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The Creation of the Small New England Town in Alice Hoffman's B 123 OULU 2014 B 123 UNIVERSITY OF OULU P.O.BR[ 00 FI-90014 UNIVERSITY OF OULU FINLAND ACTA UNIVERSITATIS OULUENSIS ACTA UNIVERSITATIS OULUENSIS ACTA SERIES EDITORS HUMANIORAB Eva-Jo Jylhä ASCIENTIAE RERUM NATURALIUM Jylhä Eva-Jo Professor Esa Hohtola THE CREATION OF BHUMANIORA THE SMALL NEW ENGLAND University Lecturer Santeri Palviainen CTECHNICA TOWN IN ALICE HOFFMAN’S Postdoctoral research fellow Sanna Taskila MASSACHUSETTS NOVELS DMEDICA Professor Olli Vuolteenaho A CULTURAL IMAGOLOGICAL STUDY ESCIENTIAE RERUM SOCIALIUM University Lecturer Veli-Matti Ulvinen FSCRIPTA ACADEMICA Director Sinikka Eskelinen GOECONOMICA Professor Jari Juga EDITOR IN CHIEF Professor Olli Vuolteenaho PUBLICATIONS EDITOR Publications Editor Kirsti Nurkkala UNIVERSITY OF OULU GRADUATE SCHOOL; UNIVERSITY OF OULU, FACULTY OF HUMANITIES, ISBN 978-952-62-0589-2 (Paperback) ENGLISH PHILOLOGY ISBN 978-952-62-0590-8 (PDF) ISSN 0355-3205 (Print) ISSN 1796-2218 (Online) ACTA UNIVERSITATIS OULUENSIS B Humaniora 123 EVA-JO JYLHÄ THE CREATION OF THE SMALL NEW ENGLAND TOWN IN ALICE HOFFMAN’S MASSACHUSETTS NOVELS A cultural imagological study Academic dissertation to be presented with the assent of the Doctoral Training Committee of Human Sciences of the University of Oulu for public defence in Kuusamonsali (YB210), Linnanmaa, on 7 November 2014, at 12 noon UNIVERSITY OF OULU, OULU 2014 Copyright © 2014 Acta Univ. Oul. B 123, 2014 Supervised by Professor Anthony Johnson Reviewed by Docent Mark Shackleton Doctor Jason Finch ISBN 978-952-62-0589-2 (Paperback) ISBN 978-952-62-0590-8 (PDF) ISSN 0355-3205 (Printed) ISSN 1796-2218 (Online) Cover Design Raimo Ahonen JUVENES PRINT TAMPERE 2014 Jylhä, Eva-Jo, The creation of the small New England town in Alice Hoffman’s Massachusetts novels. A cultural imagological study University of Oulu Graduate School; University of Oulu, Faculty of Humanities, English Philology Acta Univ. Oul. B 123, 2014 University of Oulu, P.O. Box 8000, FI-90014 University of Oulu, Finland Abstract The region of New England has played a strong role in the formation and development of the United States on both physical and ideological levels, and the image of the small New England town is highly evocative at both a regional and national level. It is an image shaped by an awareness of the past and the needs of the time. Alice Hoffman is a popular writer who often writes about people living in small New England towns. This thesis is a study of how Hoffman’s fictional small New England towns are created in six of her Massachusetts novels, Practical Magic (1995), The River King (2000), Blue Diary (2001), The Probable Future (2003), Blackbird House (2004) and The Red Garden (2011). To provide a framework for this study, concepts developed by cultural geographers such as sense of place and landscape are combined with imagological, sociological and historical ideas of collective memory and narrative identity. Phenomenology is at the root of the epistemological stance and concepts that are central to this study of the creation of place. Concepts of place, time and identity from across disciplines are combined in an extension of the horizons of imagology that shifts focus from national images to a broader range of images producing a cultural imagological study of the creation of Hoffman country. This study works with various levels of engagement and interaction with community in the fictional towns of the novels. The major sub-communities in The River King are used to amplify the workings of a sense of place and nostalgia in relation to rootedness. The town community as a whole is studied through Blackbird House and The Red Garden to explore how history and memory merge to create the mythology central to the identity of a town. Changing interactions with community at an individual level are scrutinized through a topobiographical study of the reconstruction of narrative identity in the novels Practical Magic and Blue Diary. The Probable Future figures around the interaction of a family with the rest of the community and this changing interaction is examined through the processes and functions of memorialization. All six novelistic towns are then examined in terms of landscape and imagined communities. Through the study, a mapping of Hoffman Country emerges and the formation of Hoffman’s imagined small New England towns is explicated. Keywords: belonging, collective memory, community, cultural landscape, images, memorialization, narrative identity, New England, sense of place Jylhä, Eva-Jo, Uusienglantilaisten pikkukaupunkien rakentuminen Alice Hoffmannin Massachusettsiin sijoittuvissa teoksissa. Kulttuuri-imagologinen tutkimus miljöistä ja yhteisöistä Oulun yliopiston tutkijakoulu; Oulun yliopisto, Humanistinen tiedekunta, Englantilainen filologia Acta Univ. Oul. B 123, 2014 Oulun yliopisto, PL 8000, 90014 Oulun yliopisto Tiivistelmä Uuden-Englannin alue on ollut merkittävä Yhdysvaltojen alueellisessa ja ideologisessa muodos- tumisessa. Mielikuvat pienistä uusienglantilaisista kaupungeista miljöinä ovat voimakkaita, ja usein niihin liittyy tietoa paikkojen historiasta. Alice Hoffmann on suosittu nykykirjailija, jonka useissa teoksissa henkilöhahmot asuvat Uuden-Englannin pikkukaupungeissa. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena on tarkastella, miten Hoffman rakentaa fiktiivisiä kaupunkeja kuudessa Massachusettsiin sijoittuvassa teoksessaan. Tutkimusaineistona ovat teokset Practical Magic (1995, suom. Noitasisaret), The River King (2000), Blue Diary (2001), The Probable Future (2003), Blackbird House (2004) ja The Red Garden (2011, suom. Punainen puutarha). Tässä tutkimuksessa kulttuurimaantieteellisiä käsitteitä, kuten paikkatunne (sense of place) ja maisema, on yhdistetty imagologian, sosiologian ja historian käsitteisiin kollektiivisesta muistis- ta ja narratiivisesta identiteetistä. Näin kulttuuri-imagologia yhdistää imagologian tutkimuksen kansallisuuteen liittyvät mielikuvat mielikuviin tietystä paikasta, ajasta ja identiteetistä. Tätä teo- reettista kehystä käytetään analysoitaessa Hoffmannin fiktiivisiä pienkaupunkiyhteisöjä. Tutki- muksen tietoteoreettisena perustana on fenomenologinen näkemys ja käsitteistö. Kulttuuri-ima- gologian kautta tarkastellaan Hoffmannin romaaneissaan rakentamia yhteisöjä ja miljöitä. Olennaisimmat yhteisöt romaanissa The River King vahvistavat paikan ymmärryksen ja nos- talgisuuden merkityksen henkilöhahmojen kokemalle juurettomuudelle. Kaupunkiyhteisöjä on tarkasteltu novellikokoelmien Blackbird House ja The Red Garden avulla osoittamaan, miten historia ja muisti toimivat rakentaen mytologista paikan identiteettiä. Yksilöiden toisistaan erot- tuva yhteisöllinen vuorovaikutus analysoidaan topobiografisella tavalla rekonstruoitaessa narra- tiivista identiteettiä romaaneissa Practical Magic ja Blue Diary. The Probable Future -teoksen hahmojen vuorovaikutus perheen sisällä ja muun yhteisön kanssa ilmentää muistelmallisuuden prosessia. Kaikkia kuutta fiktiivistä kaupunkia tarkastellaan maiseman ja fiktiivisen yhteisölli- syyden näkökulmista. Tämä tutkimus osoittaa Alice Hoffmanin uusienglantilaisiin pikkukaupunkeihin sijoittuvien teosten analyysin avulla, miten kirjailijat voivat käyttää ja muokata teoksissaan mielikuvia pai- koista luodessaan tunnesiteitä yksilöiden, yhteisöjen ja miljöiden välille. Asiasanat: kollektiivinen muisti, kulttuurimaisema, mielikuva, muistelmallisuus, narratiivinen identiteetti, paikkatunne, Uusi-Englanti, yhteisöllisyys Acknowledgments I entered into my doctoral studies in 2005 in order to find intellectual stimulation. Over the past nine years I have continued to work full time and viewed my research as an intense, exciting and sometimes overwhelming hobby. Nevertheless, the stimulation my research has given me has helped me find new levels of energy and interest. Many people—friends, colleagues, students and family—have been supportive of the long process of my doctoral studies and I would like to thank all of you. Anthony Johnson, my intermittent supervisor, first set me on the path I have followed. Your infectious interest in all manner of things has been invigorating and our conversations stimulating. Thank you for helping me find direction and taking me on again despite the complications added by your shift in institutions. My introduction to cultural geography was graciously assisted by Pauli Tapani Karjalainen. Thank you for your support and advice. I truly enjoyed the tasks you set me and the meetings we held; your insights into the field and the depth of your knowledge and experience are inspirational. I hope that you enjoy your well-earned retirement. I am grateful to my pre-examiners, Mark Shackleton and Jason Finch, for taking the time to examine my thesis thoughtfully and drawing my attention to potential avenues of thought. I have tried to take your comments and suggestions into consideration and I believe they have helped me strengthen this thesis. I would also like to thank my opponent Bent Sørensen for the time and effort he has expended in preparing for my defense. Within the English Department at the Oulu University I have found both practical and intellectual support from the faculty. Lisa-Lena Opas-Hänninen stepped into a supervisory role for me twice. Her practical guidance was invaluable at key points in the process of my training and research. When she passed away and I was left without a supervisor, John Braidwood stepped into the breach. You helped me find focus and I am grateful for your help. The moral support given to me by some of my fellow Humanities Faculty doctoral
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