Whiteness and Gendered Citizenship in American Young Adult Literature, 1904-1951
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Empire and Adolescence: Whiteness and Gendered Citizenship in American Young Adult Literature, 1904-1951 By MicKenzie E. Fasteland A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (English and Women’s Studies) In the University of Michigan 2016 Doctoral Committee Associate Professor Ruby Tapia, Chair Professor Mary C. Kelley Professor Petra Kuppers Associate Professor Joshua L. Miller DEDICATION To Darbie, Nan, and Martha, three incredible, strong-willed women who taught me to persevere. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS When I first open a scholarly monograph, one of my favorite things to do is to turn to the acknowledgements. In part, I love getting a glimpse into a scholar’s life—who did they work with? Might I know them? What kinds of intellectual lineages is this text a part of? But really, the acknowledgements section shows a very different side of academia that contradicts the Ivory Tower stereotype. Instead, I find that they illustrate incredible networks of humanity: teachers and students, mentors and librarians, friends and lovers, the family you were born to and the family you made. On difficult days, when I feel isolated and alone, researching in an archive or revising in my home office late into the night, I read the acknowledgements to both reconnect myself to the networks that sustain academic work and to remind myself that I am so grateful for the hilarious, lovely, brilliant, kind, and generous people who have walked alongside me these last eight and a half years. With that in mind, this project has gone through so many different permutations, which means I have an awfully long list of people to thank. First off, I want to thank all of the mentors who guided me through my early years. I owe so much to Marcela Kostihova, Mike Reynolds, and Jean Strait from Hamline University, for encouraging me to go to grad school in the first place. You all pushed me to think more critically and carefully than I could have ever dreamed as a first year hoping to become a grammar teacher (ah, the naïveté of youth). To June Howard, Cathy Sanok, and (especially) Liz Wingrove, who helped direct me to the right resources as I decided to move from Early Modern literature to American children’s literature (an, the naïveté iii of early grad school). To Tamora Pierce, whose books inspired the switch in the first place, thanks for the notes and the encouragement when we spoke. Meg Sweeney and Eric Rabkin provided much intellectual rigor as I drafted preliminary versions of my dissertation, and they deftly shaped how I situated myself in my field(s) of research. I’m also very grateful to have split my time between both English and Women’s Studies Departments, where conversations were almost always generative (and those that weren’t were typically my fault). Moreover, I will always appreciate the incredible members of the Children’s Literature Association, where I found my intellectual home. Dawn Sardella-Ayres and Susan Tan, thank you for taking me under your wings and bonding with me over Bowie—I often feel like you two opened the wardrobe door to Narnia. Thanks also needs be given to the librarians of the Brooke Russell Astor Reading Room for Rare Books and Manuscripts at the New York Public Library archives (especially Tal), the librarians of the University of Oregon’s Special Collections, and Lisa Cruces from the University of Houston’s Special Collection. These amazing librarians guided an archival newbie through the whole process with patience and grace, and they directed me to most of the material central to my dissertation. I cannot thank them enough for their generosity. I also want to thank ProQuest for giving me permission to replicate several of their images. Thank you also to the Rackham Graduate School and both English and Women’s Studies for providing the funding to support both archival work and conference travel. It took time and many drafts of my dissertation to evolve into its final form—Amanda Allen and Geremy Carnes provided essential support as my project finally coalesced, while my two Rackham Dissertation Writing Groups supplied feedback, coffee, and companionship as I worked through the first half of my dissertation. Jill Coste and Alex Olson gave generous notes iv on my first chapter, and I owe much to Nick Cobblah’s brilliant feedback on the intro, the first chapter, and the coda—he graciously read over my work despite the fact that my requests were almost always at the last minute. Moreover, I cannot imagine a better committee. Ruby Tapia, Joshua Miller, Mary Kelley, and Petra Kuppers led me (sometimes against my will) to a project that I love. They represent, in my mind, the best of academia—our conversations were challenging and delightful, filled with wonderful tangents and practical advice. They reminded me that curiosity is powerful and that all my subjects deserve equal parts empathy and criticism. A special thanks to my chair, Ruby, who changed the course of my dissertation for the better. Finally, I owe so much to my incredible group of friends and family. Joe, Dustin, Bonnie, Alton, Ben, Jeff, Nick, and Andrew offered weekly laughs while Theresa, Meghann, Cecilia, Greg, Cat, Dashini, Sarah, Ali, Brian, Paula, Mary, Kaitlin, Amrita, Bessie, and Cassie all offered incredible amounts of emotional support through the phone, Facebook, and over tea in the grad lounge. Jillian and Amanda helped me find new paths to walk. To the family I made here in Ann Arbor: Lauren Trimble, your guidance in all things style is only outmatched by your endless wit, warmth, and bravery, which I strive to emulate as a writer and friend. Kady Kidd, you made me a better teacher and a better listener, and I hold our friendship dear to my heart. Steven Nelson, thank you for being the brother I never had—you got me through this program, laughing (most) of the way. My father, Robert, and my older sister, Kelsey encouraged my work, and I dearly treasured the phone calls and letters from by my Nan and Pop, which never failed to cheer me, even on the most difficult days. None of this would have been possible, however, without the love and guidance of my twin sister Martha, and my mother, Darbie. You both have been my sounding board, my biggest cheerleaders, and occasionally, my anthropological subjects. Thank you for putting up with my madness. I love you both dearly. v TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii LIST OF FIGURES viii Introduction: The All-White World of Young Adult Literature: 1 Adventures in White American Imperialism, 1904-1951 CHAPTER One: Reading the Ephebic Way: G. Stanley Hall’s Adolescence, 20 Anti-modernism, and Literary Prescription for White American Boys Visions of Adolescent America(s): Neo-Lamarckism, Imperialism, and White 25 Masculine Redemption Fighting off Fauntleroy: Fixing Neurasthenia Through Gendered Reading 34 Practice “A School of Its Own”: Reconstructing (Authentic) Young Men Through Greek 48 And Medieval Culture Two: From NYPL to the World: Anne Carroll Moore, 70 Imperialism, and the Creation of an International Teenage Marketplace “The Foreign Children Have Not Failed Us:” Finding Books for an Immigrant 76 Nation “To Be Dull in a New Way”: the “Fall” of American Children’s Literature and 90 Rise of the Juvenile Series Turning Trash into (White) Treasure: Anne Carroll Moore and Canonizing 110 Children’s and Adolescent Literature vi Three: The Fault in Our Girls: New Women, Modern Girls, 138 and Excessive White Desire in Literature for Teens, 1904-1928 “I, of Woman Kind and of Nineteen Years”: Mary MacLane, Fan Culture, 144 and Reading like a New Woman Bad Bettys and Martyred Marys: Moore Fights the Modern Girl 179 Four: Are You There, America? It’s Me, Maureen: Maureen Daly, the 209 Catholic-American Community, and Commercializing White American Adolescence Angie Morrow, America’s Middle Sister: Seventeenth Summer and 216 Narrative Intimacy Creating a Smarter and Smoother Adolescent: Advice Columns, Jive Talk, 230 the Intimate Publics of the Teenage Market A Bridge to Protestant America: Maureen Daly and the Catholic-American 246 Community Sub-Debs, Maudie or Myrdice?: The Ladies’ Home Journal, Race, and the 254 Adolescent Consumer Coda: Imagining Adolescents at War: María Cristina Mena’s The Two Eagles, 286 Janet Lambert’s Glory Be! and the White Imperialist Gaze BIBLIOGRAPHY 299 vii LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 1: David Huyck’s “Diversity in Children’s Books 2015,” in Sarah Park 3 Dahlen’s, “Picture This: Reflecting Diversity in Children’s Book Publishing,” Sarahpark.com, September 14, 2016. Fig. 2: Richard Birch’s “Lord Fauntleroy Writes an Order,” Pen drawing, 1886. 39 “Little Lord Fauntleroy-Chapter VI.” St. Nicholas: an Illustrated Magazine for Young Folks. 13.6 (1886). Fig. 3: Seymour Chatman’s “Narrative Process,” Story and Discourse: Narrative 214 Structure in Fiction and Film (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1980). viii INTRODUCTION The All-White World of Young Adult Literature: Adventures in White American Imperialism, 1904-1951 One by one, we see the other reapings, the names called, the volunteers stepping forward or, more often, not. We examine the faces of the kids who will be our competition. A few stand out in my mind...most hauntingly, a twelve-year-old girl from District 11. She has dark brown skin and eyes, but other than that, she’s very like Prim in size and demeanor. Only when she mounts the stage and they ask for volunteers, all you can hear is the wind whistling through the decrepit buildings around her. There’s no one willing to take her place.