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MIAMI UNIVERSITY the Graduate School Certificate for Approving The MIAMI UNIVERSITY The Graduate School Certificate for Approving the Dissertation We hereby approve the Dissertation of Jamie Calhoun Candidate for the Degree: Doctor of Philosophy _____________________________________ Director Dr. Timothy Melley _____________________________________ Reader Dr. Stefanie Kyle Dunning _____________________________________ Reader Dr. Madelyn M. Detloff _____________________________________ Graduate School Representative Dr. Marguerite Shaffer ABSTRACT ALLUDING TO PROTEST: RESISTANCE IN POST WAR AMERICAN LITERATURE Jamie Calhoun This dissertation traces a distinctive form of literary citation in the late twentieth century and proposes that a number of important late twentieth century works reuse essentialist and possibly racist discourse to create more humane and ethical concepts of selfhood. The texts in this dissertation “play” with and critically engage with the notion of the “other” through intense allusion and citation of dominant literary and cultural narratives in order to resist the exclusionary, dominant ideology of American selfhood. My project focuses on four such novels – Maxine Hong Kingston’s Tripmaster Monkey, Thomas King’s Green Grass Running Water, Percival Everett’s Erasure, and Robert Coover’s The Public Burning – which redeploy narratives that represent ethnic minorities in racist and essentialist ways. For example, Maxine Hong Kingston builds her novel around the writings and performances of Walt Whitman, Sui Sin Far, Frank Chin, and the nineteenth century “Siamese Twins,” Chang and Eng Bunker. Alluding to Far’s idealized Eurasian “one family,” Chin’s authentic ethnic self, and the exotic “other” represented by the Bunker twins, Kingston critiques and reformulates essentialist discourse to produce an anti-racist subject. The chapter on Percival Everett’s Erasure traces a similar critique of resistance as Everett draws on aspects of both sides of an historical African American dialectic between separatism and universalism. The third chapter considers the imperialist narratives that Thomas King uses to build his novel, Green Grass Running Water, and shows how his allusive storytelling reimagines the traditional form of the Western, linear story. Robert Coover in The Public Burning parodies the narrative of Manifest Destiny and the repression of dissent on the American’s journey to the apotheosis of his self. This dissertation proves that one can ironically engage with the very discourse that might erase one as a “legible” subject in order to reformulate discourses of exclusion. This intriguing pattern of allusion in twentieth century American literature compels a reconsideration of our literary moment and of the means of critique available to contemporary writers. ALLUDING TO PROTEST: RESISTANCE IN POST WAR AMERICAN LITERATURE A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of Miami University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of English by Jamie Calhoun Miami University Oxford, Ohio 2009 Director: Dr. Timothy Melley © Jamie Calhoun 2009 Table Of Contents List of Figures iv Acknowledgments v Introduction “Resistance and Selfhood” 1 Chapter One “Maxine Hong Kingston’s Tripmaster Monkey: Rewriting the Other” 21 Chapter Two “Alluding to Protest: Percival Everett’s Erasure and the Struggle for Democracy in African-American Literature” 55 Chapter Three “Let’s Begin Again: Re-telling the Story of Identity in Thomas King’s Green Grass, Running Water” 88 Chapter Four “Robert Coover’s The Public Burning: Reimagining Justice” 115 Bibliography 148 iii List of Figures Figure 1 Artists Unknown. Miwatani Society Officer on Horseback. Okicinintawa Counts Coup on Crows. ." Berlo, Janet Catherine. Plains Indians Drawings 1865-1935: Pages from a Visual History. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1996. 183. 106 iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Writing a dissertation is a lesson in much more than a field of knowledge; we also learn, through not a little emotional turmoil, of our many strengths. The greatest strength I have discovered through this process is the amazing group of people who have been with me along this journey in the shape of professors, administrators, family, and (as they all came to be) friends. These people have shaped the person I am becoming, taking me on in the same way I use the term here in my dissertation: challenging me, accepting me, supporting and nourishing me. My committee is the best committee ever put together (and I take only a little credit for that). Professors Timothy Melley, Stefanie Dunning, Madelyn Detloff, and Peggy Shaffer have given me the tools to become a better teacher and a better scholar. Peggy, your intelligence and your constant encouragement helped me see the potential of this dissertation as a worthwhile cultural study. Getting to teach as an assistant in your American Studies course is one of the highlights of my career at Miami University, as is the independent study we did together. Madelyn, your friendliness and openness have been integral to my growth from “grad student” to Professor. You encouraged me to never apologize for what I believed was right, and modeled for me the confidence I am now learning. Stefanie, I am always amazed at your insight and your ability to offer clear and focused feedback. You’ve given this project so much attention and support, even shaping the topic itself in intelligent ways. Your questions often sent me back to the drawing board, wanting to hone my thoughts into sharper arguments. Thank you for your intelligence and attention. And Tim, I’m so grateful for your hard work on my behalf over the past six (or so) years. Having you in my corner, from writing recommendations, to encouraging me to apply for awards, to helping me hone my job letter, has been invaluable to my success here. As a teacher, you’ve offered courses that inspired me to ask the questions at the heart of this work and modeled for me the kind of teacher I want to be. Each of you are a part of the scholar, teacher, and colleague I am becoming and I am honored to have you as a part of this work. My own colleagues within the graduate program have offered friendship and generosity beyond what I could ever repay. Erin Douglas, you are the most supportive and caring person I know. When I needed a cheerleader, I knew I had one in you. On top of that, you offered such intelligent feedback to my meandering thoughts that at the end of a conversation, I actually began to believe I might just have something. Susan Pelle, your generosity of spirit is inspiring. Believe this: you have been a role model for me and I only hope I have become just a little more like you over the past 7 years: thoughtful, generous, and strong. To Shawna Rushford and Angie Weaver: we’ve been through this thing together and I’m glad to have you both as a major part of my experience in grad school. Shawna, your ability to sort through the bull is something I’ve tried to emulate. Angie, I’ve learned so much from you in the many classes we’ve taken v together, and I will always appreciate your sense of humor and your light- hearted perspective. Friends outside the academy have also been amazingly supportive of the craziness of the last several years and I am indebted to all of you. To Greg and Rosemary: You are loving and supportive friends who never let me get away with second-guessing myself or dismissing my work. Plus, you gave me the chance to get away from work with skiing, biking, and/or eating copious amounts of sushi. Alison, thank you for your caring friendship and your always willing support. And thanks to Amy and Chris for your loyalty, honesty, and unwavering support. In many ways, you’ve anchored me and supported this project by forcing me to just put it down every now and again. I am lucky to call you friends. Many thanks to my family: Mom and James, you never questioned my dreams. You never questioned that I had the ability to do this and I truly appreciate your faith in me. Marianne and Don: I’m so lucky to have married into such a great family. You’ve supported me without hesitation and it means the world. Finally, thank you, Matt, for your partnership, your love, your energy, your honesty, your sense of adventure, your generous, intelligent, and sometimes unwitting help with this dissertation, and especially for the support I needed to support myself. You are my home. vi Introduction: Resistance and Selfhood Fox Sports Network has been running a series of commercial-length documentaries of American minorities of note called “Americans in Focus: Celebrating Diversity.” May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and one of the many documentaries from this month focuses on Lisa Yee, a children’s and young adult author and third generation Asian American. Yee’s documentary has a similar message as the others: I’m Asian American, and (but?) I’m just like you. Yee makes particular note of an emotional moment during her book tour for Stanford Wong Flunks Big Time. She describes how a young white boy in “an all- white school” stood up to say, “I hate to read and never finished a book before but I finished Stanley Wong and I loved it because he’s exactly like me.” Yee says of this young boy, “He gets it. He was identifying with Stanford Wong.” Then, in the same way all the other installments in this program end, Yee states for the camera, “I’m Lisa Yee for Americans in Focus: Celebrating Diversity.”1 In 2007, a documentary called 10 Couples made a compelling argument for gay marriage rights. The main argument of this documentary, too, is: “We’re gay, but (and?) we’re just like you.” The last minute of each 5 minute mini- documentary brings this claim home.
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