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Niobe Repeating: Black New Women Rewrite Ovid's Metamorphoses

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Niobe Repeating: Black New Women Rewrite Ovid’s Metamorphoses By Nicole Adeyinka Spigner Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Vanderbilt University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in English December, 2014 Nashville, Tennessee Approved: Hortense J. Spillers, Ph.D., Chair Colin Dayan, Ph.D. Lynn E. Enterline, Ph.D. Ifeoma K. Nwankwo, Ph.D. Patrice D. Rankine, Ph.D. ABSTRACT For Black New Women authors, H. Cordelia Ray, Pauline A. Hopkins, and Alice Dunbar-Nelson, Ovid’s Metamorphoses provided a literary palette from which their stories could be redrawn as a part of the American intellectual and artistic landscape. From 1880 until 1910, Black New Women wrote explicitly gendered stories of belonging—stories that explored what it meant to be women, to be newly “free” as a class of people, and to intervene in traditions as longstanding as Roman literature. In Niobe Repeating, I argue that Black New Women classicists utilized classical forms and plots to reconsider the process of black feminine identity formation as intellectual and creative production. At its core, Niobe Repeating examines the difference between classicists, scholars and writers deliberately engaged in the elaboration of the classical tradition, and those who had been educated in select classical texts as a part of their liberal educations. Furthermore, the project extends Tracey L. Walters’s inaugural and solitary study of black women classicists and her claim that for nineteenth century black women writers, the classics created “a liberating space to engage readers in a feminist critique of the misrepresentation, silencing, and subjugation of Black women both in literature and society” (51). I trace a black feminine classicist tradition that begins with Phillis Wheatley, challenges the confines of gendered creative production, and recasts Ovid’s stories of feminine rebellion and transformation as “women’s” genres including fairy tale, romance, and American gothic, often combined into single works. These new methods of literary production gave rise to speculative poetry, short stories, and novels that presented a reimagined American society, redefined black origins, and redirected expectations of black women’s intellectual and creative production. By writing directly into the classical tradition, these writers intentionally met the standards of ii citizenship and simultaneously exposed the inevitable failures of any dehumanization projects pitted against them. They wrote stories that claimed Black persons’ American heritage, reclaimed their humanity, and proved their worth within the mainstream American value system that expressed core values of class, education, piety, and patriotism. iii To Shane’s Mommy, my brilliant, brave, and beautiful sister, Deja, one of the most dedicated and loving mothers this world will ever know. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As I am sure so many people do, I struggle to contain in a few pages the names of all of those who helped me through this journey. I must, of course, thank my phenomenal and remarkably supportive committee members: Hortense J. Spillers, Lynn Enterline, Colin Dayan, Ifeoma K. Nwankwo, and Patrice Rankine. This group of incredible scholars lent to me much more than their time, and so much time they did give. They gave to me the gifts of their intellectual engagement that pushed my own thinking in surprising and productive ways, views from their eyes when I couldn’t quite see, and continual inspiration, both personal and as compassionate and ethical members of the academy. From before matriculating into Vanderbilt, both Spillers and Colin lent their ears, advice, and enthusiasm for my own vision for my career. Lynn spent hours of Oxford method and steering me into new depths of critical thinking, while also lending me Mr. Ziggy’s soft ears for comfort. Ifeoma encouraged me to take care of myself, which included my day-to-day essential practices of eating, sleeping, and yoga, but also practicing scholarly ethics and politics as evidenced by the work. I never imagined that I would find such a dear and priceless mentor, critic, and friend in any graduate advisor, let alone a scholar whose work shaped me long before I ever met her. Thank you, Spillers, for sharing brilliance, precision, and laughter, providing me opportunities for growth within the career on a multitude of levels, saying what needed to be said, and caring so much for me. Herman Beavers, thank you for calling me into your office hours and asking me what I planned to do after undergrad, for assuring me that this was within my reach, and for demonstrating the grace and generosity of mentorship. Also, I especially thank Thadious Davis, Salamishah Tillet, Dana Nelson, Charlotte Pierce-Baker, Teresa Goddu, Tsitsi Jaji, Daphne v Brooks, Catherine Schwarz, Rory Dicker, Cecelia Tichi, Houston Baker, Jonathan Lamb, and Nancy Bentley, for your many moments of counsel and vision. I really appreciate Mark Schoenfield for supporting my career while the English Department Chair. Thank you Valerie Ronnick and Justine McConnell, for the opportunity to talk “black classicism” with you. Natasha Murray, thank you for always believing, for laughing from your belly, and keeping things always in perspective. Christina Seluzicki, how I appreciate you seeing me, even when it was legitimately hard to keep anything in view. Toni A. Moore, Deanna Brannon, and Gisela Silla, thanks for showing up for me for all of these years (so many of them, can you believe it?). Erin Suyehara, David Gardner, and Adrian Khactu, all my love and thanks for believing, breaks, and the “boom-boom-pop”! J. Michael Freelon, how grateful I am, for late- night calls and Netflix marathons. The wonderful folks who I met in Nashville and at Vanderbilt, I cannot express how much you have made this experience human and grounded: Deborah Lilton, Jennifer Mokos, Destiny Birdsong, Petal Samuel, Jennifer Bagneris, Elizabeth Barnett, Jane Wanniger, Diana Bellonby, Lusy Mensah, and Chelsea Land. Donika Ross—for you I have all the feelings, but most of all, a deep gratitude for finding me in the dark night of the soul and providing a beacon. How many pages you read, I cannot fathom. For those others who read for me, David, Adrian, Petal, Elizabeth, Destiny, Carol, Deja, and Christina: Thank you, thank you, thank you. Lastly, I must thank my wonderful family. We are a complicated group of folk, surely, but we care for each other with our entire selves. Thank you so much for your bottomless love, for making me laugh when I really didn’t want to, and serving me the hard line when needed. Mom and Dad, your faith and support made this entirely possible. Words are inefficient, but you continually replenish my heart and spirit. You were my first teachers of language theory and vi criticism, and I see you in all that I do and am truly grateful. Dad, thank you for pushing me to always ask questions. Mom, thank you for training me to see beyond romance. Carol, thank you for being the one person in the family that completely “gets it,” and for the inside scoop, served with love. Thomas, it is hard to feel down when you’re around, quite thankfully. Deja, my favorite sister and chosen friend, your strength, intelligence, creativity, and fire inspire me every single day. And, finally, there is Shane, who, no matter what goes on, gives to all of us his love, his smiles, his laughter, and his hope. This is for you and for who you will become. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION: Black New Women and Their Ovid I. Introduction ............................................................................................................................1 II. Birth of the Black American Citizen and the Black New Woman ......................................12 III. Ovidian Rebirth and Transformation of the “Tragic Mulatta” ............................................15 IV. Black Classicist Lineage and the Emergence of Classica Africana ....................................20 V. American Classicist or Traces of Classical Education in America? ....................................32 VI. Scattered Archives and Elevated Writing: Black Classicist Women’s Archives ................36 CHAPTER 1: Wheatley, In the First Place: Origins of Black Classicist Tradition in America I. Introduction ..........................................................................................................................41 II. In the First Place, Wheatley .................................................................................................45 III. From African to African American .....................................................................................49 IV. Lauding and Naysaying: Historical Reception of Wheatley’s Work ..................................54 V. Classicism in Wheatley’s work ...........................................................................................59 VI. Niobe’s Rebellious Countrywomen: Ovid’s Arachne .........................................................67 VII. Ovidian Niobe’s Pride and Punishment ............................................................................72 VIII. Niobe, Revisited: Wheatley’s “Niobe in Distress” ..........................................................74 IX. Niobe’s Rebellion, Hubris, and Claim to Human Value .....................................................78 X. Conclusion: Wheatley and Black New Women of the Late Nineteenth-Century ...............84 CHAPTER 2: Niobian Echoes: H. Cordelia Ray Writing
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