Willa Cather, Queering AmericaColumbia University Press, 1999 - 185 oldal Although it has been proven posthumously by scholars that Willa Cather had lesbian relationships, she did not openly celebrate lesbian desire, and even today is sometimes described as homophobic and misogynistic. What, then, can a reassessment of this contentious first lady of American letters add to an understanding of the gay identities that have emerged in America over the past century? As Marilee Lindemann shows in this study of the novelist's life and work, Cather's sexual coming-of-age occurred at a time when a cultural transition was recasting love between women as sexual deviance rather than romantic friendship. At the same time, the very identity of "America" was characterized by great instability as the United States emerged as a modern industrial nation and imperial power. Indeed, both terms, "queer" and "America," achieved fresh ideological potency at the turn of the century. Willa Cather: Queering America is an enlightening unpacking of Cather's writings, from her controversial love letters of the 1890s--in which "queer" is employed to denote sexual deviance--to her epic novels, short stories, and critical writings. Lindemann points to the "queer" qualities of Cather's fiction--rebellion against traditional fictional form, with sometimes unlikable characters, lack of emphasis on heroic action, and lack of engagement in the drama of heterosexual desire. |
Tartalomjegyzék
PART I | 15 |
BodyBuilding and NationBuilding | 33 |
PART II | 79 |
Queer Love and a Dream | 115 |
Queer RAgeNotes on the Late Fiction | 133 |
Works Cited | 171 |
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Alexander's Bridge Alexandra American fiction American Literature Ántonia Archbishop Bartley body Bohemian Cather's fiction Claude's critical critique cultural D. H. Lawrence Death Comes desire deviance difference discourses discussion erotic essay ethnic feel female feminist Ferris Greenslet figure gender girls Hawthorne heterosexuality homosexual Houghton Library Houghton Mifflin Ivar Ivar's Jim's Judith Butler Knopf Kronborg Lark Latour Lawrence Lawrence's Lesbian and Gay letter to Ferris literary history Louise Pound Lucy Gayheart male Marie marked mesa mother narrative narrator nation Nebraska novel Outland Padre Martinez Peter Pioneers Pointed Firs political prairie preface to Jewett Professor's House queer theory Queering America racial reading Red Cloud relationship romance romantic friendship same-sex Sapphira Sarah Orne Jewett Scarlet Letter seems sexual signifies social Song story suggests Thea Kronborg Thea's tion Tom's Vaillant voice Whitman Willa Cather Willa Cather Letters woman women Woodress writing York