Between Fact and Fiction: Writing by American Women in a Transnational Context
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W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 2010 Between fact and fiction: ritingW by American women in a transnational context Hilary Jennifer Marcus College of William & Mary - Arts & Sciences Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the American Literature Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation Marcus, Hilary Jennifer, "Between fact and fiction: ritingW by American women in a transnational context" (2010). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539623555. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-cx7z-pz74 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Between Fact and Fiction: Writing by American Women in a Transnational Context Hilary Jennifer Marcus Palo Alto, California Master of Arts, The College of William and Mary, 2004 Bachelor of Arts, University of California at Berkley, 2001 A Dissertation presented to the Graduate Faculty of the College of William and Mary in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy American Studies Program The College of William and Mary January 2010 ©2010, Hilary Jennifer Marcus All Rights Reserved APPROVAL PAGE This Dissertation is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Hilary Jebll'ifur Marcus Approved by the Committee, January, 2010 Co ittee Ch tr Associate Professor Nancy Gray, The College of William and Mary Assistant Professor ABSTRACT PAGE Drawing on poststructuralist theories of gender, nation and modernity, this dissertation is an interdisciplinary exploration of American experimental women's writing and their linkages to and explorations of colonial and U.S. imperialist histories. "Between Fact and Fiction: Writing by American Women in a Transnational Context" considers experimental literary texts by women writing from diverse spaces across places and times as cultural texts that can provide important insights for understanding transnational politics of power and possibilities for disrupting power. The project examines a broad range of experimental literary texts by women including Gertrude Stein, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Alicia Gaspar de Alba, and Iranian-American women writers from the first literary anthology of Iranian American women's work entitled Let Me Tell You Where I've Been: New Writings by Women ofthe Iranian Diaspora. Each author, in her own way, produces nuanced readings of power and domination on a structural (macro) level. Power and domination work both in terms of a culture's official narratives about itself, for example its history and its politics, as well as the literary stories it cherishes. These readings of power often remain unacknowledged in critical discourse because they are bracketed as aesthetic only. However, through an examination of American experimental writing by women, I argue that the aesthetic, the historical, and the political are all part of the same kind of discursive structure. And, for this reason, it is imperative to make known those discursive structures which masquerade as only historical or only aesthetic when basic discursive structure is left intact. I argue that together, these writings provide new ways of understanding U.S. culture and studying "America" within a transnational historical framework. For Fred Marcus Mentor, Friend, Doctor, and Father Extraordinaire. Your love, support, and encouragement have made all the difference. TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments: ........................................................................... ii List of Figures: ................................................................................. .iv Introduction: Points of Departure .............................................................................. 1 Chapter I: "Language as a real thing is not imitation": Re-reading Gertrude Stein ................................................................... .18 Chapter II: "To name it now so as not to repeat history into oblivion": Theresa Hak Kyung Cha's Dictee ... ........................................................ 76 Chapter III: "this thin edge of barbed wire": Alicia Gaspar de Alba's Desert Blood................................................ ...... 119 Chapter IV: "Let Me Tell You Where I've Been": Voices from the Iranian Diaspora ........................................................... 177 Works Cited: ................................................................................... 223 Vita: .............................................................................................. 241 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In tracing my path through the academy, it is clear that the most significant portion of my intellectual debt is owed to Professor Nancy Gray. She introduced me to Gertrude Stein my first year of graduate school when I took her Stein Seminar. She eventually became my M.A. committee chair, then qualifying exam committee director, and finally, my dissertation director. Her guidance as a mentor and her focus on the process, as well as the product, of my work continue to inspire me. Each step of the way, I was encouraged to pursue a feminist critical practice that was intellectually rigorous but also politically relevant. This dissertation would not and could not exist as it does without her and reflects her extraordinary intellectual rigor. Professors Maureen Fitzgerald and Tim Barnard were exceptional and careful readers and have given me invaluable feedback on the dissertation and ideas for the future book. My fourth committee member and outside reader from Shippensburg University, Professor Marcy Douglass, provided insightful comments that gave a fresh and interesting perspective. The support of my friends was critical to remaining sane throughout the long process that is graduate school. Eugene Juan, my best friend from UC Berkeley, encouraged me every step of the way. I do not know ifl would have made it past my first semester of graduate school if it hadn't been for him. The constant source of support; willingness to read and reread seminar papers, then M.A. thesis drafts, and finally every chapter of this dissertation; and his ability to engage me in random discussions of politics, law school stories, and pop culture happenings when I needed distractions have made this often isolating journey not a lonely one. Alex Eichel also provided incredible support and helped keep me going through the most tedious parts of finishing the dissertation. She read all of the chapters without complaint and offered important critical insights. Our discussions about theory and pedagogy have enriched my own practices ofboth. Alex was also always there to make me laugh and was able to get me to leave the work when I really needed to do just that. Our road trips, dog walks, saltwater fish escapades, and assorted adventures allowed me to put the dissertating in perspective at times when it felt as if life and the dissertation were one and the same. My father, Fred Marcus, M.D., contributed to the project before it ever could have started. From a very young age he taught me to ask questions and never settle for easy answers. I have many childhood memories of following him around the hospital on rounds, waiting at the nurse's stations, and sitting in the back office at his oncology clinic. Although I often complained of being bored and wanting to go, what I remember most is being incredibly proud of him. Watching him compassionately talk with family members of oncology patients and listening to him speak so kindly to his patients and encouraging them to fight when the odds were not in their favor, and ii observing him be an advocate for patients who were unable to afford treatment or were being given "the run around" by insurance companies taught me important life lessons. It taught me to figure out the work you love, no matter how difficult that work is, and commit to do it to the best of your ability every day. It was in those early days that I was inspired to become a doctor of some sort. In many ways, our walks behind his practice between patients or lunch breaks to discuss politics, social justice, college, grad applications, and then graduate school on holiday breaks when I could get home to California are present in the pages of this dissertation. For these reasons and others, I dedicate this dissertation to my dad. lll LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Image inDictee, 122 .............................................................. 89 Figure 2: Image inDictee, 39 ................................................................ 93 Figure 3: Image in Dictee, 63 ............................................................... 106 Figure 4: Image inDictee, 74 ................................................................ 108 Figure 5: Image in Dictee, 78 .............................................................. .. 111 IV INTRODUCTION: Points of Departure Borders are set up to define the places that are safe and unsafe, to distinguish us from them. A border is a dividing line, a narrow strip along a steep edge. A borderland is a vague and undetermined place created by the emotional residue of an unnatural boundary. It is in a constant state of transition. The prohibited and forbidden are its inhabitants. -Gloria Anzaldua The existence