Alice Dunbar-Nelson, Zora Neale Hurston, and the Creation of "Authentic Voices" in the Black Women's Literary Tradition Anna Storm University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
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University of Wisconsin Milwaukee UWM Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations December 2016 Alice Dunbar-Nelson, Zora Neale Hurston, and the Creation of "Authentic Voices" in the Black Women's Literary Tradition Anna Storm University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.uwm.edu/etd Part of the African American Studies Commons, American Literature Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation Storm, Anna, "Alice Dunbar-Nelson, Zora Neale Hurston, and the Creation of "Authentic Voices" in the Black Women's Literary Tradition" (2016). Theses and Dissertations. 1419. https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/1419 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by UWM Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UWM Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ALICE DUNBAR-NELSON, ZORA NEALE HURSTON, AND THE CREATION OF “AUTHENTIC VOICES” IN THE BLACK WOMEN’S LITERARY TRADITION by Anna Storm A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English at The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee December 2016 ABSTRACT ALICE DUNBAR-NELSON, ZORA NEALE HURSTON, AND THE CREATION OF “AUTHENTIC VOICES” IN THE BLACK WOMEN’S LITERARY TRADITION by Anna Storm The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2016 Under the Supervision of Professor Gregory Jay This dissertation focuses on African American women’s literature from the 1890s through 1948, covering the New Negro movement and sentimental domestic novel, the folk writings of the early twentieth century, and white-life fiction. The study investigates writers and texts that at various points in the creation of a black women’s literary tradition have been labeled “inauthentic” or have otherwise received comparably little attention by scholars of the tradition. In particular, I examine the work of Alice Dunbar-Nelson and Zora Neale Hurston, placing them in conversation with one another and within the broader context of black women’s writing at the turn of the twentieth century. Dunbar-Nelson’s work is only beginning to be recovered by scholars; most of the recent criticism of her texts is intent on proving that she was engaged in discussions of racial politics, rather than considering how or why she wrote fiction that differed so greatly from her contemporaries. I consider how her regional fiction expands on and revises the work of earlier writers such as Frances E. W. Harper and Pauline Hopkins, especially their portrayals of New Negro Womanhood. I argue that Dunbar-Nelson uses the genres of regional and white-life fiction to critique uplift narratives and Victorian social conventions, common in earlier texts, and instead forecasts the root black identification in Southern culture that we find in Hurston’s writing. I compare Hurston’s less-frequently studied short stories and white-life fiction ii to Dunbar-Nelson’s, drawing attention to the similarity of their use of folklore as well as their politics more generally. Ultimately, I argue that Dunbar-Nelson’s writing needs to be considered in context with writers already considered members of the black women’s literary tradition, both as a part of her recovery and in an effort to interrogate the boundaries of that tradition. Literary traditions, I maintain, are constructed not only by the authors in them, but by the critics who create them; constructions though they may be, they are nevertheless necessary acts of critical resistance that must be continually examined and revised. iii © Copyright by Anna Storm, 2016 All Rights Reserved iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS………………………………………………………….…………….vi INTRODUCTION………………………………...………………………………………………1 CHAPTER I. Representing the Folk in African American Women’s Writing of the 1890s……….33 II. Revising Regionalism and Resisting Uplift in Alice Dunbar-Nelson’s Short Fiction………………………………………………………………………………..82 III. Theorizing and Validating Folklore in Zora Neale Hurston’s Short Fiction……….140 IV. A Modern Undine and Seraph on the Suwanee: Challenging the Black Women’s Literary Tradition Through White-Life Fiction…………………………………….178 CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………………221 WORKS CITED………………………………………………………………………………..229 CURRICULUM VITAE..………………………………………………………………………242 v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without the encouragement and insight of many individuals. First and foremost, I would like to thank my committee for their thoughtful criticism on this project. I owe an enormous debt to my advisor, Gregory Jay. From my first course with him, he has posed questions about African American literature and critical race theory that challenge me and have inspired the questions I pose in this dissertation. I have grown as a scholar over the past several years thanks to his guidance, patience, and support. I would also not be the writer I am today without the honest feedback and invaluable advice from Jane Gallop. I know I have plenty of room to improve as a writer, but thanks to her, I have the tools to do so. Many thanks also to Kristie Hamilton for her faith in me and enthusiasm for this project— in fact, it was Kristie who first introduced me to Alice Dunbar-Nelson when I sat in her office years ago and she recommended I read a remarkable short story called “The Stones of the Village.” Without her, this dissertation simply would not exist. I also cannot forget my readers, Jason Puskar and Anika Wilson. Anika graciously offered her feedback, and Jason has encouraged not only my growth as a student from the early days of my doctoral studies, but has been an invaluable resource in my professionalization as a scholar. I am also deeply indebted to my many wonderful professors at Marquette University and UW-Green Bay. Thanks to Dr. M. C. Bodden for being the first professor to pull me aside and speak openly to me about the difficulties of being a woman in academia. Speaking of strong, intelligent women and incredible teachers, many thanks also to Aeron Haynie—when I think of who I want to be as a teacher, she immediately comes to mind. I reserve a very special thanks, however, for Rebecca Meacham. If not for her, I might never have been introduced to Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Walker, and Toni Morrison, among others—even if I had, I cannot say vi these writers would have impacted me in the same way without Rebecca’s infectious passion and creative instruction. Without her, I certainly would not have had the courage to apply for graduate school. She has had confidence in me when I did not have any in myself, and she continues to be one of my favorite cheerleaders and sources of inspiration. Tremendous thanks also go to the editorial staff of Legacy: A Journal of American Women Writers, and especially to Katherine Adams, Caroline Gebhard, and Sandra Zagarell. Their unique knowledge of Dunbar-Nelson, Pauline Hopkins, and Frances Harper was invaluable, and their comments on an article-version of this project shaped my thinking in ways I could not have anticipated. Thanks also to Timothy Murray and the staff at the University of Delaware Library’s Special Collections for answering my many questions and fetching (many) boxes. I thank my friends, old and new, for keeping me sane in graduate school. Special thanks to my dear friends Shaunna Wilkinson, Heidi Seward, and Kelsey Squire—for marathon phone calls, Jane Austen movie nights, and unwavering support. Thanks also to Shawna Lipton, Heather and Ryan Sands, Michael and Emily Keller, Brandon Chitwood, Ben and Jacqueline Wydra, Raafia Siddiq and Megan Cahak. Your friendship means the world to me. Special thanks to my parents, Marvin and Judy Kirchner, my brother, Keith, sister-in-law Teri, and their family. They have always believed in me and supported me. Thanks also to my husband’s family, Kathleen Entes, David, Cathy, and Maeve Storm, Kim and Myles Bergeron, Kristina Moorman and Niky Briscoe-Comeaux. I know how proud my finishing this dissertation makes my entire family, and it was that pride and love that has kept me going. I dedicate this project to my husband, William Storm and our son, William Redding Storm. My husband has supported me in every way imaginable from the beginning of this project vii until its end. He has done housework to give me time to write, taken on extra jobs to support us financially, and read every word of this dissertation. I could not have finished if it were not for him. I also might not have finished if not for our son, who very nearly shares a birthday with this dissertation—thanks for the extra push at the finish line, William. viii “[I]f we are to have a sane, true view of the men and women who have made for a permanent place in the aristocracy of literature, we cannot regard them as sporadic efflorescences, illuminating some barren spot in the history of the world, totally unrelated either to the past or to their own present; that is not the way with literature” (1). -Alice Dunbar-Nelson, “The Poet Scientist” ix Introduction When critics were just beginning to recover the works of Zora Neale Hurston in the 1970s and 80s, many hailed her as a literary foremother. Authors such as Alice Walker and Cheryl Wall named Hurston “the first authentic black female voice in American literature” (“Zora” 371). Their enthusiasm for Hurston, and more particularly for Their Eyes Were Watching God, is understandable given contemporary developments in critical race theory and black feminism. For instance, in Their Eyes Janie struggles for years against restrictions placed on her by her grandmother and overbearing husbands until she eventually takes control of her own voice and sexuality, all while symbolically traveling further south. Critics recognized Janie’s journey as a unique celebration of black womanhood and an indictment of patriarchal control.