Reflections in a critical eye : essays on Carson McCullers / edited by Jan Whitt.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Whitt, Jan.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

McCullers, Carson, 1917-1967--Criticism and interpretation.

McCullers, Carson.

McCullers, Carson, 1917-1967.

Criticism and interpretation.

Physical Description:

xxxi, 163 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Lanham, Md. : University Press of America, [2008]

Summary:

Reflections in a Critical Eye is intended to appeal both to scholars of Carson McCullers and to those unaffiliated with colleges and universities who read and celebrate her life and work.

Following an introduction for newcomers to Southern literature and culture and to McCullers' life and work, the collection presents essays about diverse topics: McCullers in the tradition of Southern women's nonfiction prose, daughters as outlaw figures in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter and The Member of the Wedding, gender and the interplay among the roles characters assume in The Ballad of the Sad Cafe, analysis of The Ballad of the Sad Cafe to explore alcohol as an important signifier in McCullers' life and work, the political backdrop of McCullers' most well-known works, same-sex relationships in McCullers' novels and short stories, and the phenomenon of masquerade in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter and The Ballad of the Sad Cafe.

Contents:

The Exiled Heir: An Introduction to Carson McCullers and Her Work / Jan Whitt xiii

Carson McCullers and the Tradition of Southern Women's Nonfiction Prose / Will Brantley 1

The Daughter as Outlaw in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter and The Member of the Wedding / Keith E. Byerman 19

You Might as Well Listen to the Chain Gang: The Ballad of the Sad Cafe / Caroline Carvill 33

A "Calculable Woman" and a "Jittery Ninny": Performing Femininity in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter and The Ballad of the Sad Cafe / Sarah Gleeson-White 47

Miss Amelia's Pharmacy: Carson McCullers and the Influence of Alcohol / Ellen Lansky 61

"Copying the Wrong Pieces": Replication and the Mathematics of Togetherness in The Member of the Wedding / Allison Pingree 77

Living and Writing in the Margins: Lesbian Desire and the Novels of Carson McCullers / Jan Whitt 87

Politics in the Kitchen: Carson McCullers, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Surrealist History / Patricia Yaeger 107

"Simple Stories and the Inward Mind": Conclusions and New Beginnings / Jan Whitt 137.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0761838945

9780761838944

OCLC:

173808005