View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Northumbria Research Link 'Idiot-Brained South': Intellectual Disability and Eugenics in Southern Modernism J.E.L. RILEY PhD 2015 1 'Idiot-Brained South': Intellectual Disability and Eugenics in Southern Modernism Jude Edward Leon Riley A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Northumbria at Newcastle for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Research undertaken in the Faculty of Arts, Design & Social Sciences November 2015 2 Abstract This thesis examines the construction and functions of intellectual disability in the modernist literature of the American South from 1925-1940. The period saw a remarkable proliferation of intellectually disabled figures in various guises. These include William Faulkner's Benjy in The Sound and the Fury which has become one of the most analysed 'idiots' in all literature. However, the wider trend of which he is a part has largely lacked critical attention. Furthermore, the connections between this regional literary trend and the prominence of the eugenic movement in the era have been unexplored. This thesis questions why intellectual disability was so important to Southern writers in particular, and why it appears so frequently in their works. The thesis also examines the extent to which Southern writers incorporated eugenic ideas into their representations and how authors reinforced or challenged contemporary ideas regarding intellectual disability. The thesis offers detailed close readings from a selection of southern writers’ works contextualised with primary and secondary historical source material to adequately trace the period’s social, scientific and aesthetic models of intelligence and intellectual disability. The thesis argues that intellectual disability and eugenics were integral to the ways in which southern writers represented their region, not only in negotating regional and national anxiety regarding southern intelligence, but also acting as a crucial vehicle through which these authors examined the South's uneasy and peripheral relationship with modernity. The thesis adds to a growing understanding of the cultural significance of intellectual disability and the eugenic movement and shows how southern modernists' depictions of intellectual disability were linked to and can illuminate understandings of regional and national debates in the period about intelligence, inheritance, disability, family, community, and modernity. 3 Contents Acknowledgements 4 Candidate Declaration 5 Introduction 6 Chapter One: The Rise of Eugenics and Intellectual 48 Disability in Naturalism and Early Modernism Chapter Two: 'In the Face of Idiots': Feeble-mindedness 79 and the White Patriarchy in Elizabeth Madox Roberts's Time of Man and My Heart and My Flesh Chapter Three: 'A Multitude of Half-Wits': Intellectual 122 Disability and the Appalachians in Ellen Glasgow's Vein of Iron Chapter Four: 'Our Own Domestic Burdens': Institutions, 169 Family and Community in Eudora Welty and Katherine Anne Porter Chapter Five: 'Pore Ignorant Country Folks': 212 Feeble-mindedness, Innocence and Modernity in William Faulkner Conclusion: 272 Bibliography: 283 4 Acknowledgements The nascent ideas which were to culminate eventually in writing this thesis were formed while working with intellectually and physically disabled people in a number of roles before returning to higher education. The experiences I gained supporting and educating disabled people were invaluable both to this thesis and to my learning more broadly and the determination of those individuals, their families and those who worked with them to challenge and resist the social limitations imposed upon them has been at the forefront of my mind throughout the research and writing process. While this thesis focuses on the historical construction of intellectual disability, the struggle against the barriers facing intellectually disabled people continues and my own experiences of seeing both how those barriers can be fought and the restrictions they can cause, reoriented my perspective and inspired this research. Equally, returning to education has its own challenges and I have been fortunate to have an enormous amount of help and support during the writing of this thesis. My supervisor Professor Brian Ward has been a constant source of guidance through two degrees, two universities and the arrival of two children and his patience and kindness have been much appreciated. Similarly, the encouragement and advice of Dr. Julie Taylor have helped me a great deal both academically and personally. Thanks must also go to Dr. Michael Bibler for his enthusiasm and support in turning a collection of thoughts into something more substantial at the beginning of this project. A number of people have read drafts and pieces of this thesis and thanks go in particular to Dr. Katherine Baxter, Dr. Daniela Caselli, Dr. Gavan Lennon, Dr. Naya Tsentourou and Daniel Brookes for their insights and comments. 5 This thesis was made possible by the generous research studentship I received from Northumbria University and I am grateful for the commitment the university has shown both in me and in my work. In a different way, it was also made possible by an incredibly supportive group of friends and family who have been constantly understanding of the demands of postgraduate study. In particular, this thesis would never have been written without the love and belief of my wife Angie who encouraged me to return to education and has supported me in innumerable ways throughout the process alongside giving birth to and chasing after two endlessly energetic young boys. They are lucky to have her, as am I. 6 Declaration I declare that the work contained in this thesis has not been submitted for any other award and that it is all my own work. I also confirm that this work fully acknowledges opinions, ideas and contributions from the work of others. Any ethical clearance for the research in this thesis has been approved. Approval has been sought and granted by the Faculty Ethics Committee on 15/09/2014 I declare that the Word Count of this Thesis is 79,484 Name: Jude Riley Signature: Date: 7 Introduction The lazy, laughing South With blood on its mouth, Beast-strong Idiot-brained. The child-minded South Scratching in the dead fire's ashes For a Negro's bones. Langston Hughes from 'The South' (1922)1 The modernist literature of the American South features a remarkable proliferation of intellectually disabled figures. Although others in the 1920s and 1930s – most notably John Steinbeck – occasionally incorporated intellectually disabled characters into their works, southern modernists depicted intellectual disability with far greater frequency than either their contemporaries or earlier writers. Benjy, in Mississippian author William Faulkner's 1929 novel The Sound and the Fury, has become one of the most celebrated and analysed 'idiots' in all literature. However, Benjy is but one example of a wider trend, and modernist writers from across the region incorporated intellectual disability into their work in a variety of forms. A list of these writers would include, in addition to Faulkner, some of the most pre-eminent names in not only southern but American literature – writers such as, for example, Eudora Welty, Robert Penn Warren, Zora Neale Hurston, Katherine Anne Porter, and Carson McCullers. It would also include less successful or less acclaimed authors and those who have been largely forgotten over time, such as Elizabeth Madox Roberts, John Faulkner (William's younger brother) and Evelyn Scott. Some southern modernists, most notably Faulkner, included intellectually disabled figures in a number of 1 Langston Hughes, 'The South' in The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes, ed. by Arnold Rampersad and David Roessel (New York: Vintage Classics, 1994), pp. 26-27 8 different works. Looking at the region from the North in 1922, in his poem 'South' African-American poet Langston Hughes attacked the region and in particular its racism. Hughes described the South as 'idiot-brained'. His imagery foreshadowed a great deal of literary output within the South itself about 'idiots' in the ensuing decades. The depth of this representation suggests that the region's writers were not 'idiot-brained' but rather had 'idiots on the brain'. Focusing on the period from 1925- 1940, this thesis examines why intellectual disability was so important to southern writers in particular, and what role and function it serves within their work. Furthermore, it explains how these writers' works added to and challenged contemporary notions regarding intellectual disability during a period when those deemed 'idiots' or 'feebs' or 'morons', for example, faced increasing social exclusion. In examining this trend in southern modernist writing and its implications, this thesis is also necessarily in part an examination of the influence of the eugenics movement on southern modernists and how that movement shaped ideas about intellectual disability in their writing and in the region as a whole. The impact of the eugenic movement on American society in the early decades of the twentieth century cannot be underestimated, particularly with regards to intellectual disability. Building upon pre-existing concerns regarding the heritability of 'undesirable' traits, eugenics fundamentally redefined notions surrounding intellectual disability in the period. Feeble-mindedness – the eugenic era's model of intellectual