Storytelling, Survival, and Child Figures in Contemporary American Life-Writing
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports 2017 Storytelling, Survival, and Child Figures in Contemporary American Life-Writing Yvonne Michelle Swartz Hammond Follow this and additional works at: https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd Recommended Citation Hammond, Yvonne Michelle Swartz, "Storytelling, Survival, and Child Figures in Contemporary American Life-Writing" (2017). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 5745. https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/5745 This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by the The Research Repository @ WVU with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Dissertation in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you must obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This Dissertation has been accepted for inclusion in WVU Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports collection by an authorized administrator of The Research Repository @ WVU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Storytelling, Survival, and Child Figures in Contemporary American Life-Writing Yvonne Michelle Swartz Hammond Dissertation submitted to Eberly College of Arts and Sciences at West Virginia University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English Kathleen Ryan, Ph.D., Chair Ryan Claycomb, Ph.D. Cari Carpenter, Ph.D. Rosemary V. Hathaway, Ph.D. John Ernest, Ph.D. Department of English Morgantown, West Virginia 2017 Keywords: Family, Child, Survival, Storytelling, Contemporary American Literature Copyright 2017 Yvonne Hammond ABSTRACT Storytelling, Survival, and Child Figures in Contemporary American Life-Writing Yvonne Michelle Swartz Hammond My dissertation explores strategies for survival primarily related to acts of storytelling, and more specifically storytelling with the tacit agreement for measures of truth, what I refer to in my title as life-writing. The term “life-writing” refers broadly to literary and theatrical works that are connected to the lived-experience. The texts I examine, all written in the U.S. after 1990, consider the impact of traumatic and unjust pasts through sweeping, epic narratives. Each of these texts tells a separate story about injustice through stories that reveal children as victims of discursive and/or actual violence arising out of conflict between and within institutional and family identities. Instead of viewing these texts as isolated and unrelated, my dissertation places these stories in conversation with one another to ask what we can learn about the child and survival. Childhood in these texts is an act of performative grieving, mourning the loss of a self that either never was or a self that was lost quickly to experiencing or witnessing trauma. I argue that Gerald Vizenor’s term “survivance” offers a perspective for understanding these survival stories as active resistance to make a cultural analysis that focuses on narrative devices and patterns. Breaks in the written story or theatrical performance testify to experiences that threaten the stability of a single narrative about the child or family, while demonstrating survivalist strategies for understanding family as a source of pain and strength. In my dissertation I am closing in on the power of testimony and witnessing as means for recovering the voice and perspective of the child. My definition of the child begins with what I understand as the child figure. The child figure is a written self accessed through memories and experiences of a childhood used to represent an emotional past. The child figure frequently signals loss or a sense of absence. As a link between survival and presence, survivance provides a way to name the feel of these stories, an assertion of persistence and hope from within stories riven by violence. Hammond iii Acknowledgments As with all of life, the credit for a grand accomplishment must be shared by many. I cannot imagine having tried to make this dissertation happen without personal and professional support, and though an acknowledgement is not nearly enough gratitude, it has certainly been earned. The following list is likely incomplete—many had a stake in my survival—but I have tried to remember and include all those who continued to remind me as often as possible (especially in moments when I could not tell myself) that this study needed to happen. To my children, Eion and Rion, and my sister, Rhiannon, for moving (yet again) away from family and the beautiful Montana Rocky Mountains, for creating a new life and home in West Virginia, for living in the mire and muck of a PhD in process, for growing up in graduate school—for all of this and more, thank you. To Katy Ryan, for adopting me and opening so many doors, for trusting me and my process, for kindly listening to my tearful rants, for making me feel safe enough to weep, for always caring about me before the dissertation, for advocating for me (most especially in moments when I felt incapable of advocating for myself)—for all of this and more, thank you. To John Ernest, Ryan Claycomb, Cari Carpenter, and Rosemary Hathaway, for finding ways to make my time at WVU successful, for allowing me to be me and showing me how to appreciate my strengths, for reading my work and pushing me to be a better writer, for helping me realize my potential—for all of this and more, thank you. To my mom, Marian, and my dad, Lee, for lifting all of my things in one of the worst summer heats on record, for helping me buy a home too far away for your comfort, for answering my calls and saying the things that children always want to hear: you are loved, you are special, you can do this—for all of this and much, much more, thank you. To my brother, Christopher, and my sister, Heather, (and their families including some rather cute nephews new on the scene), for all of the phone calls and visits and efforts to understand what seemed like a crazy, mixed-up idea, for painting graduation cards and business cards, for beautiful flooring my house, for all the odds and ends that you have picked up, for being okay with missing a sister when you needed her—for all of this and more, thank you. To the dogs, Zoe and Rusty, for the walks and love and the warm snuggles, I thank you even if you can’t read. To Kwabena Opoku-Agyemang, who has been one of my best friends since my first day at WVU, who has shared in heart-ache and celebration, who has watched my children and helped raise them, who always had my back, I thank you. To Rebecca Thomas and Shane Stricker, who have shared lives with me for seven years, who have supported my children, watched my pets, watered my plants, and celebrated all the changes that seven years can bring, I thank you. Hammond iv To Teresa Persching, who read much of my work before and after the dissertation, and who provides excellent feedback and a sound, calm mind when I start to veer into the radical, I thank you. To Katie Vogelpohl, who swooped into my office and held my hand and read my work at a time when I needed a new set of eyes, who allowed me to whine and never once judged, I thank you. To Mike Buso, who always keeps an eye out for opportunities—the best travel spots, the best places to eat, the best conferences, and even the chance of a job or publication—I thank you for being a kind colleague and a good friend. To Cara Snider, now Williams, for being the big sister I never had, who encouraged me simply by inspiring me, talking to me, and helping me (or at least trying) to see myself in kinder ways. For this and so much more, thank you. To Kelsey Liebenson-Morse, who never let me not be her friend, who loved foodie adventures as much or more than me, who loved and embraced all the mess of me and my life with a smile, I thank you. To Lisa Weihman, who made time for me even though I was not her student, who understood being in the trenches of raising boys, who always took the time to listen and who always made me think harder about perspective, I thank you. To Francille Sussott (Swartz), who admired me enough to send me money for over two years and insisted I save for something special for myself, I thank you. To Derek Stanley and Allegra Browne, two outstanding students who provided incredible (and beyond the call of duty) help so that I had the time to finish this dissertation in time—thank you. And finally, to all my friends at large, friends from high school, friends from college, friends from the military, friends from grad school, and friends from Morgantown—I thank you. I especially want to thank: Amy Phillips, Amy Emerson, Brenda Van Mil, Neil Timmons, Tiana Childers, Angela Charbonneau, and Mike and Robin Ducharme, all of whom have insisted on making sure I stop and enjoy life. Hammond v Table of Contents Introduction ....................................................................................................................................1 ‘STORIED’ SELVES ............................................................................................................5 ‘FATHERING THE MAN’: THE CHILD ..........................................................................10 SURVIVING TRAUMA: FAMILY ....................................................................................15 OVERVIEW ........................................................................................................................18