Gender Issues in Ellen Gilchrist Karon Reese University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

University of Arkansas, Fayetteville ScholarWorks@UARK Theses and Dissertations 12-2013 Occupying the Pedestal: Gender Issues in Ellen Gilchrist Karon Reese University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd Part of the American Literature Commons, Literature in English, North America Commons, Modern Literature Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation Reese, Karon, "Occupying the Pedestal: Gender Issues in Ellen Gilchrist" (2013). Theses and Dissertations. 967. http://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/967 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Occupying the Pedestal: Gender Issues in Ellen Gilchrist Occupying the Pedestal: Gender Issues in Ellen Gilchrist A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English By Karon Reese Bachelor of Arts in English, 2001 University of Arkansas Master of Arts in English, 2004 University of Arkansas December 2013 University of Arkansas This dissertation is approved for recommendation to the Graduate Council. ____________________________ Professor Susan Marren Dissertation Director ___________________________ ____________________________________ Professor Keith Booker Professor Joseph Candido Committee Member Committee Member Abstract Ellen Gilchrist’s work shows the struggles of women living in a postmodern South. This dissertation explores Gilchrist’s representations of southern women as they transition from the old South to modernity. Gilchrist’s work depicts women who attempt to break off the pedestal of white Southern womanhood, but never quite do, often simultaneously disrupting and confirming traditional notions of a “good Southern lady.” Gilchrist shows how women occupy the pedestal as a form of refuge and also as a form of protest. These are women who, as they navigate the transition to a new South, are reluctant to surrender the privileges of their class and race – privileges that provide them with material well-being and relative leisure. They are conflicted women who feel unsatisfied and finally strike out in ways that bring them hope. Although Gilchrist claims that she is not a feminist, she writes strong women characters who strive for independence from the men around them. Gilchrist’s women are a privileged group, and yet their privilege does not help them attain independence; in fact, their money binds them more tightly to a patriarchal system from which they try to escape. I look at the women who attempt to break with the traditional roles held by their mothers—at the ways in which they succeed and the ways in which do not. I look at how Gilchrist’s women align themselves with the dominant culture to get what they want. In this work I also argue that Gilchrist uses sexuality as a function of the grotesque—to shine a light in the margins and disrupt our ideas of southern female sexuality. I also look at gender performance in Gilchrist’s work. Gilchrist’s women are expected to perform their gender from very early ages and in ways specific to their region. The black mammy figure in Gilchrist’s work tells us much about how the South still struggles with issues of race. Finally, I look at the way in which Gilchrist writes against a patriarchal form. What Gilchrist does not manage to do with words, she accomplishes in form. Acknowledgments I am very grateful to my dissertation advisor, Professor Susan Marren, for her guidance and help with my work. I am also grateful to my committee members, Professor Keith Booker and Professor Joseph Candido, for their time and attention to this project. Thank you! Thanks to Tara, Brad, and Allie for cheering for me on and supporting me throughout my writing days. Thanks, also, to Olivia and Abbie Mae, who because of their insistence on several daily walks, helped bring about some of the ideas in this work. Thanks to Facebook for giving me consistent reprieves from writing. And, New Orleans, you often got in the way of my writing, but thank you, for the many good times during this project. To my neglected friends—Bettine, Suzannah, Carolyn, Brad, Marybeth, Myra, Julie, Donna, Kim, and many more—thanks for your encouragement. I missed you! To my parents, Mary and Jim Stolz, thank you for your support and love. And, to Chuck and Nancy Striffler for calling at each major step to congratulate me—thank you! Most of all, I want to thank Steve who has patiently stood by me, supported me in many ways, cooked vegetarian meals, cleaned house, read drafts, and listened for hours on end to my incessant talk about Ellen Gilchrist. You have been the best friend (and husband) I have ever had. Thank you! Table of Contents I. INTRODUCTION------------------------------------------------------------------------1 II. CHAPTER ONE---OCCUPYING THE PEDESTAL: THE AMBIVALENCE IN ELLEN GILCHRIST’S WOMEN-------------------------------------------------------9 III. CHAPTER TWO—THE FUNCTION OF SEXUALITY AS THE GROTESQUE IN GILCHRIST’S WORK---------------------------------------------------------------43 IV. CHAPTER THREE--GENDER PERFORMANCE IN GILCHRIST-------------73 V. CHAPTER FOUR—BUT, OUR MAMMIES ARE FAMILY!-------------------109 VI. CHAPTER FIVE—WRITING AGAINST A PATRIARCHAL FORM--------142 VII. WORKS CITED--------------------------------------------------------------------------169 Book Title Abbreviations The Ellen Gilchrist titles used in this work are abbreviated as follows: A Dangerous Age--------------------------------------------------------------------------DA Collected Stories---------------------------------------------------------------------------CS Drunk with Love----------------------------------------------------------------------------DL Falling Through Space---------------------------------------------------------------------FS Flights of Angels----------------------------------------------------------------------------FA I Cannot Get You Close Enough---------------------------------------------------------ICG I, Rhoda Manning, Go Hunting with My Daddy---------------------------------------IRM In the Land of Dreamy Dreams----------------------------------------------------------LDD Light Can be Both Wave and Particle--------------------------------------------------LWP Net of Jewels---------------------------------------------------------------------------------NJ Nora Jane: A Life in Stories--------------------------------------------------------------NJS Rhoda: A Life in Stories-------------------------------------------------------------------RH Sarah Conley---------------------------------------------------------------------------------SC Starcarbon------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ST The Age of Miracles-------------------------------------------------------------------------AM The Anna Papers-----------------------------------------------------------------------------AP The Annunciation----------------------------------------------------------------------------AN The Cabal and Other Stories---------------------------------------------------------------CB The Courts of Love---------------------------------------------------------------------------CL The Writing Life------------------------------------------------------------------------------WL Victory Over Japan---------------------------------------------------------------------------VJ Introduction This dissertation explores Ellen Gilchrist’s depictions of women in the South as they transition from the old South to modernity. Gilchrist’s work depicts women who attempt to break off the pedestal of white Southern womanhood, but never quite do, often simultaneously disrupting and confirming traditional notions of a “good Southern lady.” These are women who, as they navigate the transition to a new South, are reluctant to surrender the privileges of their class and race – privileges that provide them with material well-being and relative leisure. Yet, they want to be sexually free, independent from male control, and capable of moving freely across space. Gilchrist’s work is at its best when she explores tensions found in the lives of women who are relatively privileged, yet nonetheless frustrated by the oppression of their gender. Gilchrist is an important southern woman writer. She won a National Book award for her collection of short stories entitled Victory over Japan in 1984. Gilchrist has written seven novels, thirteen collections of short stories, and two works of non-fiction. In addition, she has written two volumes of poetry. This will be the first dissertation to analyze all of her work (with the exception of Anabasis and her poetry). Given the quality and quantity of her work, there is relatively little scholarship on Gilchrist. Margaret Bauer is the reigning Gilchrist scholar, and her book The Fiction of Ellen Gilchrist is primarily an inter-textual look at Gilchrist alongside the works of Ernest Hemingway, Katherine Ann Porter, William Faulkner, and Kate Chopin. This book was published in 1999, so it excludes Gilchrist’s later works. Brad Hooper has published The Fiction of Ellen Gilchrist: an Appreciation which would not be categorized as a scholarly work so much 1 as an overview of Gilchrist’s works. Mary A. McKay’s book entitled Ellen Gilchrist is a brief look at the life

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