Narrative Ecologies in Revolutionary Fiction and College Composition
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SSStttooonnnyyy BBBrrrooooookkk UUUnnniiivvveeerrrsssiiitttyyy The official electronic file of this thesis or dissertation is maintained by the University Libraries on behalf of The Graduate School at Stony Brook University. ©©© AAAllllll RRRiiiggghhhtttsss RRReeessseeerrrvvveeeddd bbbyyy AAAuuuttthhhooorrr... True Stories: Narrative Ecologies in Revolutionary Fiction and College Composition A Dissertation Presented By Stephanie Wade To The Graduate School In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy In English Stony Brook University May 2010 Copyright by Stephanie Wade 2010 The Graduate School Stephanie Wade We, the dissertation committee for the above candidate for the Doctor of Philosophy degree, hereby recommend acceptance of this dissertation. Patricia Belanoff- Dissertation Advisor Emeritus Professor, English Department Susan Scheckel- Chairperson of Defense Assistant Professor, English Department Heidi Hutner Associate Professor, English Department Derek Owens Associate Professor, English Department This dissertation is accepted by the Graduate School Lawrence Martin Dean of the Graduate School i i True Stories: Narrative Ecologies in Revolutionary Fiction and College Composition Stephanie Wade Doctor of Philosophy in English Stony Brook University 2010 This project argues that college writing classes are important sites of interdisciplinary work, where students can pose and pursue questions that exceed traditional disciplinary boundaries. I use the concept of narrative ecologies to respond to Fredric Jameson’s critique of Jean Francois Lyotard’s narrative theory and account for the layered, connected, unevenly distributed nature of master and local narratives as they alternately intersect, collide, diverge and align. The concept of narrative ecology rooted in Sidney Dobrin and Christian Weisser’s explication of discursive ecology, combines narrative theory and cultural ecology to better understand narratives as living systems, that, like our physical homes and earthy environments, shape our experiences and also respond to our actions. In the first two chapters, an ecological approach allows me to read the narrative and scientific work of Aphra Behn and Charles Brockden Brown, writers who worked during revolutionary periods and who used narrative and scientific discourse to engage in culture work. I use their work as evidence that contemporary disciplinary divisions are historically specific and as evidence of non-Cartesian representations of identity. In assessing the critical responses to these writers, I argue that their vexed positions in the canon are related to critical orientations that emphasize the figure of the hero or heroine and reinscribe the values of individualism. Revisiting these writers offers a historical perspective on post-humanist, ecological understanding of experience. Next, an ecological approach allows me to disrupt traditional histories of composition studies and remap this period, plotting connections among the work of Lyotard, Gayatri Spivak, and Peter Elbow, to reveal an alternative history, one that supports liberatory pedagogies. The final chapters evaluates ecocomposition and public, mixed-media writing as strategies for incorporating narrative and scientific discourse into the first-year writing curriculum. ii i Table of Contents Introduction: Narrative Ecologies: or, Story as Home………………………………..…1 Chapter One: A Discovery of New Worlds: Aphra Behn, Histories of the British Novel, the Emergence of Scientific Discourse ……………………………………………..…..14 Chapter Two: Alternative Paths: Charles Brockden Brown and the Possibilities of Place.……………………………………………….………………………..…………..47 Chapter Three: “You Must Make Your Own Map”: Navigating College Composition..75 Chapter Four: “Long Live the Weeds and the Wilderness”: Ecocomposition Pedagogies and Research Methods……………………………………………………………..…..108 Chapter Five: “The Revolution Will Be Live”: Public Writing, Mixed Media, and College Composition……………………………………………….……………………………153 Conclusion: A Cautionary Tale.......…………………………………………………....192 Coda: The Return of the Pamphleteer!............................................................................197 Works Cited.……………………………………………………………………………207 Appendix A: Syllabi……………………………………………………………………224 iv List of Figures 1. Ecocomposition Syllabi and WPA Outcomes………………………….……...137 2. Ecocomposition Pedagogies and WPA Outcomes………………………….....138 3. Absentee Rates………………………………………………………………….145 4. Completion Rates………………………………………………………………146 5. Pass Rates…………………………………………………………………..…..147 6. The Mobile Post-Draft Outline …………………………………………...……176 7. Phantom Project #4…………………………………………..…………………204 8. Phantom Project #4 B………………………………………………………..…205 v Acknowledgements "The question is how you rearrange the stars above your head, to open up unexpected paths on the ground beneath your feet."- Brian Holmes I have been supported in this project by many people in many ways. I would not have continued my education where it not for Professor Barbara Gleason, who introduced me to the field of composition studies and suggested I pursue my PhD. My family’s patience and understanding made my academic life possible. Thank you to my daughter, Maeve Ali Wade, my husband, Chuck Wade, and my parents, Nina and Jay Hirschman. My dissertation committee allowed me to shape a project that crosses the disciplinary boundaries between English and Composition and they encouraged experimentation while reigning in my excesses. In addition, they patiently read my early drafts and asked good, hard questions that helped me make meaning from my research. Thus, I am very grateful to Professor Heidi Hutner, Professor Susan Scheckel, Professor Pat Belanoff and Professor Derek Owens. I am also grateful to Professor Patricia Dunn, who taught me about composition research methods. Many students contributed to this project. I am especially grateful to the students of Stony Brook Southampton, whose commitment to using education to make the world a better place reminded me why research and teaching matter. I dedicate my dissertation to the students of Stony Brook Southampton. Introduction: Narrative Ecologies; or, Story as Home “We are still struggling to find a positive narrative, one fitting for the newly redefined Earthlings.” Bruno Latour “..we have lost sight of the simple fact that the only difference between a history, a theory, a poem, an essay, is the one we ourselves have imposed. We have cut the wholeness of knowledge into little bits, scattered them into the four winds and now begin to reorganize them into categories invented to enable empire by bringing order to chaos and civilization to the savage.” Melea Powell In 2007, Bruno Latour addressed the British Sociological Association at their yearly conference. His talk, “A Plea for Earthly Sciences,” asks why the mounting scientific evidence of environmental destruction has failed to motivate people to make the changes that are necessary to preserve the planet Earth and its inhabitants. In answering this question, Latour argues that the analytical tools used in the modernist period are no longer functional today, singling out empiricism for special critique on the grounds that it restricts knowledge by valuing the “power of the brain” over embodied epistemologies. Thus, in arguing for earthly sciences, Latour argues for knowledge that is grounded and contextual and for the value of narrative as a mode of discourse. But, as Latour points out, disciplinary divisions and hierarchies of discourse continue to have material effects on institutions, understanding, and experience. In this way, Latour’s argument compliments the work of composition scholar Melea Powell, who offers a holistic hermeneutics that pushes beyond boundaries between disciplines and genres and at the same time reminds us of the true effects of these boundaries. My dissertation positions first-year college writing as a transdisciplinary, public space where students can pose questions that exceed traditional academic boundaries. It 1 also positions composition studies as a transdisciplinary, public space where teachers and researchers (and teacher-researchers) can pose questions that exceed traditional academic boundaries. Ultimately, my goal is to open up the choices available to writing students and teacher. I begin with historical research because first-year college writing is an institution with historical connections that range from ancient rhetoric to creative writing workshops, contemporary English departments, education research, and emerging work in new media. Reviewing these connections allows us to reconsider contemporary practices as historically-specific so we can reshape first-year college writing to meet contemporary needs.1 On the other hand, using contemporary theory to review contemporary needs as historically-specific allows us to consider the goals of first-year college writing in the dynamic context of the twenty-first century. Theoretically, I propose the concept of narrative ecology as a holistic hermeneutic for exploring connections between composition and literature and between narrative and scientific discourse.2 Finally, I employ quantitative and qualitative research to assess the efficacy of the applications of my historical and theoretical research.3 1 The changing relationship between composition and literature is illustrated by two collections published twenty-three years apart. In the introduction to Composition and Literature: Bridging the Gap, Winfred Horner, the editor