UNUSUAL OCCURRENCES IN THE DESERT: SYMBOLIC LANDSCAPES IN THE CULTURAL EXCHANGE BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO, 1920-1939 ________________________________________________________________________ A Dissertation Submitted to the Temple University Graduate Board ________________________________________________________________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ________________________________________________________________________ by Nathaniel Roberts Racine May 2018 Examining Committee Members: Miles Orvell, Advisory Chair, English and American Studies James Salazar, English Steve Newman, English Hilary Iris Lowe, External Member, History © Copyright 2018 By Nathaniel R. Racine _____________________________ All Rights Reserved ii ABSTRACT What does Mexico mean to the cultural imagination of the United States? What has it meant in the past? In what ways has the U.S. incorporated aspects of Mexican culture into its own? This dissertation explores these questions of cultural and intellectual exchange between the U.S. and Mexico during the 1920s and 1930s by positioning itself amid the present “transnational” and “hemispheric” turn in U.S. literary study. Its subject matter ranges from architecture and urbanism to journalism and travel writing to short stories and novels to muralism and the visual arts. Such an interdisciplinary approach is bolstered by crossing scales of geography from the international to the continental, the national, the regional and the local. Positioning the discussion in geographic terms allows one to see how the possibilities for cultural exchange could never be fully realized, as the ways in which U.S. writers and intellectuals understood Mexico-- then and now-- can rarely be separated from either the physical proximity or the cultural dissimilarity of the two countries, a relationship that has been described as one of “distant neighbors.” This dissertation takes the spatial components of culture seriously, employing useful concepts from the disciplines of human geography and cultural landscape studies to inform its understanding of how diverse figures ranging from Conrad Aiken, Stuart Chase, José Clemente Orozco, Katherine Anne Porter, Sophie Treadwell, William Carlos Williams-- among others less widely known-- understood Mexico and presented it to a U.S. audience during the interwar period. Their narratives often employ the symbolic landscape of Mexico to communicate the qualities of Mexican culture while unwittingly obscuring the reality of what the country itself. Nonetheless, each example points to possible correctives in the pattern, offering a hemispheric perspective from which much can still be learned today. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without the guidance and support of my entire committee: Miles Orvell, my dissertation director, James Salazar and Steven Newman. Their feedback and advice throughout this process has helped to improve my thinking and writing a great deal. Thank you for your time, commitment and patience. I would also like to thank Hilary Iris Lowe, the external member of my examining committee, for agreeing to read my manuscript on rather short notice and for her insightful questions and comments during my defense. I would also like to thank an earlier member of my committee, Adele Nelson, now at the University of Texas at Austin, who provided early guidance on my project proposal and foray into the art and art history of Latin America. Equally helpful in collecting my thoughts in this field was Mary K. Coffey of Dartmouth College, who graciously shared parts of the manuscript from her forthcoming book and met with me in the Orozco Room of the Berry-Baker Library to discuss my initial interpretations of the mural cycle there. The Temple University Global Studies Program’s Graduate Student Research Grant made it possible for me to travel to Dartmouth to see the mural in person and allowing me to engage with a wealth of archival materials firsthand. So too did the Temple University Graduate School’s Summer Research Grant prove invaluable in finishing this project before the end of 2017 and I would like to thank the Graduate Board for making those funds available. Other professors who have been particularly influential throughout my time as a student now and in degrees prior are: Talissa Ford, at Temple University, an enthusiastic voice who encouraged me to bring my interdisciplinary methods into literary study; Nik Luka, at McGill University, offered a great deal of support during my master’s degree, encouraging me to return to the humanities to pursue this degree in the first place-- a professor and advisor and always a iv good friend, his insight and support continues today, some nine years later. An early source of inspiration was Thomas Werge, at the University of Notre Dame, whose courses gave me my foundation as an English major there. I would be remiss to not also mention the late Dr. Ed Simmen, of the Universidad de las Américas, Puebla, in whose classroom I first encountered some of this material in 2003. Needless to say, it made an impact. I still remember all my middle school and high school teachers from South Burlington, Vermont. Their commitment to education undoubtedly influenced my own, especially in the classrooms of Ms. Beers, Mr. Woods, Mr. Martin, Mr. Heller, Mrs. Manchester and Mr. Roy. My time in Philadelphia was made immeasurably better by the friendships and professional relationships forged here. I want to thank my employer, Richie Santore, owner of Saloon Restaurant in South Philadelphia. He hired me on the spot one summer afternoon and I have been working and bartending there for the past seven years or so. My coworkers and the regular customers there were a welcome addition to my scholastic life. As I began teaching outside of Temple University, Cabrini College’s Seth Frechie and the University of the Arts’ Jay Baker both provided support not frequently found by part-time faculty, much less by those still working on their dissertations. Two of my office-mates at the University of the Arts, Maurice Baynard and Caren Beilin, were always willing to lend an ear and have become fast friends. “One of these days/ I’m gonna sit down and write a long letter/ to all the good friends/ I’ve known …” Neil Young wrote that. For now, a list of those-- from near and far-- who have provided support in various ways throughout the many years of my education will have to suffice: Dan Ballantine, Eric Boehm, Jared Brey, Douglas Dilhomick, Terrence Dobrowsky, Patrick Grossi, Tricia R. Lauducci, Mary M. Lodewyck, Jorge Murakami, Justin O’Neill, James Ollen-Smith, John Pacer, Giovanni Paquin, Jacob Ritchie. I ought also to mention Kelly Craig, v the first friend I had in Philadelphia, who introduced me to the city-- and to Bonnie’s Capistrano Bar, where I spent altogether too much time with her and others. Deserving of special mention are: my cousin Erin, who made me my first Grateful Dead tapes-- they’re still the band that gets me through; my favorite road trip companion and dear friend, Kevin O’Sullivan-- we both really like licorice; Noah Chaimberg, close friend from Vermont and Montréal and now Brooklyn-- you’re true blue, hermano; Sam and Libby Hobbs, two Vermonters in New Mexico, whose house in Albuquerque has been a favorite haven of mine for several years now. Those whom I met through the pursuit of this degree-- Adam Evans, Juliana Rausch, Colbert Root and Lucas Sheaffer-- it was their conversation and friendship that helped make this long process worthwhile. Finally, the time I spent writing this manuscript was made immeasurably better through the support and seemingly infinite patience of Mandy Hiban, the most thoughtful, caring (and well-read) person I know. I want to thank my family as well, including my grandparents, three of whom have gone before us: Meme, Popie and Grampy. All of them placed a high value on education and Grammy, now 97, always said she hoped to live long enough to see me complete this degree-- and I’m glad she has. My aunts and uncles and cousins, always full of laughter, deserve thanks as well-- I’m now happy to be called “Dr. Frog.” The writing of a dissertation is not an easy process and the Monday telephone calls from my sister, Ashley, were the best way to start the week-- and throughout our lives she has offered invaluable advice and perspective with optimism and humor. I’d like to thank her and her husband, Rex, for the fun family vacations, as well as my niece and nephew, Zelda and Zeke, who always put a smile on my face. Without my folks, Michael and Kathy Racine, none of my education would have been possible. Their unwavering support and encouragement over the vi years gave me untold opportunities, offering an example I can only hope to imitate for children of my own someday. I could not have done any of this without them. As meandering as my route has been, I know I’ll be back home in Vermont someday soon-- like Robbie Robertson wrote, “I got winter in my blood.” For now, as I plan to leave Philadelphia, I will resist the temptation to quote W. C. Fields. In the end, I find myself suppressing an impulse to stay, as it has been my home for nine years-- but there are more places to see and people assure me that I’m still young. Thanks. Nathaniel R. Racine Philadelphia, November 2017 vii For My Folks viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................