“The past is never dead. It is not even past” (Faulkner 1976: 81), the lawyer Gavin Stevens unforgivingly says to Temple Drake in William Faulkner’s Requiem for a Nun during the trial against her maid Nancy, who is accused of killing Temple’s child. Temple has told him, “Temple Drake is dead” (ibid. 80) to emphasize her allegedly changed and improved self and to express her determination not to take any responsibility for her actions in the past. She wants to put everything that has happened behind her and open a new chapter in her life. Stevens can neither accept nor understand such an attitude. For him, Temple’s plan to entirely leave the past behind is futile and impossible to ever become reality. Nothing is ever forgotten or overcome, and the past will influence and haunt anybody trying to escape. The past not only won’t but can’t be subdued.
The ever-reappearing topic of the past overshadowing the presence and determining the future is a Southern subject par excellence. A persistent urge to look back and an almost loathing attitude toward progress and the modern way of life and fast-paced society are omnipresent in Southern culture, literature, and life. Author Allan Gurganus says about his childhood and youth in North Carolina in the 1950s that it was like growing up in the nineteenth century. The South’s past is in its present almost to the point of complete denial of the latter (see Grant 105f.).
The Civil War and the Reconstruction Era left the South economically and culturally isolated. But the War Between the States only finished what had started much earlier. The Southern claim to a special position, its feeling of moral and cultural superiority and distinctiveness, and its chosen isolation have its roots as early as in the beginning 18th century. These feelings and the need to cultivate and preserve a certain type of community and individual perceived as being superior only recurred even stronger after the shameful defeat the South suffered. The gap between the North and the South deepened tremendously, and soon the extreme isolation and seclusion became both voluntary and involuntary. The downfall and the exploitation during the era of Reconstruction left a scar that has been hurting until this present day.
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Table of Contents
Introduction: Resisting and Loathing Modernity
1. Southern Literary Tradition
1.2. Historical, Cultural, and Literary Roots
1.2.1. Historical Roots
1.2.2. Cultural Roots
1.2.3. Literary Roots
2. Southern Avoidance of Progress and Modernity
2.1. Form: Novel and Short Story
2.2. Motifs, Themes, and Symbols
2.2.1. Humor
2.2.2. Despair and Brutalization
2.2.3. Place
2.2.4. Nature
2.2.5. Man and Beast
3. Cultural and Literary Identity
Conclusion: “The Grave in the House”
Objective & Topics
The thesis aims to analyze how Southern literature persistently rejects modernity and progress, instead cultivating an identity deeply rooted in the historical, cultural, and literary heritage of the American South. The central research question examines why Southern authors continue to recycle traditional motifs, themes, and forms to perpetuate a distinct, albeit melancholic, regional identity in the face of modern development.
- The influence of Southern history, specifically the Civil War and Reconstruction, on modern regional literature.
- The formal reliance on novels and short stories to maintain traditional storytelling and oral culture.
- Recurring themes of despair, brutality, and the persistent longing for a romanticized, "lost" antebellum past.
- The symbolic role of landscape, nature, and the relationship between humans and animals in Southern identity construction.
Excerpt from the Book
2.2.1. Humor
The love of humor displayed, the ability to “find what is comic in the midst of tragic” (McCorkle XI) is a form of keeping moving forward, of survival (see ibid. XI). Humor as a means of making the despairing bearable is a very important means in Southern literature that mostly engages in grave subjects and matters. This is not an accidental connection. Humor serves parallel as a lighter vehicle for the heavy load, as self-depreciating and reflection, and as means that adds another perspective to a certain situation or personality.
This can be witnessed in John Dufresne’s story Johnny Too Bad, where the unusual, borderline disordered relationship between a man and his dog is humorously described to emphasize his lack of communication with his environment, a basically tragic situation. In Roy Blount’s Gone off up North: Hot Pig! Hot Possum: Is Animal-Tossing an Art or a Crime? he ironically turns the stereotypes of the South and its uneducated backwardness around to ridicule the holder of such stereotypes.
In parody, in the exposition of the weaknesses of others, there is also a concealed aggression. Barry Hannah uses humor, parody and the Gothic grotesque, as a “lawless, subversive attack” using sexism, racism, and homophobia, to expose the holder of exact those stereotypes (see Weston 106). The seeming antagonists humor and despair go hand in hand in Southern literature, and humor sometimes is the light that illuminates the harsh and brutalizing reality even brighter. As the comic grotesque humor it is an essential part of the Gothic tradition (see ibid. 20), used with irony by Faulkner to emphasize his view on the deterioration of society’s values (see Karl 195).
Summary of Chapters
Introduction: Resisting and Loathing Modernity: The introduction establishes the thesis that Southern literature is intrinsically tied to a past that refuses to fade, characterized by a rejection of modernity and a persistent melancholic longing.
1. Southern Literary Tradition: This chapter reviews the historical, cultural, and literary foundations that define Southern identity and the region's literary output.
1.2. Historical, Cultural, and Literary Roots: This section explores how the Civil War and the Reconstruction Era created a unique sense of Southern distinctiveness that continues to shape regional literature.
1.2.1. Historical Roots: Focuses on the lasting impact of the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the mythologized "Lost Cause" on the Southern collective memory.
1.2.2. Cultural Roots: Examines how Southern culture and identity are constructed and perpetuated through stereotypes and a persistent sense of regional isolation.
1.2.3. Literary Roots: Discusses the subgenre of Southern Gothic and its adaptation of traditional Gothic elements to address the specific anxieties and traumas of the American South.
2. Southern Avoidance of Progress and Modernity: This chapter argues that Southern writers consciously reject modernist themes to preserve a traditional, mythologized way of life.
2.1. Form: Novel and Short Story: Investigates why Southern authors prefer traditional narrative forms over modernist experimentation, emphasizing the importance of storytelling and oral tradition.
2.2. Motifs, Themes, and Symbols: Analyzes the recurring symbolic devices Southern authors use to define their reality and resist modern change.
2.2.1. Humor: Explains how humor is employed as a coping mechanism and a tool of subversion in the face of tragedy and social decay.
2.2.2. Despair and Brutalization: Examines the prevalence of violence and misery in Southern literature as reflections of an inescapable, predetermined fate.
2.2.3. Place: Discusses the significance of the Southern home place and its role in shaping identity and fostering a sense of belonging.
2.2.4. Nature: Looks at how nature is portrayed as an indifferent or threatening force that reinforces the isolation of the Southern individual.
2.2.5. Man and Beast: Explores the symbolic relationship between humans and animals, highlighting how this bond often replaces broken or impossible human connections.
3. Cultural and Literary Identity: This chapter synthesizes the previous discussions to define the unique Southern literary identity that emerges from this deep-seated resistance to modernity.
Conclusion: “The Grave in the House”: The conclusion summarizes the main findings, reiterating that the South's obsession with its past remains an essential, though double-edged, component of its cultural and literary uniqueness.
Keywords
Southern Literature, Modernity, Southern Gothic, History, Identity, Reconstruction, William Faulkner, Tradition, Despair, Melancholy, Myth, Southern Agrarians, Narrative, Symbolism, Isolation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is this work primarily about?
This work explores the tendency of Southern literature and culture to resist modernization, focusing on how a deep-seated attachment to history and the past shapes regional identity.
What are the central themes examined in the study?
The study examines themes such as the legacy of the Civil War, the rejection of Northern-style progress, the role of Southern Gothic traditions, and the use of myths and symbols to maintain a distinct cultural identity.
What is the primary goal of the research?
The primary goal is to investigate why Southern authors remain fixated on traditional themes and forms, refusing to adopt modern or modernist agendas, and to demonstrate how this fixation shapes their work.
What scientific methods are utilized in this research?
The work employs a literary and cultural analysis, combining historical context with close readings of novels and short stories from authors ranging from the Southern Renaissance to contemporary writers.
What does the main body of the work cover?
The main body investigates specific literary roots, formal preferences like the short story, and recurring motifs such as humor, place, nature, and the bond between man and animal.
Which keywords best characterize the work?
Key terms include Southern Literature, Modernity, Southern Gothic, History, Identity, and the mythologized past.
How does the author define the relationship between the South and the Civil War?
The author argues that the Civil War and its aftermath created a permanent scar and a lingering feeling of loss, which Southerners have mythologized into a central pillar of their identity and artistic expression.
Why does Southern literature frequently depict violence and decay?
Violence and decay are presented as reflections of an inescapable fate and a broken society, serving as a means for authors to express the frustrations of characters trapped within rigid, traditional structures.
- Quote paper
- Julia Merkel (Author), 2008, Writing against the odds - the South's cultural and literary struggle against progress and modernity, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/112541
