All posers must die: the paradoxical relationship between the self and community in 19th century American literature and hardcore music

Abstract

The American Romantic period is a literary space that holds a high level of academic significance. Hardcore music genres Punk, Thrash Metal, and Groove Metal all represent aspects of the cultural time period that they occupy. The tendency to view these artistic mediums as separate presents the concern: how are they the same? Hardcore music is a reiteration of Romantic period sentiment due to its use of social satire and shared celebratory language; Hardcore music highlights that the tension between the Dark Romantics and Transcendentalists is actually the solution to the questions that they pose. F.O. Matthiessen, David Reynolds, and Robert Pattinson discuss how the significance of this literary period is rooted in the synthesis of political writings, reform cultures, frontier humor, and philosophical texts; this synthesis creates the binary opposition of the Dark Romantics and the Transcendentalists. This synthesis of ideas continues as the themes of this period blend with various musical styles, like Folk and Blues, to create the foundations of Hardcore music. The understanding that these ideas are carried from proto-Romantic creatives to proto-Hardcore musicians furthers the significance of Hawthorne, Whitman, and Melville. The methods employed in this thesis is comparative analysis of these authors and musicians Woody Guthrie, Robert Johnson, the Circle Jerks, Black Flag, Metallica, Pantera, and Corrosion of Conformity. These artists confirm that these themes are so culturally significant that they show up in places that are often unexpected. These findings illustrate not only the impact of 19th century authors, but allows for further eras of study. Further areas for research include Romantic period connections to Riot Grrrl Punk, Indigenous Metal, and Gothic literatures ties to the Emo music scene, and how Hip-Hop functions similarly.