Between the Angle and the Curve: Mapping Gender, Race, Space, and Identity in Willa Cather and Toni Morrison (Literary Criticism and Cultural Theory)

238 Pages·2006·1.15 MB·English

by  Danielle Russell

96305_Russell_03_27.qxp 3/28/2006 11:18 AM Page i
L C
ITERARY RITICISM AND
C T
ULTURAL HEORY
Edited by
William E. Cain
Professor of English
Wellesley College
A ROUTLEDGE SERIES
96305_Russell_03_27.qxp 3/28/2006 11:18 AM Page ii
LITERARY CRITICISM AND CULTURAL THEORY
WILLIAME. CAIN, General Editor
OUTSIDERCITIZENS OVERHEARDVOICES
The Remaking of Postwar Identity in Wright, Address and Subjectivity in Postmodern
Beauvoir, and Baldwin American Poetry
Sarah Relyea Ann Keniston
ANETHICSOFBECOMING MUSEUMMEDIATIONS
Configurations of Feminine Subjectivity Reframing Ekphrasis in Contemporary
in Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, and American Poetry
George Eliot Barbara K. Fischer
Sonjeong Cho
THEPOLITICSOFMELANCHOLYFROM
NARRATIVEDESIREANDHISTORICAL SPENSERTOMILTON
REPARATIONS Adam H. Kitzes
A.S. Byatt, Ian McEwan, Salman Rushdie
URBANREVELATIONS
Tim S. Gauthier
Images of Ruin in the American City,
NIHILISMANDTHESUBLIMEPOSTMODERN 1790–1860
The (Hi)Story of a Difficult Relationship from Donald J. McNutt
Romanticism to Postmodernism
POSTMODERNISMANDITSOTHERS
Will Slocombe
The Fiction of Ishmael Reed, Kathy Acker, and
DEPRESSIONGLASS Don DeLillo
Documentary Photography and the Medium of Jeffrey Ebbesen
the Camera Eye in Charles Reznikoff, George
DIFFERENTDISPATCHES
Oppen, and William Carlos Williams
Journalism in American Modernist Prose
Monique Claire Vescia
David T. Humphries
FATALNEWS
DIVERGENTVISIONS, CONTESTEDSPACES
Reading and Information Overload in Early
The Early United States through the
Eighteenth-Century Literature
Lens of Travel
Katherine E. Ellison
Jeffrey Hotz
NEGOTIATINGCOPYRIGHT
“LIKEPARCHMENTINTHEFIRE”
Authorship and the Discourse of Literary
Literature and Radicalism in the English
Property Rights in Nineteenth-Century
Civil War
America
Prasanta Chakravarty
Martin T. Buinicki
BETWEENTHEANGLEANDTHECURVE
“FOREIGNBODIES”
Mapping Gender, Race, Space, and Identity in
Trauma, Corporeality, and Textuality in
Willa Cather and Toni Morrison
Contemporary American Culture
Danielle Russell
Laura Di Prete
96305_Russell_03_27.qxp 3/28/2006 11:18 AM Page iii
B A C
ETWEEN THE NGLE AND THE URVE
Mapping Gender, Race, Space, and
Identity in Willa Cather and Toni Morrison
Danielle Russell
Routledge
New York & London
RT6960X_Discl.fm Page 1 Monday, March 20, 2006 11:16 AM
Published in 2006 by Published in Great Britain by
Routledge Routledge
Taylor & Francis Group Taylor & Francis Group
270 Madison Avenue 2 Park Square
New York, NY 10016 Milton Park, Abingdon
Oxon OX14 4RN
© 2006 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-415-97696-0 (Hardcover)
International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-415-97696-1 (Hardcover)
No part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers.
Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only
for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Catalog record is available from the Library of Congress
Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at
http://www.taylorandfrancis.com
Taylor & Francis Group and the Routledge Web site at
is the Academic Division of Informa plc. http://www.routledge-ny.com
96305_Russell_03_27.qxp 3/28/2006 11:18 AM Page v
Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments vii
Chapter One
Where Am I and How Did I Get Here?:
The Connections between Space, Identity, and
the Fiction of Willa Cather and Toni Morrison 1
Chapter Two
Background Foregrounded: The Significance of Setting
or “Don’t Skip the Descriptive Bits” 27
Chapter Three
Maneuvering through the Maternal Landscape:
Traditions, Tropes, and New Techniques 59
Chapter Four
Home, Hearth, and Harpies: Discovering a Space of
One’s Own in the Domestic Sphere 103
Chapter Five
“This Way to the Egress:” Exiting Thoughts on the
Cartography of Connection 151
Notes 189
Bibliography 203
Index 221
v
96305_Russell_03_27.qxp 3/28/2006 11:18 AM Page vi
96305_Russell_03_27.qxp 3/28/2006 11:18 AM Page vii
Preface and Acknowledgments
The origins of this study are multiple and varied. I came to it, or it came to
me, from several directions. Statements from a variety of sources triggered
deeper consideration than, on the surface, they seemed to merit. As I taught
Cather’s My Antonia and Morrison’s Song of Solomon, I had the strong
impression that the two were connected. Something more than the classifica-
tions of “American Fiction” or “Women Writers” linked the pair. A student’s
brutally honest confession about “skipping the background stuff”—the atti-
tude that setting was superfluous, unnecessary, open to editing—helped to
sharpen my focus. I came to the conclusion that the setting—in all its com-
plexity—is a crucial element in the process of interpreting the writings of
Cather and Morrison; to edit it out is to rewrite (badly I might add) the text.
A short time later, I read two interviews in which Morrison addressed
the relationship between identity and place. In the first, she asserted that
women have a stronger sense of place than men; in part because women per-
form intimate acts in places (the gendered division of labour has a spatial
effect). In the second interview, Morrison distinguished between black and
white women. Unlike white women, black women are able to combine the
nest and adventure; that is, the security of home and the freedom of mobil-
ity. She opened up the territories for one group of women while reinforcing
the gendered division of space for the remaining women. I was curious as to
whether or not this assessment applied to Morrison’s own fiction and if
Cather’s work supported or refuted the insistence that race altered the experi-
ence of gendered space.
As I began my project, I recognized a need for a theoretical framework
within which I could articulate my close textual analysis. My starting point
was what I would call the traditional approach to geography. It entails an
almost uniform division of space into two related categories: masculine/fem-
inine, real/imaginary, public/private, urban/rural. The labels vary but the use
vii
96305_Russell_03_27.qxp 3/28/2006 11:18 AM Page viii
viii Preface and Acknowledgments
of binaries and emphasis on separation is fairly consistent. An implicit
(sometimes explicit) value system was embedded in, and sustained by, the
divisions. One element was privileged at the expense of the other; more often
than not, gender entered the equation.
In particular, the work of Gaston Bachelard struck me as needing closer
examination; his theories were cited repeatedly in the works of other schol-
ars. The angle/curve, masculine/feminine distinction Bachelard identified
seemed, at first, to carry a great deal of weight. If only visually, the gendered
pattern made sense; the correlation between body and landscape seems to be
logical. Bachelard’s refusal to consider non-felicitous space and his con-
tention that confrontation or dissension can only occur in the space of
hatred and combat relies on too narrow an interpretation. Re-negotiating
boundaries is not entertained in Bachelard’s theories; nor is the possibility of
alternative constructions of space.
I turned to feminist geographers in the hopes of finding a broader
approach—a less claustrophobic depiction of space. A wider recognition of
the political implications of spatial divisions did emerge in my reading (the
social effects of gendered space and the need to re-evaluate attitudes about
the landscape in particular) but there was a troubling acceptance of the
enhanced status of the public sphere. The emphasis was on moving women
into spaces identified with men rather than ameliorating the spaces linked
with women. Rejecting the domestic sphere in pursuit of the space of politi-
cal action actually led to the same constrictive definitions of space.
The home receives a great deal of attention in the fiction of Cather
and Morrison; much of the action in the novels occurs in the home. Home
as a site of oppression is a concept which is challenged in their fiction; their
alternative and contrasting depictions promote nurturing and inspiring
domestic spaces. The home is not reduced to a simple, idealized space by
either author; nor is it generalized as a negative location. Complexity and
the possibility of connection are central components of the domestic spaces
(both natural and constructed) Cather and Morrison incorporated into
their novels.
The two authors have been approached in terms of similar categories or
topics of discussion. They cover a great deal of common terrain; in particu-
lar, the importance of the land, gendered landscapes, and the significance of
the home. The unique depictions Cather and Morrison create of the Ameri-
can landscape, in all its complexity, challenge existing mainstream assertions
about American fiction. There was both an opening and need for this study;
re-evaluations of the theories of space and identity will provide new insights
into American literature.
96305_Russell_03_27.qxp 3/28/2006 11:18 AM Page ix
Preface and Acknowledgments ix
A concern with the limitations of space shaped this study in a tangible
way; the constraints of a “manageable” text prevented a consideration of all
the fiction written by Cather and Morrison. The desire for a balanced discus-
sion meant that Cather’s fiction in particular had to be pared down. As a
result, I have only selected novels (no short stories will be examined) and
have opted to focus on three of Cather’s key landscapes—the prairie, south-
west, and Southern settings—in an attempt to achieve a range within the
physical restrictions. I therefore make no claims that this is an exhaustive
exploration of space and identity in the writings of Cather and Morrison.
The decision to utilize a thematic approach for the comparison, rather
than a chronological exploration of individual texts, had two origins. First
my interest is in the overall patterns of Cather’s and Morrison’s representa-
tions of space and the potential for shared territories and techniques. Second,
close sequential analysis of each text was not possible given the range of the
novels I wished to analyze. A thematic approach permitted a comparison
which is rich in detail despite the constraints of a single volume study. This
technique has sometimes led to a movement between texts that may seem
abrupt to readers not familiar with all the novels but the desire for an exten-
sive view of the literary landscapes created by Cather and Morrison was given
priority over a single text approach.
Cather and Morrison resist categorization. Space in their novels is
depicted as fluid and interconnected rather than rigid and contradictory.
Domestic space is naturalized; natural space is domesticated. The emphasis is
on inclusion. Intimacy and immensity are achieved within the same setting.
Cather and Morrison challenge hierarchies and dichotomies through their
creation of hybrid geography. Expanding our understanding to the intricate
connections between identity and place as they play out in the fiction of
Cather and Morrison opens up the territory of American fiction. The result
is not a space of conflict, but complementary space. The tension between the
longing for home and impulse for adventure so often identified with Ameri-
can literature is in fact defused, although not completely resolved, in the
texts in this study. The novels of Cather and Morrison refute the myth of a
unified American landscape by broadening its territory.
Protective communities which foster identity and encourage artistic
endeavors are crucial factors in the fiction of Willa Cather and Toni Morri-
son. They have also played a vital role in my life. I would like to thank my
family for their support through the daily struggles (both big and small, real
and self-inflicted): my brothers for their humour and matter-of-fact convic-
tion that I would succeed; my father for his unshakeable faith in my abilities;
my mother for her practical involvement in the process, her impartial