Title: Regional aesthetics : the formation of identities and stereotypes in the fiction of Grace King and Kate Chopin
Source document: Brno studies in English. 2009, vol. 35, iss. 1, pp. [147]-172
Extent
[147]-172
-
ISSN0524-6881 (print)1805-0867 (online)
Stable URL (handle): https://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/105118
Type: Article
Language
License: Not specified license
Notice: These citations are automatically created and might not follow citation rules properly.
Abstract(s)
This article proposes to augment the existing feminist perspectives on the works of Grace King and Kate Chopin, two Louisiana fin-de-siècle authors, with region-specific aesthetic and epistemic categories - particularly the category of race - by illuminating the formation of regional identities and stereotypes. This examination is informed primarily by the trend of "new aesthetics" and its distinction between local and global aesthetics, and it aims to examine the recurring category of ambiguity arising from feminist interpretations of Chopin's and King's fiction. Utilizing the cultural theory of Pierre Bourdieu to distinguish between the origination/application aesthetic judgement, the fetishization of whiteness is seen as the underlying impulse for regional aesthetic judgments in King's "Little Convent Girl" and "Monsieur Motte", and Chopin's "Desiree's Baby" and, by analogy, in Chopin's master novel, The Awakening.
References
[1] "Monsieur Motte" (1888) In: The Literary News IX, 173.
[2] "Notes from Bookland" (1899, May 13) In: St. Louis Daily Globe-Democrat, 5.
[3] Baker, Houston A. Jr. and Nelson, Dana D. (2001) 'Preface: Violence, the Body and 'The South'.' American Literature 73:2, 231–244. | DOI 10.1215/00029831-73-2-231
[4] Birnbaum, Michele (1994) 'Alien Hands: Kate Chopin and the Colonization of Race'. American Literature 66:2, 301–323. | DOI 10.2307/2927982
[5] Birnbaum, Michele (2003) Race, Work, and Desire in American Literature, 1860–1930. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.
[6] Bourdieu, Pierre (1996) The Rules of Art. Genesis and Structure of the Literary Field. (Susan Emanuel, Trans). Stanford: Stanford University Press.
[7] Brown, Dorothy, H. and Ewell, Barbara, C., (eds.) (1992) Louisiana Women Writers. New Essays and a Comprehensive Bibliography. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.
[8] Bush, Robert (ed.) (1973) Grace King of New Orleans. A Selection of Her Writings. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.
[9] Campbell, Donna M. (1997) Resisting Regionalism. Gender and Naturalism in American Fiction, 1885–1915. Athens: Ohio University Press.
[10] Carr, Duane (1996) A Question of Class. The Redneck Stereotype in Southern Fiction. Bowling Green: Bowling Green State University Press.
[11] Castiglia, Christopher and Castronovo, Russ (2004) 'A 'Hive of Subtlety': Aesthetics and the End(s) of Cultural Studies'. American Literature 76:3, 423–435.
[12] Coleman, Linda S. (1992) 'At Odds: Race and Gender in Grace King's Short Fiction'. In: Brown, Dorothy H. and Ewell, Barbara C., (eds.) Louisiana Women Writers. New Essays and a Comprehensive Bibliography. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 33–55.
[13] Cotten, Angela L. and Davis Acampora, Christa (eds.) (2007) Cultural Sites of Critical Insight. Philosophy, Aesthetics, and African American and Native American Women's Writings. Albany: State University of New York Press.
[14] Culley, Margo (ed.) (1994) Kate Chopin. The Awakening: an Authoritative Text, Biography, Contexts, Criticism (2nd ed.). New York: W.W. Norton and Company.
[15] Disheroon-Green, Suzanne and Caudle, David J. (eds.) (2001) At Fault. Kate Chopin. A Scholarly Edition with Background Readings. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press.
[16] Elfenbein, Anna Shannon (1987) 'Kate Chopin's The Awakening: An Assault on Racial and Sexual Mythology'. Southern Studies, 304–312.
[17] Elfenbein, Anna Shannon (1989) Women on the Color Line. The Evolving Stereotypes and the Writings of George Washington Cable, Grace King, Kate Chopin. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia.
[18] Elliot, Emory (2002) 'Introduction: Cultural Diversity and the Problem of Aesthetics'. In: Elliot, Emory. Freitas Caton, Louis. Rhyne, Jeffrey (eds.) Aesthetics in a Multicultural Age. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 3–27.
[19] Ewell, Barbara C. (1997) 'Changing Places: Women and the Old South; or, What Happens When Local Color Becomes Regionalism'. In: Amerikastudien/American Studies 42:2, 157–179.
[20] Feagin, Susan L. (2007) 'Introduction'. In: Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. Special Issue: Global Theories of the Arts and Aesthetics. 65:1, 1–9. | DOI 10.1111/j.1540-594X.2007.00232.x
[21] Gilbert, Sandra (ed.) (2002) Kate Chopin. Complete Novels and Stories. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc.
[22] Gunning, Sandra (1996) Race, Rape and Lynching: The Red Record of American Literature, 1890–1912. New York: Oxford University Press.
[23] Harker, Richard; Mahar, Cheleen; Wilkes, Chris (eds.) (1990) An Introduction to the Work of Pierre Bourdieu. The Practice of Theory. New York: St. Martin's Press.
[24] Holtman, Janet (2004) 'Failing Fictions: The Conflicting and Shifting Social Emphases of Kate Chopin's 'Local Color' Stories'. Southern Quarterly: A Journal of the Arts in the South 42:2, 73–88.
[25] Johnson, Randal (ed.) (1993) Pierre Bourdieu. The Field of Cultural Production. Essays on Art and Literature. New York: Columbia University Press.
[26] Juncker, Clara (1987) 'Grace King: Woman-as-Artist'. Southern Literary Journal 20:1, 37–44.
[27] Juncker, Clara (1988a) 'Grace King: Feminist, Southern Style'. The Southern Quarterly: A Journal of the Arts in the South 26:3, 15–30.
[28] Juncker, Clara (1988b) 'The Mother's Balcony: Grace King's Discourse of Femininity'. New Orleans Review 15:1, 39–46.
[29] Junková, Dagmar (2004) An Ambiguous Triumph: Evolving Stereotypes of Local Color Fiction in Kate Chopin's The Awakening. (Diploma thesis). Prague: Charles University.
[30] Kowalewski, Michael (1994) 'Writing in Place: The New American Regionalism'. American Literary History 6:1, 171–183. | DOI 10.1093/alh/6.1.171
[31] Lauter, Paul (1991) 'Caste, Class and Canon in: Price Herndl Diane "Canon"'. In: Warhol, Robyn R. and Herndl Pierce, Diane (eds.) Feminisms: an Anthology of Literary Theory and Criticism. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press.
[32] McCullough, Kate (1999) Regions of Identity: The Construction of America in Women's Fiction, 1885–1914. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
[33] Mohanty, Satya P. (2002) 'Can Our Values Be Objective? On Ethics, Aesthetics, and Progressive Politics'. In: Elliot, Emory; Freitas Caton, Louis; Rhyne, Jeffrey (eds.) Aesthetics in a Multicultural Age. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 31–59.
[34] Morrison, Toni (1992) Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
[35] Palumbo-DeSimone, Christine (2002) 'Race, Womanhood, and the Tragic Mulatta. An Issue of Ambiguity'. In: Trotman, James C. (ed.) Multiculturalism: Roots and Realities. Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 125–136.
[36] Peel, Ellen (1990) 'Semiotic Subversion in 'Désirée's Baby'. American Literature 62:2, 223–237. | DOI 10.2307/2926914
[37] Pegues, Dagmar (2009) Contemporary Revaluation of Southern Local Color Fiction (dissertation thesis). Prague: Charles University.
[38] Seyersted, Per (1990) Kate Chopin. A Critical Biography. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.
[39] Stauton, John A. (2000) 'Kate Chopin's 'One Story': Casting a Shadowy Glance on the Ethics of Regionalism'. Studies in American Fiction 28: 2, 203–234. | DOI 10.1353/saf.2000.0001
[40] Yaeger, Patricia (2000) Dirt and Desire: Reconstructing Southern Women's Writing, 1930–1990. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
[41] Wolkenfeld, Suzanne (1994) "Edna's Suicide: the Problem of the One and the Many". In: Culley, Margo (ed.) The Awakening: an Authoritative Text, Biography, Contexts, Criticism. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 241–247.
[2] "Notes from Bookland" (1899, May 13) In: St. Louis Daily Globe-Democrat, 5.
[3] Baker, Houston A. Jr. and Nelson, Dana D. (2001) 'Preface: Violence, the Body and 'The South'.' American Literature 73:2, 231–244. | DOI 10.1215/00029831-73-2-231
[4] Birnbaum, Michele (1994) 'Alien Hands: Kate Chopin and the Colonization of Race'. American Literature 66:2, 301–323. | DOI 10.2307/2927982
[5] Birnbaum, Michele (2003) Race, Work, and Desire in American Literature, 1860–1930. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.
[6] Bourdieu, Pierre (1996) The Rules of Art. Genesis and Structure of the Literary Field. (Susan Emanuel, Trans). Stanford: Stanford University Press.
[7] Brown, Dorothy, H. and Ewell, Barbara, C., (eds.) (1992) Louisiana Women Writers. New Essays and a Comprehensive Bibliography. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.
[8] Bush, Robert (ed.) (1973) Grace King of New Orleans. A Selection of Her Writings. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.
[9] Campbell, Donna M. (1997) Resisting Regionalism. Gender and Naturalism in American Fiction, 1885–1915. Athens: Ohio University Press.
[10] Carr, Duane (1996) A Question of Class. The Redneck Stereotype in Southern Fiction. Bowling Green: Bowling Green State University Press.
[11] Castiglia, Christopher and Castronovo, Russ (2004) 'A 'Hive of Subtlety': Aesthetics and the End(s) of Cultural Studies'. American Literature 76:3, 423–435.
[12] Coleman, Linda S. (1992) 'At Odds: Race and Gender in Grace King's Short Fiction'. In: Brown, Dorothy H. and Ewell, Barbara C., (eds.) Louisiana Women Writers. New Essays and a Comprehensive Bibliography. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 33–55.
[13] Cotten, Angela L. and Davis Acampora, Christa (eds.) (2007) Cultural Sites of Critical Insight. Philosophy, Aesthetics, and African American and Native American Women's Writings. Albany: State University of New York Press.
[14] Culley, Margo (ed.) (1994) Kate Chopin. The Awakening: an Authoritative Text, Biography, Contexts, Criticism (2nd ed.). New York: W.W. Norton and Company.
[15] Disheroon-Green, Suzanne and Caudle, David J. (eds.) (2001) At Fault. Kate Chopin. A Scholarly Edition with Background Readings. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press.
[16] Elfenbein, Anna Shannon (1987) 'Kate Chopin's The Awakening: An Assault on Racial and Sexual Mythology'. Southern Studies, 304–312.
[17] Elfenbein, Anna Shannon (1989) Women on the Color Line. The Evolving Stereotypes and the Writings of George Washington Cable, Grace King, Kate Chopin. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia.
[18] Elliot, Emory (2002) 'Introduction: Cultural Diversity and the Problem of Aesthetics'. In: Elliot, Emory. Freitas Caton, Louis. Rhyne, Jeffrey (eds.) Aesthetics in a Multicultural Age. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 3–27.
[19] Ewell, Barbara C. (1997) 'Changing Places: Women and the Old South; or, What Happens When Local Color Becomes Regionalism'. In: Amerikastudien/American Studies 42:2, 157–179.
[20] Feagin, Susan L. (2007) 'Introduction'. In: Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. Special Issue: Global Theories of the Arts and Aesthetics. 65:1, 1–9. | DOI 10.1111/j.1540-594X.2007.00232.x
[21] Gilbert, Sandra (ed.) (2002) Kate Chopin. Complete Novels and Stories. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc.
[22] Gunning, Sandra (1996) Race, Rape and Lynching: The Red Record of American Literature, 1890–1912. New York: Oxford University Press.
[23] Harker, Richard; Mahar, Cheleen; Wilkes, Chris (eds.) (1990) An Introduction to the Work of Pierre Bourdieu. The Practice of Theory. New York: St. Martin's Press.
[24] Holtman, Janet (2004) 'Failing Fictions: The Conflicting and Shifting Social Emphases of Kate Chopin's 'Local Color' Stories'. Southern Quarterly: A Journal of the Arts in the South 42:2, 73–88.
[25] Johnson, Randal (ed.) (1993) Pierre Bourdieu. The Field of Cultural Production. Essays on Art and Literature. New York: Columbia University Press.
[26] Juncker, Clara (1987) 'Grace King: Woman-as-Artist'. Southern Literary Journal 20:1, 37–44.
[27] Juncker, Clara (1988a) 'Grace King: Feminist, Southern Style'. The Southern Quarterly: A Journal of the Arts in the South 26:3, 15–30.
[28] Juncker, Clara (1988b) 'The Mother's Balcony: Grace King's Discourse of Femininity'. New Orleans Review 15:1, 39–46.
[29] Junková, Dagmar (2004) An Ambiguous Triumph: Evolving Stereotypes of Local Color Fiction in Kate Chopin's The Awakening. (Diploma thesis). Prague: Charles University.
[30] Kowalewski, Michael (1994) 'Writing in Place: The New American Regionalism'. American Literary History 6:1, 171–183. | DOI 10.1093/alh/6.1.171
[31] Lauter, Paul (1991) 'Caste, Class and Canon in: Price Herndl Diane "Canon"'. In: Warhol, Robyn R. and Herndl Pierce, Diane (eds.) Feminisms: an Anthology of Literary Theory and Criticism. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press.
[32] McCullough, Kate (1999) Regions of Identity: The Construction of America in Women's Fiction, 1885–1914. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
[33] Mohanty, Satya P. (2002) 'Can Our Values Be Objective? On Ethics, Aesthetics, and Progressive Politics'. In: Elliot, Emory; Freitas Caton, Louis; Rhyne, Jeffrey (eds.) Aesthetics in a Multicultural Age. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 31–59.
[34] Morrison, Toni (1992) Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
[35] Palumbo-DeSimone, Christine (2002) 'Race, Womanhood, and the Tragic Mulatta. An Issue of Ambiguity'. In: Trotman, James C. (ed.) Multiculturalism: Roots and Realities. Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 125–136.
[36] Peel, Ellen (1990) 'Semiotic Subversion in 'Désirée's Baby'. American Literature 62:2, 223–237. | DOI 10.2307/2926914
[37] Pegues, Dagmar (2009) Contemporary Revaluation of Southern Local Color Fiction (dissertation thesis). Prague: Charles University.
[38] Seyersted, Per (1990) Kate Chopin. A Critical Biography. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.
[39] Stauton, John A. (2000) 'Kate Chopin's 'One Story': Casting a Shadowy Glance on the Ethics of Regionalism'. Studies in American Fiction 28: 2, 203–234. | DOI 10.1353/saf.2000.0001
[40] Yaeger, Patricia (2000) Dirt and Desire: Reconstructing Southern Women's Writing, 1930–1990. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
[41] Wolkenfeld, Suzanne (1994) "Edna's Suicide: the Problem of the One and the Many". In: Culley, Margo (ed.) The Awakening: an Authoritative Text, Biography, Contexts, Criticism. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 241–247.