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Southern Alterity in the Global Modernist Novel, 1899-1966

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Southern Alterity in the Global Modernist Novel, 1899-1966 University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--English English 2021 Southern Alterity in the Global Modernist Novel, 1899-1966 Benjamin J. Wilson University of Kentucky, [email protected] Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2021.272 Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Wilson, Benjamin J., "Southern Alterity in the Global Modernist Novel, 1899-1966" (2021). Theses and Dissertations--English. 135. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/english_etds/135 This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the English at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations--English by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STUDENT AGREEMENT: I represent that my thesis or dissertation and abstract are my original work. Proper attribution has been given to all outside sources. I understand that I am solely responsible for obtaining any needed copyright permissions. I have obtained needed written permission statement(s) from the owner(s) of each third-party copyrighted matter to be included in my work, allowing electronic distribution (if such use is not permitted by the fair use doctrine) which will be submitted to UKnowledge as Additional File. I hereby grant to The University of Kentucky and its agents the irrevocable, non-exclusive, and royalty-free license to archive and make accessible my work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I agree that the document mentioned above may be made available immediately for worldwide access unless an embargo applies. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of my work. I understand that I am free to register the copyright to my work. REVIEW, APPROVAL AND ACCEPTANCE The document mentioned above has been reviewed and accepted by the student’s advisor, on behalf of the advisory committee, and by the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS), on behalf of the program; we verify that this is the final, approved version of the student’s thesis including all changes required by the advisory committee. The undersigned agree to abide by the statements above. Benjamin J. Wilson, Student Dr. Peter Kalliney, Major Professor Dr. Michael Trask, Director of Graduate Studies SOUTHERN ALTERITY IN THE GLOBAL MODERNIST NOVEL, 1899-1966 _________________________________ DISSERTATION _________________________________ A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky By Benjamin J. Wilson Lexington, Kentucky Director: Dr. Peter Kalliney, William J. and Nina B. Tuggle Chair in English Lexington, Kentucky 2021 Copyright © Benjamin J. Wilson 2021 ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION SOUTHERN ALTERITY IN THE GLOBAL MODERNIST NOVEL, 1899-1966 My dissertation examines the portrayal of southern alterity in the global modernist novel. The trope of southern spaces as sites of decay, degeneration, and dissolution proves to be remarkably durable in both fictions set within the domestic U.S. south, as well as those colonial and postcolonial texts associated with the global modernist canon. Novels like Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom! suggest that the alterity of places like the Congo and Haiti are inextricably bound up with racial hierarchies. On the other hand, texts such as Charles W. Chesnutt’s The Marrow of Tradition and Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God acknowledge southern alterity as structural or cultural in nature, less a product of inherent racial difference. Each chapter pairs two novels, one canonical and the other semi-canonical, not to argue that the two visions of southern alterity are complementary, but rather that they exist in dialectical relationship with one another. Building upon the work of the New Southern Studies and the increasingly transnational focus of U.S. southern studies in general, I argue that geographical designations like “south” are constructed, and “the south” is a discursive formation that shapes dominant (northern/metropolitan) views of the world. KEYWORDS: global modernism, British literature, U.S. literature, U.S. southern literature Benjamin J. Wilson (Name of Student) 07/21/2021 Date SOUTHERN ALTERITY IN THE GLOBAL MODERNIST NOVEL, 1899-1966 By Benjamin J. Wilson Peter Kalliney Director of Dissertation Michael Trask Director of Graduate Studies 07/21/2021 Date ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The support and assistance of several groups of people made this possible. I will assuredly leave someone out to my great regret, but I want to make a record of the many people who helped and encouraged me along the way. First acknowledgments must go to my committee: Peter Kalliney (chair), Michael Trask, Pearl James, Amy Clukey of the University of Louisville, and Jacqueline Couti of Rice University. My intellectual life was enriched by the contributions of each of these people, especially Peter and Amy. Special thanks to Kevin McGowan of the Linguistics department at UK for serving as outside reader for my defense. Among my fellow graduate students, I must single out Deirdre Mikolajick, Claire Lenviel, Craig Slaven, Matt Bryant Cheney, Rachel Carr, and Valerie Stevens for various forms of support and kindness. Other UK English faculty members worthy of mention include Jordan Brower, Andy Doolen, Jill Rappoport, Alan Nadel, Michelle Sizemore, Matthew Giancarlo, and Jonathan Allison. Each of them assisted in my career or my work in important ways. A deeply special thank you must go to the heart, soul, and brains of the department: Robin Rahija and Kristen Pickett. A handful of conference associates and friends I should not neglect to mention, in no particular order: Alix Beeston, Pardis Dabashi, Michelle Rada, Debra Rae Cohen, Rebecca Colesworthy, Tim Clarke, Sarah Gleeson-White, Alex Jones, David Davis, Joseph Boyne, Joan Romano Shiflett, Kevin Modestino, Mark Kelly, Sakina Shakil, Cristina Di Maio, Marina Bilbija, Holly Fulton-Osbourne, Duncan Faherty, Martha Schoolman, Margaretha Schweiger-Wilhelm, Heike Paul, Rachel Walerstein, Kimberley iii Takahata, Erik Robert Kline, Travis Rountree, Dan Pizappi, Will Murray, Zackary Vernon, Andy Crank, Erich Nunn, Elizabeth Rodriguez Fielder, and Merinda Simmons. These names represent particularly fruitful experiences at the Modernist Studies Association, the Society for the Study of Southern Literature, the Louisville Conference, the Futures of American Studies Institute, and the Bavarian American Academy, for which I am deeply grateful. Most importantly, friends and family: Nathan, Brian E., Deb, Emery, Courtney, Amy, Brian H., Andrew, Sam, Mike, Pam, J.T., James, Kate, Elizabeth, Rich, Owen, Evan, Joe, Becky, Matt, Katie, Daisy, Joey, Kristi, Chad, Chase, Luke, Jimmy, Karen, Tom, Walter, Marilyn. And to Betsy: we did it! This dissertation is dedicated to my late grandmother, Betty Jean “Snooks” Wilgus, without whose support so many things would never have come to pass, including this. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS………………………………………………………………..iii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION…………………………………………........................1 The Sentimental Ruined Plantation…………….…………………………….........1 Southern Alterity, Defined…………………………………….........................….5 Southern Alterity’s Global Dimensions………….………...…..................……...15 Modernity With Modernism…..................…..……………………………….....18 Outline of Chapters……………………..........….……………………………….36 CHAPTER 2: THE FATEFUL VOYAGE SOUTH………………...….………….........40 A Quality of Darkness…………………………………………………...……...40 Marlow’s Seeds of Doubt………………………………………………...……..48 Domestic Southern Alterity in Chesnutt……....………………………………...59 The Africa That Isn’t There…………………...……………………….………..74 The Moment of Racial Recognition…………….………………………….……87 CHAPTER 3: THE ELUSIVE SOUTHERN UTOPIA…………………………...…..106 A Different Journey South………………………………………………..…...106 Imperia l Order and Bourgeois Gender Relations……………………………...113 The Colonial Anti-Marriage Plot………………...…………………………….123 Hurston’s Folkways…………………………………………………..………..139 Janie Finds a Voice………………………………………………..…………..149 Southern Alterity On and Beyond the Muck………………………………......161 CHAPTER 4: A DEEPER SOUTH: HAITI IN THE U.S. SOUTHERN LITERARY IMAGINATION……………………………………...……………………….177 Rebellion in the Air…………………………………...……………...………..177 Slavery and Enlightenment in the Western Hemisphere…………..…….....…184 Fau lkner’s Unenlightened South and His Postwar Reception………………,…191 Up from (Poor) Whiteness…………………………..……………...…………198 The Creolized Plantation and the Threat of Miscegenation…………………....208 Revolutionary Blackness………………………………..……………………..217 The Currents of Gabriel’s Rebellion…………………………………...……...227 Chains Mental and Physical……………………………...……………………234 CHAPTER 5: CALIBAN GOES TO THE CITY………………………..……………253 The Fateful Voyage North………………………………………..…………...253 Of Cannibals and Caliban…………………………………………...………...258 What the Plantation Ledger Measures…………..……………………………271 The Curious Position of the White Creole…………………………..………..280 The Errant Bildungsroman…………………...……………...………………..296 The Primordial Moment of Black Awareness…………...………………..…..301 CONCLUSION: SOUTHERN ALTERITY ISN’T GOING AWAY………..……….323 WORKS CITED…………………………………………………………...………….334 v VITA…………………………………………………………………………….……358
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