ABSTRACT George Johnston’s novel, My Brother Jack, is set in an Australian suburb in Melbourne, the action beginning at the conclusion of the First World War. It is a time period in which American popular culture was rapidly spreading in Australia, threatening the local movie, theatre, music, and publishing industries, and America began displacing Great Britain as the provider of culture forms to Australia. This paper examines the narrator’s struggle with his identity as a metaphor for Australia’s struggle to maintain a unique cultural identity in the face of America’s burgeoning influence. It highlights the similarities between Helen Midgeley – the narrator’s wife – and the life he builds with her, and Johnston’s perceptions of American popular culture. It further places the narrator’s brother Jack in a position to represent a more ‘traditional’ Australian culture, with his demise a sad acceptance of the changing nature of an Australia that is overrun by America’s influence.

中文翻译：

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戴维·梅雷迪思（David Meredith）的《与美国有染》：重新阅读乔治·约翰斯顿（George Johnston）的《我的兄弟杰克》中的海伦·米德利

摘要乔治·约翰斯顿（George Johnston）的小说《我的兄弟杰克》（My Brother Jack）坐落在墨尔本的澳大利亚郊区，该行动始于第一次世界大战结束。在这段时间里，美国流行文化在澳大利亚迅速传播，威胁到当地的电影，戏剧，音乐和出版业，并且美国开始取代英国，成为澳大利亚的文化形式提供者。本文以叙述者的身份来考察叙述者的挣扎，以此作为澳大利亚面对美国迅速发展的影响力维持独特文化身份的斗争的隐喻。它突显了叙述者的妻子海伦·米奇利（Helen Midgeley）和他与之建立的生活之间的相似之处，以及约翰斯顿对美国流行文化的理解。