Modernism from the Margins: Unruly Women and the Politics of Representation

165 Pages·2015·1.43 MB·English

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English Dissertations Department of English
Spring 5-10-2013
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Lindsay Byron
Georgia State University
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Byron, Lindsay, "Modernism from the Margins: Unruly Women and the Politics of Representation."
Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2013.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/4056760
This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of English at ScholarWorks @
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MODERNISM FROM THE MARGINS:
UNRULY WOMEN AND THE POLITICS OF REPRESENTATION

by

LINDSAY BYRON

Under the Direction of Elizabeth West and Barbara Ladd

ABSTRACT
Nella Larsen, Anzia Yezierska, and Evelyn Scott were New York neighbors and liter-
ary contemporaries in the 1920s, yet they moved in very different social circles. From
Larsen, the award-winning psychological novelist of the Harlem Renaissance; to Yezierska,
the Jewish immigrant composing in Yiddish-English a boot-straps story of Americanization;
to Evelyn Scott, the genteel-born Southern woman penning high modernist tales of scandal,
these very different women nonetheless shared a common quality: they were all rule-
breakers, pariahs in their hometowns, interlopers wherever they dare tread, who all
penned controversial autobiographical works documenting their experiences as cultural
outsiders in modern America. Finding no community, race, or class with which to align the-
se authors and their life stories, contemporary critics defaulted into accusation of false-
hood, immorality, and insanity. Their works could not possibly be true or sane, I argue, be-
cause they could not be classified.

INDEX WORDS: Women writers, Modernism, Americanization, Immigrant literature, Har-
lem Renaissance, Autobiography, Identity politics, Feminism
MODERNISM FROM THE MARGINS:
UNRULY WOMEN AND THE POLITICS OF REPRESENTATION

by

LINDSAY BYRON

A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in the College of Arts and Sciences
Georgia State University
2013
Copyright by
Lindsay Byron
2013
MODERNISM FROM THE MARGINS:
UNRULY WOMEN AND THE POLITICS OF REPRESENTATION

by

LINDSAY BYRON

Committee Chairs: Elizabeth West
Barbara Ladd
Committee: Calvin Thomas

Electronic Version Approved:

Office of Graduate Studies
College of Arts and Sciences
Georgia State University
May 2013
iv

Dedicated to us—the Byron Family.
v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank Elizabeth West for many years of guidance and friendship,
Barbara Ladd for always believing in me, and Calvin Thomas for being in my corner when-
ever I needed support. I would also like to acknowledge the Toco Hills Avis G. Williams
public library to be an excellent place for writing dissertations.
vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................................................................ v
INTRODUCTION: CHANGING SUBJECTS ............................................................................ 1
The Rise of Identity Politics .............................................................................................. 5
Postmodern “Autobiography”: Fictions of Self ........................................................ 10
Oppositional Feminist Subjectivity through Autobiography .............................. 13
Chapter Breakdown .......................................................................................................... 16
CHAPTER 1.UNFINISHED ENDINGS: THE MEANINGFUL AMBIGUITY OF NELLA
LARSEN’S NOVELS................................................................................................................... 19
Uncovering the Truth about Nella Larsen ................................................................. 23
The New Negro Movement and the Politics of Representation ......................... 37
Disappearing in Quicksand ............................................................................................. 48
The Problem of Passing ................................................................................................... 58
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 68
CHAPTER 2.“NOT A JEWESS AND NOT A GENTILE”: CATEGORIZING ANZIA
YEZIERSKA ................................................................................................................................ 70
Choosing sides in Bread Givers ...................................................................................... 92
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 106
CHAPTER 3.EVELYN SCOTT’S ESCAPADE: AN UNCONVENTIONAL NARRATION
OF A CONTROVERSIAL LIFE ............................................................................................. 109
vii
Masculine Modernism ................................................................................................... 118
A Sick Subjectivity ........................................................................................................... 123
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 134
CONCLUSION: MALLEABLE IDENTITIES ...................................................................... 139
Works Cited ....................................................................................................................... 144