Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University English Dissertations Department of English 4-23-2007 Captive Women, Cunning Texts: Confederate Daughters and the "Trick-Tongue" of Captivity Rebecca L. Harrison Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_diss Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Harrison, Rebecca L., "Captive Women, Cunning Texts: Confederate Daughters and the "Trick-Tongue" of Captivity." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2007. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_diss/12 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of English at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in English Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Captive Women, Cunning Texts: Confederate Daughters and the “Trick-Tongue” of Captivity by Rebecca L. Harrison Under the Direction of Thomas L. McHaney ABSTRACT Combining the critical lenses of early American scholarship and that of the modern South, “Captive Women, Cunning Texts” investigates the uses and transformations of tropes of captivity drawn from the American Indian captivity narrative by women writers of the Southern Renaissance (circa 1910-45). Specifically, this study examines how captivity narratives, the first American literary form dominated by white women’s experiences as writers and readers, provided the female authors of the Southern Renaissance with a genre ideal for critiquing the roles of women in the South, and the official constructions of southern history. This work interrogates the multifaceted ways in which the captivity genre enabled these female authors to reject typical male modes of expression and interpretation, as well as male images portraying women in mythical terms that conflicted with the real experiences and boundaries of their lives. Through critical case studies of Evelyn Scott, Beatrice Witte Ravenel, and Caroline Gordon, this study demonstrates that many women writers of this period self- consciously returned to the literary past of American captivity narratives for models and, in so doing, discovered modes of discourse and tropes of confinement that aided them in their struggle to redefine their place and that of the racial and cultural Other in southern society, literature, and history. Their strategic re-employment of the captivity tradition literally and metaphorically provided liminal sites of exchange that both reveal and inspire agency and change in their unmasking of tradition, veneer, and the deeply imbedded cultural exchange of the white female body. INDEX WORDS: Southern Women Writers, Modernist Writers, Captivity Narratives, Southern Women’s History, Captivity Scholarship, American Women. CAPTIVE WOMEN, CUNNING TEXTS: CONFEDERATE DAUGHTERS AND THE “TRICK-TONGUE” OF CAPTIVITY by Rebecca L. Harrison A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences, Georgia State University. 2007 Copyright by Rebecca Lynn Harrison 2007 Captive Women, Cunning Texts: Confederate Daughters and the “Trick-Tongue” of Captivity by Rebecca L. Harrison Major Professor: Thomas L. McHaney Committee: Thomas L. McHaney Pearl McHaney Audrey Goodman Electronic Version Approved: Office of Graduate Studies College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University May 2007 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am sincerely grateful to a number of individuals—friends, family, and colleagues—and to several institutions for their scholarly, financial, and emotional support of this burgeoning project. Without their individual contributions, the journey to completing this investigation of three female southern modernists, with limited resources and two children under age four, would have been impossible. The Southern Historical Society at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, was instrumental in the completion of the Beatrice Witte Ravenel chapter. The society’s financial support through a visiting scholar grant provided me with a week in residence that gave me access to materials otherwise unattainable. Specifically, I am indebted to Laura Clark Brown, her incredible staff, and the librarians in the rare books division. These individuals helped locate documents and references pertaining to Ravenel, fastidiously copied rare documents, and even worked over-time cutting previously un- separated leaves in order to provide me with all the needed material during my stay. Additionally, I would like to acknowledge the Houghton Library of Harvard College for their generous and expeditious assistance in locating Ravenel’s letters to Amy Lowell and providing me with copies. My home institution, Georgia State University, contributed to the successful completion of this project in a number of ways. As a staff member in the Department of English and the Dean’s Office of Arts and Sciences, I received ample support and encouragement for taking classes during the work day and presenting at professional conferences. v I owe a heart-felt debt of gratitude to my mentor, director, and friend, Dr. Thomas L. McHaney. Dr. McHaney has supported and guided me both as an academic administrator and as a growing scholar. He has inspired my thinking about the South and modernism, and he has always provided me with the space to explore original and creative ideas. In addition to his professional inspiration, he has been a second father to me, standing next to me when my own passed, and he has taught me the value of leading a balanced life—especially within the academy. If I can touch a fraction of the lives he has, my career will have been a success. This project received immeasurable feedback from my other committee members. Dr. Pearl McHaney, reader and friend, has helped me to see beyond my major figures and has guided me through some sticky gender politics all the while cheering me on. She never doubted that I could finish this project and has kept me sane when I felt like quitting. Dr. Audrey Goodman, an amazingly quick and astute critic, always challenged me to think about my own critical voice and asked numerous questions that sparked further and necessary points of investigation. Their insights and encouragement helped hone my thoughts on this project in various stages of its development. I sincerely thank my distant area advisor Dr. Reiner Smolinski for making early America a vibrant and accessible area of study. He is a phenomenon in the classroom, and, without his influence and inspiration, this project would have never been born. A number of other colleagues have helped along the way, too many to list by name though I remain grateful to all. Nevertheless, I would like to thank Dr. Susan Donaldson for her feedback on Ravenel and her encouragement to explore this neglected figure. Though we have met only briefly, I must acknowledge the incredible work of Dr. vi Kathryn Zabelle Derounian-Stodola, whose seminal texts on captivity informed the background of this project. A special thanks to all the wonderful and warm scholars affiliated with SEA—particularly Tom and Rosemary—who have always been so welcoming and encouraging of those of us primarily working in other areas. Certainly, I was inspired throughout my dissertation research by the southern recovery scholars of the last two decades whose groundbreaking work on gender issues continues to inform my work. Though my professional arrears are significant, I have accrued a number of personal debts along the way that have proven to me in the most profound ways that friendship and family are the true markers of success in life. Dr. Julie Cary Nerad and her unwavering, generous, and bright spirit kept me grounded and never shied away from providing me with solid, well deserved tongue lashings when I teetered on the verge of changing professions. My Atlanta posse— Shelle Bryant, Lori Howard, Heather Medlock, Jeff Rumiano, and Shelly Williams—encouraged me, rooted for me, and helped me with all sorts of administrative tasks along the way. I sincerely and lovingly recognize my New York comrades Micahlyn Whitt and Clare Hagan, whose inspiration and sisterhood remains with me daily despite the distance of geography and time. On a deeply personal level, I would like to acknowledge those who literally held me up along the way. Without the love and concern of my dear Väterschen and Mütterschen, Manfred and Brunhilde Erben, this project would simply never have become a reality. Their generous dissertation grant provided me with the necessary daycare funds to research this work, and actual blood ties would not make them mean more to me. The grandparents who raised me, Richard and Betty Harrison, contributed to vii this project profoundly in that, despite their deep southern roots and beliefs, they always raised me as an independent, free thinking and compassionate woman with all the opportunities they never had. Thank you for allowing and encouraging me to be an individual, even when that meant leaving home for long periods of time. Special appreciation also goes to my own mother and father, Barbara Garrett and Wayne Harrison, and my sisters, Brandy Garrett and Melanie Harrison, who each supported me in significant ways from near and a far. Of the utmost importance, I want to thank my own hinterland —those who stood by me daily even when I made that job less than desirable. To my children, Samuel and Ruby Erben, for reminding me daily that life is an adventure full of possibility. They keep me in touch with my creative side—the source of any worthwhile work—and their bright, loving smiles inspire me to be and do better as a human being. I also want to lovingly acknowledge my dog Willow, and the crucial part she plays in my life. Her insistence on daily walks and vigorous play kept me involved in the outside world and from getting lost in the abyss and solitude of dissertating. Finally, I owe a lifetime of love and gratitude to my dear husband, Patrick Erben.