Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1994 Gwen Bristow: A Biography With Criticism of Her "Plantation Trilogy". Billie J. Theriot Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Theriot, Billie J., "Gwen Bristow: A Biography With Criticism of Her "Plantation Trilogy"." (1994). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 5907. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/5907 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from themicrofilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note wiD indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photogr^hs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for aity photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. UMI A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Z ee b Road. Ann Arbor. Ml 48106-1346 USA 313.'761-4700 800.'521-0600 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. GWEN BRISTOW: A BIOGRAPHY WITH CRITICISM OF HER PLANTATION TRILOGY VOLUME I A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of English by Billie J. Theriot B.S., Southeastern Louisiana University, 1962 M.Ed., Southeastern Louisiana University, 1974 M. A., University of Oklahoma, 1985 December 1994 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 9524487 Copyright 1995 by Theriot, Billie J. All rights reserved. UMI Microform Edition 9524487 Copyright 1995, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. As a tribute in memory of Mr. "Bob" Robert A. Maurin, Jr. 11 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many have generously given the assistance necessary for the exacting and extensive work involved in making this dissertation a reality. The debt of gratitude I owe, fore- most to God, and to others is much too great for the space permitted here; I have, therefore, only listed the names of many who have been of assistance. To those named below, as well as those not named, please accept my sincere thanks. Foremost, for directing my dissertation, I thank my major professor. Dr. Peggy Whitman Prenshaw—unfailingly helpful, always ready to listen, critique, and support. Her thoughtful words of motivation and wise counsel have been of immeasurable aid and encouragement. I also thank my other committee members- Dr. Kevin Cope, Dr. Josephine Roberts, Dr. Rebecca Crump, and Dr. Emily Toth- whose support and assistance have made my task both enjoyable as well as possible. Others are as follows: From Louisiana State University: 1. Dr. Malcolm Richardson, Dr. Jim Borck, and Dr. William Demastes, as well as Dr. Bainard Cowan, and Dr. David Madden and Mrs. Mary Duchein; Dr. Pierre Hart of the Graduate School; 2. Dr. Veronica Makowsky, former Louisiana State University professor; From various libraries: 111 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1. Columbia University Pulitzer School of Journalism in New York— Judith L. Leynse, Hollee Haswell, and John Carter; 2. James A. Rogers Library at Francis Marion University—Paul Dove, Key White, and Roger Hax; 3. Johnston Memorial Library at Anderson College- Debbie Kaniaris and Brenda DuBois; 4. Louisiana State University-especially Barbara Wottkopf of Middleton Library and Faye Phillips of Hill Memorial Library; 5. Robert Bowling Library, Judson College—Ellen Faurot and Charlotte Clements; 6. South Caroliniana Library at University of South Carolina in Columbia—Dr. Thomas L. Johnson, Henry Fulmer, Laura Costello; 7. Southeastern Louisiana University-my colleagues, especially those of my department and my department head. Dr. Barbara Allen. 8. Tulane University Howard-Tilton Library-Bill Meneray and Leon Miller; 9. University of California Oviatt Library at Northridge-Tony Gardner, Virginia El wood, and Arnold Chinn; 10. Abbeville Public Library-Doris K. Hughs; 11. Baton Rouge Centroplex Library-Becky Andrews; IV Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 12. New Orleans Public Library-Wayne Everad, Andria Ducrois, Collin Haymer, and Irene Wainwright; 11. Hammond Branch of Tangipahoa Parish Public Library—Joyce Purser; 12. Williamston Public Library, SC—Bruce Edelman 13. Marion Public Library, SC—Jim Hawkins; Special Collections: 1. Angie Gwen Bristow Fensin and Roberta Bristow Abadie, for family documents and books; Eunice Bristow; Dr. Otis Allen Bristow of West Point, Virginia, for his family records; 2. Edward Stutts, son of Bristow’s friend Annie Laurie Carroll Stutts, and his wife Ann from Dothan, Alabama, for Annie Laurie Stutts’ scrapbook on the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame of Bristow’s installation, her Conversationalist, the 1923 Judson College yearbook of Bristow’s junior year and Stutts’ freshman year, along with certain other materials; 3. Attorney Michael Hibler for legal documents, papers, letters from Bristow’s last few months; 4. Margaret Bowie for her Proper Gander and other materials from Bristow’s days in Abbeville; Others: Dr. David Blackwell, Veronica Kerby, and Ron Abels of Education Outreach at Southeastern Louisiana University; Louise Boyce, First Baptist Church secretary; Janet Vandiver, Abbeville High School counselor; David Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Krumwiedi and Shirley Seawright of Abbeville City Hall; Lynn West of Abbeville Press and Banner: Ruth Hall, Ruth Starnes, May Bond, and Virginia Ingram-Miss Bristow’s contemporaries in Abbeville; Vickie Howie of the Abbeville Nursing Center and the only living high school classmate of Gwen Bristow; also of the Abbveville Nursing Center, Margaret Klugh, who at 102 remembers "Gwen very well"; Robert L. Crowell, publisher of Bristow’s works and her personal friend; Dr. and Mrs. Jean Fleming, long-time personal friends; Patricia Manning Tanner and her daughter, Georgann Tanner Hoyt; Annette Duchein, Bristow’s friend; and other friends-Catherine Biggs, (first wife of Bruce Biggs), the second Mrs. Bruce Biggs, Felicia Imlay (Catherine Biggs’ daughter and secretary to Bruce Biggs), and Betty Gaskill; Dr. and Mrs. Earl Corkem of Hammond, who treated me like family and gave me a place of total solitude where I could prepare for my examinations; my family for their imperturbable patience and encouragement, especially my mother, who took over the responsibility of preparing the evening meal for well over a year; my daughters, two young women- beautiful within and without-who have brought into my life joy and absolutely no grief, for their understanding, patience, and support; and finally, to my husband, Harvey, whose patient support, tolerant aloneness, and thoughtful, kind retreating have enabled me to bring to this project what it has exacted in time, energy, and finances; VI Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. finally and very importantly, to a very special friend, Mr. Robert Maurin, Jr., now deceased since 1988, for giving me vision to set my goals higher than I would have known how to do alone and for unwavering faith in me, so that I have, with this dissertation, achieved a goal I would not otherwise have found possible. Vll Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. PREFACE At the edge of the open back porch, an upside-down number-three tub lay emptied