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The Evolving Southern Gothic: Traditions of Racial, Gender THE EVOLVING SOUTHERN GOTHIC: TRADITIONS OF RACIAL, GENDER, AND SEXUAL HORROR IN THE IMAGINED AMERICAN SOUTH A Dissertation by CLAIRE RENAE COTHREN Submitted to the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Chair of Committee, Sally Robinson Committee Members, Dennis Berthold David McWhirter Daniel Humphrey Head of Department, Nancy Warren August 2015 Major Subject: English Copyright 2015 Claire Renae Cothren ABSTRACT In this dissertation, “The Evolving Southern Gothic: Traditions of Racial, Gender, and Sexual Horror in the Imagined American South,” I advocate a reclaiming of the Gothic as a critical lens for study of literature set in the American South. The term “Southern Gothic” is one that has been maligned by a some scholars who suggest it is too-readily applied to the region’s literature; however, because Gothic tropes—including grotesque figures, haunted houses, ghosts, and vampires—have enjoyed increasing popularity in literature and film about the American South over the past eighty years, it is imperative to theorize more fully the effects of this modal/regional pairing. Oftentimes, the Gothic is invoked to convey the oppressiveness of corrupt establishments or ideologies; it is little surprise, then, that when it is applied to a region with a unique history of slavery, lynching and prolonged segregation, the Southern Gothic frequently works to undercut institutionalized racism. However, the strategic ways in which Southern Gothic texts tend to link race to issues of gender and sexuality are rather more unexpected. Examining the trajectory of this repeated connection between race, gender, and sexuality in a variety of “Southern Gothic” texts from 1930 to the present, I argue that as opposed to simply rehashing the brutal racism of a Civil War or Jim Crow-era South, authors and filmmakers have used this literary mode not only to highlight the constructedness of racial caste systems, gender and sexual norms, and Southern exceptionalism but also to critique the often violent means through which these divisions are manufactured and upheld. ii DEDICATION For my dad, Tom Cothren iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my committee chair, Dr. Sally Robinson, for her invaluable mentorship. I could not have completed this dissertation without her wise insights, kind reassurances, and great patience, and I am deeply grateful for the time she devoted to assisting me. I would also like to thank my committee members, Dr. Dennis Berthold, Dr. David McWhirter, and Dr. Dan Humphrey, for their guidance. They have been tremendous role models as educators and scholars, and I am very appreciative of the feedback they provided me throughout this process. This dissertation was also made possible by generous funding from the College of Liberal Arts and the Glasscock Center for Humanities Research. I cherish the support of my brother and sister-in-law, Denton and Lindsey Cothren; my father- and mother-in-law, Dock and Karen Burke; and my dear friends, Lisa Allison and Megan McWilliams. Amy Larsen, Adrienne Foreman, and Lacie Luciano have also been wonderful colleagues during my time in the graduate program. I am especially thankful for the endless encouragement and love of my parents, Tom and Lynda Cothren. They inspired my love of reading, learning, and teaching, and my education would not have been possible without them. Finally, I would like to thank my beloved husband, Michael Burke, who listened to my ideas, read drafts of my writing, and always built me up along the way. He has accompanied me through every step of this project and responded to my mishaps with unconditional patience, caring, and kindness. His companionship is a true blessing. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................. ii DEDICATION ............................................................................................................. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................... iv TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................. v LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................... vii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 1 The American South as Imagined (Literary) Space............................................... 6 The Southern Gothic as Literary Genre ................................................................. 9 Gender, Sexuality, and the (Southern) Gothic ..................................................... 12 Chapter Overviews .............................................................................................. 15 CHAPTER II: RETHINKING THE “FREAK SHOW”: PORTRAYALS OF GENDER “DEVIANT” CHILDREN AND AFRICAN AMERICAN CARETAKERS IN THE 20TH-CENTURY SOUTHERN GOTHIC NOVEL ......... 21 The Member of the Wedding ................................................................................ 29 Other Voices, Other Rooms ................................................................................. 38 To Kill a Mockingbird.......................................................................................... 49 The Little Friend .................................................................................................. 58 CHAPTER III THE FALL OF THE SOUTHERN GOTHIC ESTATE: MATERNAL AND SEXUAL TRANSGRESSIONS AND RACIAL MARGINALIZATION ............................................................................................... 74 The Sound and the Fury ....................................................................................... 78 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Baby Doll .................................................................. 88 Lancelot ............................................................................................................. 102 Bastard Out of Carolina .................................................................................... 110 CHAPTER IV THE GHOSTING AND “HAUNTING BACK” OF BLACK BODIES IN SOUTHERN GOTHIC LITERATURE ................................. 119 Light in August ................................................................................................... 122 v Pigeons from Hell .............................................................................................. 138 Beloved............................................................................................................... 148 Invisible Man ..................................................................................................... 160 Kindred .............................................................................................................. 168 CHAPTER V “DEFANGING” THE SEXUAL OTHERING PROCESS: CREOLE CULTURE, LOUISIANA VAMPIRES AND DESTABILIZATION OF SEXUAL AND RACIAL DIFFERENCE .......................................................... 178 Absalom, Absalom! ............................................................................................ 184 Interview with the Vampire ................................................................................ 194 Dead Until Dark and True Blood (Season One) ................................................ 210 CHAPTER VI CONCLUSION ................................................................................. 224 REFERENCES .......................................................................................................... 231 vi LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1 Baby Doll’s plantation nursery .............................................................. 93 Figure 2 Silva Vacarro occupies Baby Doll’s crib ............................................... 98 Figure 3 The Spirit of the Corn sees her reflected image ................................... 147 Figure 4 A Bon Temps vampire “passes” as human .......................................... 214 vii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION I have found that anything that comes out of the South is going to be called grotesque by the Northern reader, unless it is grotesque, in which case it is going to be called realistic. Flannery O’Connor, Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose (1960) AW: Have you ever been called a Gothic Writer? EW: They better not call me that! AW: No? EW: Yes, I have been, though. Inevitably, because I’m a Southerner. I’ve never had anybody call me that to my face. I’ve read that I’m Gothic, or I get asked by students to explain why I am. AW: Why do they try to put all Southern writers in that mold? EW: I don’t know. It’s just easy. AW: I was never even sure of what it meant, exactly. EW: I’m not sure either….it sounds as if it has nothing to do with real life, and I feel that my work has something to do with real life. Alice Walker interviews Eudora Welty, Conversations with Eudora Welty (1973) When author Ellen Glasgow coined the term “Southern Gothic” in 1935, she used it to describe Southern literature she saw as filled with “aimless violence,” incapable of articulating a coherent relationship to modernity. She distinguishes the genre only as a means of condemning it, interpreting the Southern Gothic’s “incurably romantic” distortion of reality as a futile attempt to run away from the South’s dark past (“Heroes and Monsters”). Glasgow’s sentiments are clearly echoed in the above statements from
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