Crossing Borders, Crossing Genres: Utilizing Genres to Explore Literary Themes Through Genre Fiction
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
State University of New York College at Buffalo - Buffalo State College Digital Commons at Buffalo State English Theses English 5-2020 Crossing Borders, Crossing Genres: Utilizing Genres to Explore Literary Themes Through Genre Fiction Michael W. Rickard II Buffalo State College, [email protected] Advisor Dr. Lorna Perez First Reader Dr. Lorna Perez Second Reader Dr. Jennifer Ryan-Bryant Department Chair Dr. Ralph Wahlstrom, Chair and Professor of English To learn more about the English Department and its educational programs, research, and resources, go to https://english.buffalostate.edu/eng. Recommended Citation Rickard, Michael W. II, "Crossing Borders, Crossing Genres: Utilizing Genres to Explore Literary Themes Through Genre Fiction" (2020). English Theses. 29. https://digitalcommons.buffalostate.edu/english_theses/29 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.buffalostate.edu/english_theses Part of the Literature in English, North America Commons Rickard 1 Buffalo State College State University of New York Department of English Crossing Borders, Crossing Genres: Utilizing Genres to Explore Literary Themes Through Genre Fiction A Thesis in English By Michael W. Rickard II Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts May 2020 Dates of Approval: ______________________ _____________________________________ Dr. Lorna Perez Associate Professor Honors Faculty Fellow Chairperson of the Committee Thesis Adviser _____________________ _____________________________________ Dr. Ralph Wahlstrom Professor and Chair Chairperson of the Department of English _____________________ _____________________________________ Kevin J. Miller, Ed.D. Dean of the Graduate School Rickard 2 Crossing Borders, Crossing Genres: Utilizing Genres to Explore Literary Themes Through Genre Fiction Abstract Genre fiction can be used to explore literary themes found in marginalized literature such as Alicia Gaspar de Alba’s Desert Blood: The Juárez Murders, Emma Pérez’s Forgetting the Alamo or Blood Money, and Octavia Butler’s Kindred. Each author uses the respective genres of hard-boiled detective fiction, American Western literature, and science fiction to explore the elements of borderland literature and the neo-slave narrative. These elements include hybrid identities, the clash between two cultures, disjunctive localities, and the marginalization of both ethnic groups and women. This thesis will show how each genre’s elements are used to further explore the elements of borderland fiction and the neo-slave narrative and will argue that the conventions of genre and the political concerns of borderland literature and neo-slave narratives are mutually constitutive. This thesis will demonstrate that the conventions of genre, rather than detracting from the important political work of the novels, actually heightens it effectively, highlighting the radical work that genre can do. Rickard 3 Chapter One: Genre Fiction Genre theory and genre criticism are important in the study of literature. Genre criticism is defined by J.A. Cuddon as “a field of study whose origins may be traced back to early Greek attempts to categorize literature as exemplified bv Aristotle in his Poetics” (299). As Anne Herrington and Charles Moran explain in “Genre Across the Curriculum”, the concept of genre dates back to antiquity and continues to be analyzed today. In his work, Mystery, Violence, and Popular Culture (“Mystery”) English professor and pop culture scholar John Cawelti notes the benefits of genre criticism: “Genre criticism has long been a standard approach to literature and the other arts, primarily because of its advantage in organizing criticism as a collective enterprise” (96). Genre criticism has given rise to a wide body of scholarly work. Critics have found genre to be a rich vein to tap in terms of literary analysis, but it can be used in many other areas1. Critics have noted the importance of genre in organizing art including the way it reaches an audience. As Lei Zhang and Hope Olson explain: Genre is characterized by its stability, which makes one genre being distinguishable from another, and generally communicable between the producer and the recipient. The genre is a convention, so the producer conforms to the expectations of that genre, and the recipient knows what to expect from that genre. For example, we usually browse by genre, such as thriller, comedy, action, and so on, to find movies of interest, or by genres like rock, country, jazz, and so on when we download music. (Zhang and Olson 544) 1 As Katherine Arens discusses, genre can also be used to analyze cultural hegemony and how a culture values or diminishes works using genre classifications. Rickard 4 Thus, genre serves as a tool for producers, distributors, and consumers of content (literary and otherwise). Whether it’s an artist creating content for a specific audience, a distributor knowing who to market it to, or a consumer looking for content that appeals to their tastes, genre has its purposes. Thus, genre criticism is often used to classify literature, music, cinema, and other artistic endeavors, but some critics question genre’s role in the production and criticism of artistic work. Some critics question genre’s effect on artistic expression. While genre can be an effective way to categorize art, it can also “look like a very blunt instrument to use on texts” (Frow 110). Critics argue genre is too fluid to categorize art while others argue it is an effective method for critics and readers to identify art. Some critics argue genre fiction (if such a thing exists) does not qualify as literature, but others argue to the contrary. I will establish that genre is a way of structuring art2, while still maintaining artistic freedom. I will also show that genre can include literature and enhance the elements that make a piece of writing literary. Like many other theoretical frameworks, a clear definition of genre continues to elude scholars. The concept of genre is more than compiling a checklist of elements and matching it to a literary work to determine whether it falls into a genre. Genre provides structure, or as critic John Frow explains: Genre…is a set of conventional and highly organized constraints on the production and interpretation of meaning. In using the word ‘constraint’ I don’t mean to say that genre is simply a restriction. Rather, its structuring effects are productive of meaning; they shape and guide, in the way that a builder’s form gives shape to a pour of concrete, or a sculptor’s mould shapes and gives structure to its material (10). 2 Genre can be applied to a number of artistic mediums including film, music, and art, but this analysis concerns literary works, focusing on the novel. Rickard 5 Genre can be a starting point for letting people know what qualities a work may have as genre is situational and requires engagement with the consumer of a work. Frow concludes: Genre guides interpretation because it is a constraint on semiosis, the production of meaning; it specifies which types of meaning are relevant and appropriate in a particular context, and so makes certain senses of an utterance more probable in the circumstances than others. (110) Genre helps a reader understand some of the conventions that belong to a certain type of story. For example, a story involving cowboys in the American West of the 1870’s suggests they are reading a Western story. However, as we shall see, genre can be fluid and genres can overlap as seen in Alan Parr’s essay, “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance Inhabits Film Noir” where he examines the crossover between the Western genre and the genre of film noir. Not all critics subscribe to the idea of genre as a class. For example, Adena Rosmarin distinguishes genre, noting, “genre is not, as commonly thought, a class, but rather, a classifying statement” (25). Genre can be dependent on things such as culture. For example, Diana S. Goodrich notes, “genres are culture-specific and clearly historical; like other institutions - although perhaps in a more elliptical way - genres provide insights into the societies in which they flourish” (viii). Genres provide an audience with an idea of what to expect when they pick up a book. Any trip to a bookstore or online book vendor shows books are categorized by genre, giving potential readers an idea of what they are getting and where to look for books that meet their taste. Consumer who have read books from a certain genre and enjoyed them are likely to return for more from the same genre just a consumer may patronize a certain type of restaurant because they like the food it offers, whether it be Mexican, Italian, or American. Rickard 6 While a comparative analysis of popular fiction vs. literary fiction is beyond the scope of this work, it is important to note critics no longer dismiss popular fiction as incapable of literary qualities. However, what are those qualities that make a work “literary”? Scholars and critics often define literature as having a special quality. For example, the Oxford English Dictionary defines literature as , “written work valued for superior or lasting artistic merit” (“literature”). The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory defines it similarly, noting, “traditionally, if we describe something as ‘literature,’ as opposed to anything else, the term carries with it qualitative connotations which imply that the work in question has superior qualities; that it is well above the ordinary run of written works” (“literature”). For many years, genre fiction was considered outside the realm of literature, being associated with popular fiction. However, critics have struggled to define what popular fiction is, more defining it by what it is not. For example, Matthew Schneider-Mayerson notes: Popular fiction is defined by what it is not: “literature.” Most critics openly or implicitly adhere to the following claims: Whereas "literature" is indifferent to (if not contemptuous of) the marketplace, original, and complex, popular fiction is simple, sensuous, exaggerated, exciting, and formulaic (22).