| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/11401/77552 | |
| dc.description.sponsorship | This work is sponsored by the Stony Brook University Graduate School in compliance with the requirements for completion of degree. | en_US |
| dc.format | Monograph | |
| dc.format.medium | Electronic Resource | en_US |
| dc.language.iso | en_US | |
| dc.publisher | The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY. | |
| dc.type | Dissertation | |
| dcterms.abstract | This dissertation is a study of the representations of sound in relation to the evasion of segregation in works of African American modernist fiction. In the process it explores hitherto unknown or underexplored relationships between texts and suggests a revised periodization within the framework asserted by the influential book What Was African American Literature? by Kenneth W. Warren. Warren argues that " African American Literature" existed from the 1890s through the 1970s and its creation was governed by segregation. I argue that while that may generally be the case, during segregation there were a variety of attempts to evade representations of it by situating characters within sound-worlds (representing covert publics within African American communities) that amounted to temporary political alternatives. Developing such aural tropes also created the possibilities of aesthetic alternatives for writers not keen to employ realist and naturalist styles. Zora Neale Hurston, Ralph Ellison and Albert Murray include images of aural engagement in their fiction with the frequent purpose of eliding or subverting political realities and providing counter-information. These tropes underscore communal coherence and resistance. In my first chapter I survey contemporary critical trends in the field and establish the historical and theoretical bases of my argument, while beginning my discussion of Hurston, which will range across chapters. My next chapter, " Ellison In Sound," makes novel arguments for Ellison's influences and goals. The following chapter, " The Ellison-Murray Friendship and Literary Exchange" is a reading of the oeuvres of Ellison and Murray that focuses on both history and intertextuality. My two chapters on Murray, " Albert Murray's Fiction: Some Historical and Critical Approaches" and " Sound, Subjectivity, and Resistance in Albert Murray's Fiction" constitute the most comprehensive study of his work to date. My chapter on Percival Everett's Suder is a close reading of his first novel and discussion of his career in relation to the issues raised in preceding chapters. My conclusion returns to questions of periodization, curriculum, and canonicity. | |
| dcterms.available | 2017-09-20T16:52:54Z | |
| dcterms.contributor | Phillips, Rowan R. | en_US |
| dcterms.contributor | Santa Ana, Jeffrey | en_US |
| dcterms.contributor | Haralson, Eric | en_US |
| dcterms.contributor | Ganter, Granville. | en_US |
| dcterms.creator | Devlin, Paul | |
| dcterms.dateAccepted | 2017-09-20T16:52:54Z | |
| dcterms.dateSubmitted | 2017-09-20T16:52:54Z | |
| dcterms.description | Department of English. | en_US |
| dcterms.extent | 441 pg. | en_US |
| dcterms.format | Application/PDF | en_US |
| dcterms.format | Monograph | |
| dcterms.identifier | http://hdl.handle.net/11401/77552 | |
| dcterms.issued | 2015-08-01 | |
| dcterms.language | en_US | |
| dcterms.provenance | Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-20T16:52:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1
Devlin_grad.sunysb_0771E_12120.pdf: 2205549 bytes, checksum: 7e5e155ec4e06a4303ed3d4a668bf8d3 (MD5)
Previous issue date: 2014 | en |
| dcterms.publisher | The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY. | |
| dcterms.subject | American literature | |
| dcterms.subject | Albert Murray, Gunther Anders, Kenneth Warren, Percival Everett, Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurston | |
| dcterms.title | The Evasion of Segregation in African American Modernist Fiction: Sound and Subjectivity in the Work of Zora Neale Hurston, Ralph Ellison, Albert Murray, and Percival Everett | |
| dcterms.type | Dissertation | |
