Date of Award
12-2023
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.
Degree Program
English
Department
English
Major Professor
Dr. Elizabeth Steeby
Second Advisor
Dr. Elizabeth Lewis
Third Advisor
Dr. Jay Watson
Abstract
Today, much scholarship on the Southern Gothic concerns itself with assessing the genre as a set of tropes confined to particular texts. This approach fails to consider how the Southern Gothic has transcended the text and infiltrated the cultural consciousness. In this thesis, I analyze William Faulkner’s 1936 novel, Absalom, Absalom!, centering on Faulkner’s idiosyncratic critique of the Southern Gothic, especially its colonial origins and use of spectacle. I apply this lens to New Orleans tours and their marketing materials, paying close attention to the spectacle in the story of enslaver Madame LaLaurie. Finally, I consider how the genre’s tropes influenced public policy and media coverage regarding Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Through this analysis, I aim to situate the Southern Gothic as more than an inert set of tropes, showing instead that this pliable genre performs cultural work that carries critical implications for race relations in the United States.
Recommended Citation
Byers, Wes, "“Something to Be Watched”: The Southern Gothic as Cultural Myth and the Nation’s Racial Spectacle" (2023). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 3125.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/3125
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Rights
The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.