Abstract The final act of Anne Washburn’s Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play features a Greek tragedy-like distillation of the “Cape Feare” episode of The Simpsons, performed many decades after an unspecified catastrophe has left the former United States in a state of post-apocalyptic ruin. After the first two acts’ depiction of an earlier generation’s struggles to both survive and connect with each other through the preservation of some elements of their previous shared culture, the third act’s culmination in a display of treadmill-powered electric lights accompanied by an inspirational anthem has often been interpreted as a celebration of the timelessness and tenacity of the human storytelling impulse. But while earlier versions of the play structured this final moment within a pastiche expression of American patriotism (sung to the tune of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “For He Is an Englishman”), subsequent versions have expunged this final reference to national pride, as well as any reference to the satirically nationalistic source material from which it stemmed, opting instead to trace the development of a more ‘empty’ G&S quotation into its post-apocalyptic future. This paper will examine the implications of this change in regards to the play's pastiche portrayal of what Jean-Luc Nancy calls the “myth of myth” and the role of its interruption in imagining an “inoperative community” beyond or to the side of nation-based constructions of identity.

中文翻译：

---

“因为我们是美国人”：安妮·沃什伯恩 (Anne Washburn) 的后电剧《伯恩斯先生》中的后现代拼凑和民族认同

摘要 安妮·沃什伯恩 (Anne Washburn) 的伯恩斯先生 (Mr. Burns) 的最后一幕是一部后电剧，对辛普森一家的“恐惧角”一集进行了希腊悲剧式的提炼，在一场未指明的灾难使前美国陷入困境之后数十年上演。后世界末日的废墟。在前两幕描绘了上一代人通过保留他们以前共同文化的一些元素来生存和相互联系的斗争之后，第三幕以跑步机供电的电灯展示和鼓舞人心的国歌为高潮经常被解释为对人类讲故事冲动的永恒和坚韧的庆祝。但是，虽然该剧的早期版本在美国爱国主义的模仿表达中构建了这个最后时刻（按照吉尔伯特和沙利文的“因为他是英国人”的曲调演唱），但随后的版本已经删除了对民族自豪感的最后提及，以及任何对其起源的讽刺民族主义源材料的引用，而是选择将更“空”的 G&S 引文的发展追溯到其后世界末日的未来。本文将研究这种变化对让-吕克·南希所说的“神话中的神话”的模仿描绘以及它的中断在想象民族之外或一边的“无效社区”中的作用方面的影响 -基于身份的建构。随后的版本删除了对民族自豪感的最后提及，以及对源自其来源的讽刺民族主义源材料的任何提及，而是选择将更“空”的 G&S 引文的发展追溯到其后世界末日的未来。本文将研究这种变化对让-吕克·南希所说的“神话中的神话”的模仿描绘以及它的中断在想象民族之外或一边的“无效社区”中的作用方面的影响 -基于身份的建构。随后的版本删除了对民族自豪感的最后提及，以及对源自其来源的讽刺民族主义源材料的任何提及，而是选择将更“空”的 G&S 引文的发展追溯到其后世界末日的未来。本文将研究这种变化对让-吕克·南希所说的“神话中的神话”的模仿描绘以及它的中断在想象民族之外或一边的“无效社区”中的作用方面的影响 -基于身份的建构。