DeWeese-Boyd 3
is definitively distinguished from the institutions created to effect it. This paper
explores this conception of patriotism through the writings of Wendell Berry. Berry has
written much regarding patriotism and democracy in essays, yet his richly textured
portrayal of a community of people bound by their common affection—i.e., the fictional
community of Port William—is particularly suited for exploring the nuances of
affection that Berry sees as central to democratic patriotism. Drawing upon Berry’s
fiction, the story “Fidelity” in particular, this paper seeks to flesh out that idea of
patriotism as the love that binds a people together—a love that is often at odds, in both
sentiment and action, with the political institutions with which it interacts (1992).
We begin with an overview of Berry’s notion of patriotism as it is articulated in
his essays, and then move on to a more detailed account as presented in his fiction. The
latter section deals almost exclusively with Berry’s story “Fidelity”. We then take a
brief look at a contemporary discussion of patriotism within political science, and
attempt to draw connections between that ongoing academic conversation and Berry’s
literary perspective. We argue that Berry’s view of patriotism outlined in his essays and
more fully exposited in the story "Fidelity" offers a helpful corrective to popular
patriotism, which, while it generates a sentimental unity, it also has the potential to
stymie the substantive dissent so crucial to democratic polities.
II
Patriotism is, for Wendell Berry, about love—not love of the state or its institutions, but
love of one’s place and those who dwell there. In his essays, Berry contrasts two sorts
Convention