Duquesne University Duquesne Scholarship Collection Electronic Theses and Dissertations Winter 12-18-2020 Railspace: A Geocritical Study of the Railroad through American Literature and Culture Michael A. Smith Duquesne University Follow this and additional works at: https://dsc.duq.edu/etd Part of the American Literature Commons, and the Other American Studies Commons Recommended Citation Smith, M. A. (2020). Railspace: A Geocritical Study of the Railroad through American Literature and Culture (Doctoral dissertation, Duquesne University). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/1951 This Immediate Access is brought to you for free and open access by Duquesne Scholarship Collection. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Duquesne Scholarship Collection. RAILSPACE: A GEOCRITICAL STUDY OF THE RAILROAD THROUGH AMERICAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE A Dissertation Submitted to the McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts Duquesne University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Michael A. Smith December 2020 Copyright by Michael A. Smith 2020 RAILSPACE: A GEOCRITICAL STUDY OF THE RAILROAD THROUGH AMERICAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE By Michael A. Smith Approved October 30, 2020 ________________________________ Professor Linda A. Kinnahan, Ph.D. Professor and Hillman Endowed Chair Committee Chair ___ _____________________________ ________________________________ Professor Thomas P. Kinnahan, Ph.D. Professor Faith Barrett, Ph.D. Associate Professor of English Associate Professor of English Committee Member Committee Member ________________________________ ________________________________ Professor Danielle A. St. Hilaire, Ph.D. Dean Kristine L. Blair, Ph.D. Associate Professor of English McAnulty College and Graduate School Chair, Department of English of Liberal Arts iii ABSTRACT RAILSPACE: A GEOCRITICAL STUDY OF THE RAILROAD THROUGH AMERICAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE By Michael A. Smith December 2020 Dissertation supervised by Linda A. Kinnahan This dissertation uses geocriticism to argue that the American railroad is best understood as a set of discursively constructed railspaces formed through a variety of viewpoints, a polysensorial awareness of space, and stratified social relationships and power struggles. This study takes up four railspaces, the constituent texts of which demonstrate how intertextual discourse shapes and is shaped by the railroad. The observation car, charted through California Zephyr advertisements and Muriel Rukeyser’s “Campaign,” is an apparatus that produces perpetual spectacle. Three novels—Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser, Double Indemnity by James M. Cain, and Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith—and their filmic adaptations work together to form the passenger car as a contested railspace of fear and unease. The mobile Hell on Wheels that stations itself at the terminus of construction in the American West along the transcontinental railroad becomes a profanatory and deterritorializing railspace through Zane iv Grey’s The U.P. Trail. The photography of Andrew J. Russell and the poetry of C.S. Giscombe in Ohio Railroads and Prairie Style develop a deep map of the railroad right-of-way in the style of William Least Heat-Moon’s PraryErth: A Deep Map. This map uncovers marginalized racial memory and locality along the tracks. This project concludes with an echo of the introduction, geocritically exploring Penn Station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and how to move toward a geopraxis of public humanities work. v DEDICATION For Jamie vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This dissertation was written with steadfast guidance by my committee. My advisor, Prof. Linda Kinnahan, deserves the lion’s share of my gratitude. Her bottomless patience, encouragement, and guiding hand were vital to the completion of this project. I am profoundly thankful for my committee members, Prof. Faith Barrett and Prof. Tom Kinnahan, for their suggestions on texts and on how to best orient my thoughts on the page. I’m lucky to have them in my corner. This dissertation was written in fits and starts. Its completion would not have been possible without the full support of the deans of the McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts at Duquesne University. Dean James Swindal and Dean Kristine Blair were gracious enough to extend to me the time I needed to pause and breathe before diving back in to finish this work. Through it all, Linda Rendulic, of the Dean’s office, was the air traffic controller of the documentation needed for the extension(s). I very much appreciate her clear, methodical explanation of how I should proceed through the doctoral program. Thank you to the English department administrators, including Nora McBurney, Shawntaye Sledge, and Anne Frankovitch, for their assistance with a myriad of tasks. This dissertation was written in conference rooms and cubicles and cafeteria tables on lunch breaks. All thanks goes to my employers who permitted my use of these spaces, most notably La Roche College and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. Mike Andreola mentored me as a fundraiser and allowed me to pack my office space with bookshelves that contained nary a book about the development sector. The leadership at the Trust—Kevin McMahon, Rona Nesbit, Nick Gigante, and most importantly my supervisor, Kimberly Mauersberg—encouraged me and allowed me to grow into my position, knowing that I perpetually had a portion of my mind vii rooted in my research. The Trust staff was ceaselessly supportive of my work as well. The opening scene of my introduction is an ode to the work we are accomplishing in Pittsburgh’s Cultural District. This dissertation was written with the analytical and compositional tools I honed throughout my education. My high school teachers never gave up on me. Jim Carta was particularly tenacious in his guidance even after I…creatively re-imagined my report card and stubbornly refused to read Testament of Youth. My professors at Sacred Heart, including (but most certainly not limited to) Mike Ventimiglia, Steve Michels, and Michelle Loris, were vital in preparing me for graduate study, as was Sandra Young, who first asked, “why not go for your Ph.D.?” I am especially thankful for my advisor, Rick Magee, for guiding me through the graduate school application process. At Boston College I found many more professors who encouraged and shaped my work. Particular thanks to Professors Robert Stanton, Chris Wilson, Carlo Rotella, and James Najarian. And of course, all of my professors at Duquesne University, who fine-tuned my skills and challenged my thinking in all the best ways. This dissertation was written with the help of librarians, curators, historians, and archivists who were generous with their time and stories and indefatigable in processing my inter-library loan requests. I am grateful for the help of librarians at Duquesne’s Gumberg Library (including Sarah Hicks, who helped get this dissertation across the finish line), the Downtown Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, La Roche College, Northland Public Library, and the Library of Congress. Thank you, Kristy Vanderpool, for your diligence in hunting down an obscure article from the Henderson Gleaner about a touring whale carcass. Henderson County Public Library is lucky to have you. Jim Armistead and Laurie Austin at The Truman Library hunted down “Hoosiers Hear Truman” with little detail to go on, and Tricia Gesner at the Associated Press helped me viii secure the rights to use it here. Catherine Grandgeorge at Newberry Library unearthed a letter from C.E. Perkins that I didn’t even know I needed until I saw it. Cully Waggonner from Gold Coast Railroad Museum indulged me with a detailed virtual tour through the Ferdinand Magellan presidential railcar. The archivist at the William Least Heat-Moon Archives sent me reproductions of Fidel’s hand-drawn maps of Chase County, Kansas. I’m sorry I never caught your name! Larry Kinsel at GM Heritage Operations gave me valuable insight about the railroad advertisements used in chapter one. Chuck Rompala and his assistants Darnise Demery and Jessica Delaney were eager to share the history of Pittsburgh’s Wood Street Station, and my introduction is all the more vivid because of it. Thank you all, truly. This dissertation rounded into form through a network of chance encounters, professional relationships, and friendships. I was lucky enough to receive a grant for my graduate studies from the World Drum Corps Hall of Fame. I am forever in their debt. I am grateful to Gerry Kuncio of Skelly and Loy, Inc. for his camaraderie in talking through John Stilgoe’s Metropolitan Corridor. Dan Terrick, of Zane Grey’s West Society shared his passion for the author and cemented my desire to use The U.P. Trail in chapter three. Prof. Kerry Fine at Texas Tech: thank you for accepting me onto a roundtable about the Profane American West at the MLA Convention and in doing so allowed me to bounce my ideas around a room full of hungry conventioneers. Prof. Robert Tally met with me at MLA a year earlier and kick-started my passion for geocritical work. He has been gracious enough to entertain more than one email from me since then. Prof. Ariel Nereson reminded me that the only way to write is to actually, you know, write. Prof. Chris Warren reminded me that I started this process with the goal of getting my doctoral degree, not to become a perpetual graduate student. And thank you to my ix cohort, Matt Durkin, Jo Sullivan, and Bryon Williams for motivating me in the early days to just get started. This dissertation was energized by deep professional and personal friendships. I was motivated by the passion for the humanities shared by the staff and my fellow members of the board of the Pennsylvania Humanities Council. My closest friends supported me and distracted me (when needed…and probably when not needed): Matt Johnson, Luke Dent, Brendan Croak, Nick Gupta, Courtney Gupta, Elaina Frulla, Brie Jaquette, Katie Hostetter—thank you all.