Detroit Aesthetic in Mid-Twentieth-Century Literature Jenna F

Wayne State University Wayne State University Dissertations 1-1-2015 Sex, Labor, And The American Way: Detroit Aesthetic In Mid-Twentieth-Century Literature Jenna F. Gerds Wayne State University, Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_dissertations Recommended Citation Gerds, Jenna F., "Sex, Labor, And The American Way: Detroit Aesthetic In Mid-Twentieth-Century Literature" (2015). Wayne State University Dissertations. Paper 1131. This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@WayneState. It has been accepted for inclusion in Wayne State University Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@WayneState. SEX, LABOR, AND THE AMERICAN WAY: DETROIT AESTHETIC IN MID-TWENTIETH-CENTURY LITERATURE by JENNA GERDS DISSERTATION Submitted to the Graduate School of Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 2015 MAJOR: ENGLISH Approved by: __________________________________________ Advisor Date __________________________________________ __________________________________________ __________________________________________ __________________________________________ DEDICATION To Louis and Beatrice. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Endless thanks to my insightful committee members, Drs. Barrett Watten, Renata Wasserman, Jonathan Flatley, and Dora Apel. I would especially like to acknowledge Dr. Barrett Watten’s support and thoughtful feedback, both on this project and throughout the entirety of my graduate education. I would like to thank Miriam Frank and Linda Banks Downs for their insight and will- ingness to meet and talk with a humble graduate student. Thank you to my friends, Mark Brown in particular, for his sage advice. And the warmest expression of gratitude to my family, especially Carl and Roslyn Gerds, who encouraged me throughout this process, Beth Jablonowski, and Cait- lin Gerds Habermas and Phyllis Gerds, without whom my syntax would be increasingly awkward and my voice ever more passive. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication____________________________________________________________________ii Acknowledgements ____________________________________________________________iii Introduction __________________________________________________________________1 Chapter 1: Advertising the Automobile: An American Love Story________________________32 Chapter 2: Rebirth of Interpretation: John Dos Passos’s U.S.A. and Diego Rivera’s Detroit Indusry____________________________________________________________77 Chapter 3: Black and White: Displacement and Race in the Rural South and Urban North through Print and Photography________________________________________________122 Chapter 4: Picket Lines and Picket Fences: Work and Desire in Last Exit to Brooklyn and The Donna Reed Show___________________________________________________188 Epilogue: The End of the Line___________________________________________________247 Bibliography________________________________________________________________252 Abstract____________________________________________________________________259 Autobiographical Statement____________________________________________________261 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Ford Times, Nov. 1, 1908________________________________________________74 Figure 2: Ford Times, Shipment of Fords to Coronation of King George, Emperor of India_____75 Figure 3: Ford Times, A Personal Solicitation from the Colored Lady in Question___________76 Figure 4: Photograph by Alfred Palmer____________________________________________174 Figure 5: Photograph by Alfred Palmer____________________________________________175 Figure 6: Photograph by Alfred Palmer____________________________________________176 Figure 7: Photograph by Alfred Palmer____________________________________________177 Figure 8: Photograph by Arthur Siegel____________________________________________178 Figure 9: Photograph by Arthur Siegel____________________________________________179 Figure 10: Photograph by Arthur Siegel___________________________________________180 Figure 11: Photograph by Arthur Siegel___________________________________________181 Figure 12: Photograph by Arthur Siegel___________________________________________182 Figure 13: Photograph by Arthur Siegel___________________________________________183 Figure 14: Photograph by Arthur Siegel___________________________________________184 Figure 15: Photograph by Arthur Siegel___________________________________________185 Figure 16: Photograph by Arthur Siegel___________________________________________186 Figure 17: LIFE magazine article and ad, March 16, 1942_____________________________187 v 1 INTRODUCTION Looking down Woodward from my window on the ninth floor—a light dusting of snow on the building tops, gray smoke leaving the smokestacks and blending into the gray sky—I am re- minded that there is so much about Detroit that often goes unnoticed, understudied, and unappre- ciated. I did not plan to spend my career studying and teaching about Detroit. My focus has been primarily on literary modernism, postmodernism, and film and media. However, as I began this introduction, I realized that my investigation into the American literature and culture of the twentieth century all somehow pointed one direction: homeward. Studying literature at Wayne State University, I recognized aspects of American life conveyed in modern novels in a different way, relative to my environment. I heard the repetitive noise of industry and the deadening silence ex- perienced when it stops. I saw choices individuals had to make about their homes and families in the wake of economic forces outside of their control. I trailed behind cars, stopped at traffic lights, and read bumper stickers urging me to “Buy American” or else soon we will all be out of a job. We tend to think of instances like these as symptomatic of the present time and specific to Midwest rustbelt cities, but the ways industry—and narrative—are structured, how characters’ lives unfold because of economy, and the methods by which culture is turned into consumable goods are wholly central to understanding American literature written during the time period that encompasses waves of urban migration and employment, the Great Depression, and the subsequent economic boom during World War II. In the past five years, however, I have noticed an unmistakable change in the public perception of this city, still rife with violence, racial discord, and poverty, left with the indelible mark of the auto companies and unions for both better and worse. For the first time in decades, it seems to be a city open to the need for reinterpretation and willing to accept that its aesthetic includes seemingly impossible contrasts, uniquely beautiful and integral to a version of an American identity that has, in fact, been explored by authors almost a century ago. 2 There are a wide range of contrasts within the works I examine here as well; these texts, written by American authors in the first half of the twentieth century, each appose different aesthetic modes, social perspectives, and concerns over artistic expression and audience reception. You will find within these pages my interpretation of the early short stories of Sinclair Lewis collected in If I Were Boss, the U.S.A. trilogy by John Dos Passos, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men by James Agee and Walker Evans, and Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby, Jr. Lewis’s works begin in 1916. Dos Passos writes about the teens and twenties from his position in the 1930s. Let Us Now Praise Famous Men was compiled in the thirties and published in 1941. Last Exit to Brooklyn is set in the fifties and published in 1964. The economic flux that occurred in the first half of the twentieth century shaped interpretations of American modernity, and these works span decades that saw peaks of prosperity and industry and valleys of poverty and idleness. During these decades in the United States, migration toward economic opportunity resulted in a demo- graphic shift and competition over jobs, which accelerated conflicts between men and women and black and white laborers. Making, selling, and buying have often been the nation’s collective solution to an entire host of social and political problems, and these authors are all skeptical of the viability of this solution. And yet they all write from within this culture. The publication of their work is no less susceptible to economic concerns. The producers of these works make negotiations between old and new forms of expression and choices regarding circulation, publication, and for- mat. Some of these writers, such as Sinclair Lewis, find commercial success as an author while simultaneously criticizing the ways in which goods are sold. Others, such as James Agee, are openly wary of a large, uncritical audience that might misinterpret the stakes of his study and, therefore, misinterpret human lives that matter deeply. The tension between artistic and economic 3 concerns create texts that combine commercially accessible and avant-garde forms in each of these works. The primary literature I have selected is juxtaposed with visual texts and archival, historic research with a locational and thematic basis in Detroit. Ford Times and early automobile adver- tisements, Diego Rivera’s mural Detroit Industry, photographs of the Sojourner Truth housing project and ensuing riots, and accounts of gay union workers comprise a framework for and a connection to each of these

Load more