J. M. Dent and his mass-market series, the Everyman’s Library (1906–1956). She has published two peer-reviewed articles on this subject in Classical Receptions Journal and Literary Imagination (OUP). Caterina also enjoys writing for English and Italian literary magazines. Her reviews have appeared in outlets such as the Los Angeles Review of Books, Asymptote and the Times Literary Supplement. 

Claire Barnes

Claire Barnes is writing up her DPhil in classical reception at the University of Oxford, supervised by Professor Fiona Macintosh and supported by St Catherine’s College. Her project, entitled Only Connecting? Authenticity in Revisitings of the Classics (1900-present) considers the use of “classic” and “authentic” as constructs signifying value, and how both emerge in the socio-political and intellectual climate of the early 20th century—then examining the evolution and impact of thinking around authenticity and classics down to the present day. She has a particular interest in how authenticity resonates in the work of Christopher Logue, Kae Tempest, and EM Forster, and has published on the latter. Claire co-presents the podcast Reimagining Ancient Greece and Rome.

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Published

2025-02-06

How to Cite

Domeneghini, C., and C. Barnes. “What Makes an American ‘classic’?”. New American Studies Journal: A Forum, vol. 76, Feb. 2025, https://doi.org/10.18422/76-2099.

Issue

Vol. 76 (2025): What Makes an American “Classic”?

Section

Introduction

License

Copyright (c) 2025 New American Studies Journal: A Forum

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.